- cross-posted to:
- environment@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- environment@beehaw.org
Bloody and in pain, when a plastic straw became lodged in the nostril of a turtle, a video showing its removal shook the world – sparking a movement to rid the world of plastic straws.
In 2015, PhD student Christine Figgener was on a small fishing boat off Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast examining an olive ridley turtle – when she noticed something strange coming out of its nostril. Curious, she started filming as one of her research colleagues began to investigate the object. At just over eight minutes long, the video documents the uncomfortable process during which they extract a plastic straw, while blood drips from the turtle’s nose.
As a marine biologist, Figgener’s focus was turtles, not plastics. However, plastic had always been an issue she encountered on the field, having witnessed turtles and other animals stuck in car tires, fishing nets or plastic bags.
“I wasn’t an activist, but we scientists can’t stay in our ivory tower. We see and document things that need to be communicated more broadly. It’s not just about understanding, it’s about getting people to care, and explaining what we can actually do,” says Figgener. “Just looking at tonnes of plastic floating in the ocean can be a bit abstract, it’s not the same as feeling the pain of another creature. It carried the message to non-scientists, showing what the statistics about plastic actually mean.”
The anti-plastic-straw movement caught the world’s attention after Figgener’s video went viral. So, just how bad are single-use straws for the environment? Watch the video below to find out.
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I don’t disagree that plastic straws are bad for the environment, but it’s bizarre that the world united in banning straws when there are so many other things that are worse that we continue to pollute with.
Including, but not limited to, the plastic lids that the straws continue to be poked through.
I guess they’re OK down at the bottom of the sea where they only kill things we don’t give a shit about.
When was the last time you saw a turtle with a plastic lid in its face? Checkmate.
/S
Facebook slacktivism fixing all the problems.
I rarely encounter places that offer straws that aren’t plastic, so I don’t know that it’s been much of a revolution.
We have local laws banning the regulation of plastic straws because I guess it hurts feelings? It’s really weird.
I think this is an important case study into how to get the masses to care. There are millions of fixable problems with our world currently, affecting billions of animals, humans included. But one video of one problem affecting one turtle is what spurred a “revolution”. However big you think the impact is, you cannot argue how indelible it is to awareness, if nothing else. Ethos is truly the champion of getting people to give a shit, and we should leverage that knowledge in a progressive way.
