Today marks the closing of my school week without straws and it’s been an unexpectedly informative challenge. I’ve learned so much from being conscious of my straw usage and subsequent plastic utilization.

While wandering through NIU, I realized how society disposes of plastic like there isn’t any other resource left in this world to drink their drive-thru drinks with.

Plastic is not air; it won’t kill you to cut down. There are so many other resources in this world to help us cut down on our poisoning of Mother Earth.

Amazon has a wonderful wonderful solution to cut down straw usage. The company sells stainless steel drinking straws. This particular 10 pack set of dishwasher safe straws also offers straw cleaner, a cleaner brush and 10 smoothie recipes! Reusable straws and a complementary set of smoothie recipes? Sign me up!

Bubba Big Straw offers a 5 pack of reusable straws with bold colors, in case the stainless steel straws weren’t doing it for you. Add a splash of color with vibrant dishwasher safe reusable straws! For the busy college student, this product would fit in a variety of travel mugs!

KoffieStrawCompany offers the Koffie Straw on Amazon for the coffee drinkers! Not only does the product protect mother earth from excess plastic litter, Koffie Straws also protect your teeth from unneeded staining! The straw comes in 3 colors: blue, pink, and brown. The straw is specially made to withstand hot temperatures and works for coffee, tea and even hot chocolate. Under-caffeinated students rejoice!

These products are also offered with Amazon Prime, so you can order these straws today and help save the environment later this week!

It’s so easy to replace plastic straws throughout your day with something that won’t pileup in a landfill. I understand these reusable straws won’t save the planet entirely, but if enough people convert over, we could save a plethora of innocent wildlife that fall prey to our disposable and despicable habits.

Turtles everywhere are dying from plastic in our water systems. Birds are being strangling by discarded bits of plastic. Our household pets are even being harmed from accidentally sticking their curious heads in our trash bins.

Eventually the mountainous pile of plastic our society dumps in the earth and soil will come back to haunt our own lives with contaminated water and infertile soil. There is no facet of Earth not being harmed by humanity’s self-serving laziness.

I beg our upcoming generation to be the change our Mother Earth desperately needs.