Campaign: Save the Seas. Skip the Straw! Join if you care about water pollution.

Sign and share this campaign and ask people to pledge to just say no to straws when eating or drinking out in order to reduce the amount of plastic ending up in our oceans, beaches, forests and landfills.

Save the Seas: Skip the Straw!

People are using single use plastics at an unprecedented rate and as a result, plastic garbage in the oceans and out of them is a growing problem. Scientists estimate that the amount of plastic garbage in the ocean will double by 2025 if we keep using and throwing it away at our current rate. Each of us can make a difference by pledging to reduce our own use of throwaway plastic like diposable drinking straws and more.

Campaign by Falmouth Water Stewards

Each day in the USA alone, more than 250 million plastic straws are used for just a few minutes and then thrown away. These one-time-use plastics end up in landfills or persist in the environment, eventually making their way to beaches and to the sea, intact or broken down into tiny particles.

Once in coastal and marine environments these plastics threaten the health and lives of animals, pollute coastlines, add to the mass of garbage in the oceans, and even perhaps return to people as toxins in the seafood on their dinner plates. It is estimated that up to ninety percent of seabirds and fifty-two percent of sea turtles have plastics in their guts, and an untold number of sea creatures including dolphins are harmed or killed each year by either consumption of or entanglement in plastic debris.

Like coastal communities around the world, Falmouth is dependent upon clean beaches and healthy waters to ensure a socially, economically and environmentally vibrant future. And even if you don't live on a coast, your choices matter. Plastic straws and stirrers are consistently among the ten most common items found during the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanups.

While many plastics are essential for medical and industrial purposes, for most people straws are unnecessary. Certain aspects of pollution are difficult to control, but everyone in Falmouth, from eateries to individuals, can choose to use fewer disposable plastics in daily life, and reduce the flow of plastics to our beaches and oceans (and landfills).

Additional information

Learn more about the dangers of plastic straws and the harm they cause to our ocean:

• Ocean Conservancy Fighting for Trash Free Seas (link)
• The Last Plastic Straw (link)
• Save our Seas Skip the Straw by Falmouth Waters (link) 

Goal of the campaign: 1000 signatures

Deadline: 31st July 2016

With more miles of coastline than any other town in Massachusetts, abundant fresh and salt water ponds, streams and rivers, and the only surface groundwater aquifer on the Cape, water is the social, environmental and economic lifeblood of Falmouth.

Falmouth Water Stewards (FWS), a science-based advocacy and education organization, is the only group solely dedicated to protecting and restoring Falmouth’s precious fresh and coastal waters. FWS raise awareness about very important water quality issues, offers citizens to become stewards and caretakers of our waters, and represents those who care about the quality of water at Town Meeting. With a board of directors comprised of scientists, policy-makers, educators and concerned citizens and a broad grassroots membership base, FWS has earned its reputation for leadership in the preservation of Falmouth’s water resources.Visit their website and learn more about them (click here)

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