I walk into café and order water. The waiter brings me a bottle of water, a glass and a straw. I have long had an eye for that sort of useless things they bring along with food and drinks. I know that when ordering a cocktail, you should immediately add “And yes, please, no straws, umbrellas, origami ships, chewing gums, haribos on top. Just a drink in a glass. Thanks!” When ordering water, even my playful imagination paints nothing but water. But there’s always a room for surprise!
It is not that I was so infuriated with plastic, I just notice when it’s definitely at no need. The straw generally is not functional [except, and it deserves to be said, in case of abrasive drinks, like freshes, coffee], not fashionable, not necessary, not beautiful.
Moreover, it is always a shame when a thing lives only a couple of minutes, and then is sent directly to the trash bin. Even if you do not use a straw for its primary purpose but just hold it in your hands, you (or they/ waiters) will throw it away anyway.
One day our Resource Development & Conservation professor brought a tomato to a class and asked how much water, in our opinion, there’s in it. We were like, “Well, how do we know, 50 g maybe”. He stepped forward and said — a ton!
How come?! Those facts that tomato still has to be grown, needs to be watered every day, the soil shall be fertilized, etc; have completely slipped away from our attention. And then at the end, tomato of course contains a relatively small quantity of water inside.
From that day on, I always think what’s the item/product real “weight”. This one invisible straw is actually worth a lot of resources: water, oil, human hours… And lives only a “zilch”. It shouldn’t be so. Let’s no longer take the straw, telling waiters in advance. That’s important.
