“Fine, write a post about it,” my husband sighed the other day when once again, I evidently couldn’t make clear that what I wanted was one glass of water without a straw. That is of course what I asked for, and we received two glasses of water with straws.

Let me explain. I am not an over-the-top environmentalist, but I am a strong believer in sustainability and I take steps in a number of small things. We’ll start with straws. I use a straw for three things. One is for milkshakes/smoothies. Two is when I come from the dentist’s office after one of the many drawn-out procedures that I have had over the years. Three is when I am driving and have a very full cup. That’s it. I don’t use a straw under other circumstances, certainly not when sitting in a restaurant where there is no danger in spilling a drink as I lift it. Now, I admit that me not using a straw isn’t very significant. But if everyone who didn’t actually use a straw didn’t get one, there would be that much less plastic waste to dispose of, and that especially goes true for straws around the marine environment. I specifically ask for no straw and yet, 70% of the time, I get one anyway. Again, if the straw is wrapped in paper, then maybe when I leave it there untouched, it will be put back in the box. (Yeah right, but let’s pretend.) If it’s not wrapped in paper then for sure it will wind up in the trash. As my husband points out, since everyone else uses straws, it’s the norm for a server to give one. Okay, I’ve got that, so who else out there is a limited-straw user? Important note, I do not mean this as a campaign to stop using straws if you like them. I am merely trying to point out that I don’t think I am the only one who doesn’t.

I’ll explain about one glass of water, not two, in the next post.