{"id":293,"date":"2019-04-22T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T12:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/env212\/?p=293"},"modified":"2019-04-22T12:58:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T12:58:36","slug":"plastic-straws-and-sea-turtles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/env212\/plastic-straws-and-sea-turtles\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Straws and Sea Turtles"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent my summers in high school working as a Sea Turtle Camp Counselor for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center\u2019s children\u2019s camp in Jupiter, Florida.\u00a0 The Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a sea turtle hospital.\u00a0 There, staff work to rehabilitate injured turtles and incubate hatchlings and eggs found on dangerous areas of the beach.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Injury to the turtles of Loggerhead Marinelife Center is almost always a result of human activity, but sometimes occurs due to natural predators.\u00a0 Most commonly, the sea turtle patients were injured by boat strikes or fishing line entanglement.\u00a0 However, I also worked with many sea turtles that suffered from indigestion due to consuming plastic, which results in constipation that can cause severe buoyancy issues for the marine mammals.\u00a0 Buoyancy affects turtles\u2019 abilities to forage for food, escape predators, and often results in increased contact with marine vessels.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Due to this personal experience with sea turtle conservation, I was not surprised to see a 2015 video of a team of marine biologists who were filmed pulling a plastic straw out of a sea turtle\u2019s nose.\u00a0 However, I was shocked that this disturbing footage went viral.\u00a0 After all, the impacts of plastic on marine life have been well known by biologists for a long time, and none of the turtles I worked with saw this kind of media attention.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 As a result of this one video, thousands of companies and even municipalities across America banned the use of plastic straws when they faced pressure from the general public.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 The biologist who recorded the viral video, Christine Figgener, compared the impact of her footage to the emotional photos of animals with plastic \u201csix pack rings\u201d around their necks that were widely popularized in the media about a decade ago and resulted in a massive behavior change.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Figgener hoped that people would feel compelled to phase out their plastic straw usage in a similar manner.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 While Figgener\u2019s video created widespread awareness of plastic pollution, the media and policy responses proved that sometimes, viral attention to a specific issue like plastic straw availability results in temporary action.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since Florida\u2019s beaches are home to over 90% of America\u2019s nesting sea turtles, the pressure to ban plastic straws was heightened in this state, and many people felt violated by the level of government interference in their choice of single-use plastics.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 The Florida Senate responded with SB-588, a bill which ultimately outlawed the bans on plastic straws.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 This bill, which was passed on March 4th<\/sup>, 2019, prohibits local governments from regulating plastic straw usage for 5 years, which the Florida Senate has determined is the amount of time necessary to conduct a study on their environmental impact.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Senator Joe Gruters (R) explained that he decided to sign on to the bill after hearing an argument from a leader of Disability Rights Florida, Olivia Babis, who argued that some disabled citizens need accessibility to plastic straws in order to drink and eat.[11]<\/a>\u00a0 In her statement to the Senate committee, Babis cited Figgener\u2019s viral sea turtle video by saying, \u201cNobody wants to see a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose, but we also do not want to jeopardize the health and safety for a vulnerable population either, and unfortunately, that is what is happening.\u201d[12]<\/a>\u00a0 While many disabled populations rely upon straws to consume food and beverages, plastic straws are not the only solution; paper, metal, and glass straws are widely available today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When responding to SB-588, I first must make note of my own bias as an environmental science student and, more importantly, a sea turtle lover.\u00a0 I view this bill a major step backwards for Florida, which faces more responsibility in sea turtle conservation than any other state.\u00a0 Florida\u2019s senators had an opportunity to promote the mitigation of plastic pollution by doing nothing at all, and instead chose to actively reverse the efforts of municipal governments that wanted to ban plastic straws.[13]<\/a>\u00a0 While the Senate justified SB-588 with a research study on the effects of plastic straw pollution, there is an expanse of information about the danger that plastics pose to sea turtles already.\u00a0 In an article entitled \u201cWhat\u2019s So Bad about Straws?\u201d the Sea Turtle Conservancy explains that \u201cSea turtle hatchlings spend their formative years in sargassum seaweed mats offshore, which provide them food and protection from predators. These seaweed mats also collect microplastics, leading to the hatchlings unknowingly eating the plastic or becoming tangled in it.\u201d[14]<\/a>\u00a0 Plastic straws are already thin, small plastic objects that can quickly degrade into microplastics which are abundant in these sargassum seaweed mats.\u00a0 Further, this quote demonstrates that biologists are acutely aware of the effects of plastic on marine turtles already; the results of the Senate\u2019s study will likely contribute no new information.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although the Florida senate may have passed SB-588, we have the power as consumers to avoid plastic straws and support sea turtle populations.\u00a0 Christine Figgener only hoped that her viral video would encourage people to avoid straws; whether or not regulations are in place, this has certainly been achieved.\u00a0 Many companies across the country are already demonstrating the power of consumers by meeting the increased demand for paper straws, and some major companies such as Starbucks have implemented new cup designs that allow consumers to avoid straws completely.[15]<\/a>\u00a0 The Senate\u2019s interference in municipal bans does not indicate that the fight against plastic straws is over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cHome,\u201d Loggerhead Marinelife Center, accessed April 15, 2019, https:\/\/marinelife.org\/.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cWhat the Woman Who Recorded the Heartbreaking Turtle Video Wants Companies to Know About Plastic Straws,\u201d Time, accessed April 15, 2019, http:\/\/time.com\/5339037\/turtle-video-plastic-straw-ban\/.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> \u201cPolicy \u2013 Sea Turtle Conservancy,\u201d accessed April 15, 2019, https:\/\/conserveturtles.org\/category\/policy\/.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> SB-588, Accessed April 15, 2019, https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2019\/588\/BillText\/__\/HTML.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ana Ceballos Florida News Service of, \u201cFlorida Senate Panel Pushes 5-Year Moratorium on Local Plastic Straw Bans,\u201d Orlando Weekly, accessed April 15, 2019, https:\/\/www.orlandoweekly.com\/Blogs\/archives\/2019\/03\/05\/florida-senate-panel-pushes-5-year-moratorium-on-local-plastic-straw-bans.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> \u201cGet Involved: Reducing Plastic Waste from Restaurants \u2013 Sea Turtle Conservancy,\u201d accessed April 15, 2019, https:\/\/conserveturtles.org\/get-involved-reducing-plastic-waste-from-restaurants\/.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> \u201cPaper Straws Are So Hot Right Now, There\u2019s Been a Run on Supplies,\u201d June 5, 2018, https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-06-05\/the-fight-for-paper-straws-is-getting-fierce-in-new-york-bars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent my summers in high school working as a Sea Turtle Camp Counselor for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center\u2019s children\u2019s camp in Jupiter, Florida.\u00a0 The Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a sea turtle hospital.\u00a0 There, staffContinue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[82],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9AMMK-4J","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":609,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/env212\/10-years-out-have-plastic-straw-bans-saved-the-world-yet-by-caroline-kassir\/","url_meta":{"origin":293,"position":0},"title":"10 Years Out: Have Plastic Straw Bans Saved the World Yet? by Caroline Kassir","author":"Dr Betsy Albright, D.Phil.","date":"April 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember very clearly the sudden anti-plastic straw wave that swept the nation. 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