I didn’t know the stats around fishing nets.
I know this now because of the plastic straw conversation and ban. Thus the campaign IS actually spreading information and teaching.
Re:Plastic Straws Aren’t the Problem
by tedunangst on Saturday August 25, 2018 @11:41AM
(#17841241)
But did we need to ban straws to have this conversation? Couldn't the anti straw people have simply told you about the nets in the first place?
Butthe fishing net was in response to saying how the straw campaign is bullshit.
It’s like punching me in the face and then pointing out how my visit to the doctor taught me how quitting smoking is good.
This is not true and is dangerous because some things (many things actually) hurt. The article calls out some (drawing attention away from fishing industry), but I think more people need to be aware of opportunity cost [0] because time is not infinite.
The idea of doing something is better than nothing is not an absolute rule and should not be followed when it results in campaigns like this one that have caused harm.
Many examples of stuff like Starbucks [1] replacing straws with more plastic.
Skipping a straw is a good activity with really minimal impact. Having a law to ban straws amplifies the effort for minimal impact and leads to other behaviors with worse impacts like increased wood use, etc. It also removes the ability for activities like restaurants simply using more recycling to offset their plastic use.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
[1] https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/12/starbucks-straw-ban-will-...