Beginning this year, Starbucks announced its plan to eliminate all plastic straws from its stores worldwide by 2020. It plans to just use a sippy-cup style lid that is recyclable and could mean a reduction of more than a billion plastic straws.
McDonald’s followed along, by announcing their start to remove plastic straws in over 1,000 of their stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
This trend has continued to be carried out across the country as a growing hype to buy reusable straws has grown. For many this is seen as a first step that major companies are taking for sustainability. It is also a major global brand name that has the power to initiate this movement for other brands.
Among the reusable straws movement there are also small ways that people can change their daily habits to make an impact. Using reusable bags, eating sustainable, traveling sustainable and even switching energy providers can help the environment.
However, the United States has also taken some drastic steps that question if whether we are taking a step forward or moving one back.
In 2017, Trump announced his intent to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, 195 countries are signed onto this agreement. But what exactly is this agreement and what does it mean?
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), The Paris agreement aims at strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a specific global temperature (2 degrees Celsius) and the abilities of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
This decisions angered many people including the chief executive of General Electric and business leader Elon Musk.
According to the World Meteorologist Organization 2018 was the fourth hottest year in record, we saw multiple wildfires hit the United States as well. The future can include extinctions of species, death of coral reefs and decline of agricultural productivity.
But 2019 shows some positivity in this aspect, the UN secretary general promised to hold a summit for world leaders that will force them to face up to the dangers of climate change.
Public opinion has also risen in that world leaders should be committing more time and effort to take on this battle.
There is a lot that is left to do but the one thing we can hope for in 2019 is that environmental awareness doesn’t just become one more trend.