Starbucks Bans Plastic Straws, Winds Up Using More Plastic

Starbucks Bans Plastic Straws, Winds Up Using More Plastic. Maybe they should go back to baby bottles, which would fit their clientele well and they can wash and reuse them.

CO2Insanity: Tired of the CO2 BS and all the other BS in the US and the world.

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  • Don't blame me! I don't need a plastic straw to drink out of a beer can or shot glass. Besides I think anyone who goes to Starbucks is stupid. $4 or $5 bucks for a latte or some such crap? One little cup? That is asinine. Those are the kind of people who will look around one day and say Oh Shit! I can't retire because I have no money! I wasted my money on new cars I didn't need, a home twice as big as I needed and a shit load of Starbucks latte's over the years!

    I can brew a pot of nice, hot, black coffee at home for about .50 cents. I get 4 12oz cups of good coffee per pot and it is coffee, not some fancy crap that tastes like mint or caramel or pumpkin spice or hot chocolate or something.

  • Plastic straws are like guns(which kill millions without human assistance)in that they apparently throw themselves into the ocean when humans are finished using them. Instead of banning plastic straws we should develop non-suicidal plastics.

    • It's always nice to see the effects of environmentalist failures come to fruition immediately. All these batteries and solar panels not so, it will take decades to understand just how damaging they are to the environment.

      • You want to really screw up an ecofreaks head explain to him what lithium is!

        It is a mineral, just like coal, copper or iron ore and must be mined just like coal, copper or iron ore. Which takes machinery that uses diesel that when burned pollutes the atmosphere. Plus the land gets torn up because open pit mining is the only way to get the ore out of the ground.

        Then the ore has to be processed, smelted, which takes a ton of energy that comes from coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants. All of which are a taboo to a real environmentalist.

        Then explain to them that the processed lithium has to be encased in plastic to make the actual battery. Plastic that is made from byproducts from oil refining just like his red solo cup or plastic drink straws.

        Finally, explain how processed lithium is non-biodegradable, just like mercury or uranium. There is no way to recycle it, no way to destroy it without causing other problems, the only way to dispose of those old batteries is by burying them somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind.

        Maybe their heads will have exploded by then and you won't have to put up with the ecofreaks anymore.

        • They'll write off this bit of data by saying that if we hadn't been reliant on oil for so long we could have already developed the technology to replace lithium batteries. There's always an out for the liberal/environazi pukes.

          • Yeah, I know. And you would think I would know arguing with an ecofreak is useless. I have been trying to tell them for years that this ethanol nonsense wastes more energy than it is worth.

            It takes 10 times the amount of electricity to produce one gallon of corn for fuel than it does to produce a gallon of gasoline. Where does that electricity come from? Coal, gas and nuclear power plants, all the things ecofreaks hate.

            They are to stupid to understand that all their ethanol "blended" gasoline, their little electric cars, everything they are so big on are doing the opposite of that they want, creating more pollution. Not only is there any way to get rid of the batteries safely where do those electric car idiots think the electricity comes from to charge the batteries? Coal, gas and nuclear power plants. They can argue hydroelectric is great but dams only supply about 25% of our renewable energy and good luck on getting any more built. Solar and wind? Maybe 10% of our energy needs, when the damn things work. No sun, no power. No wind, no power. I ain't a rocket scientist but I can figure that out.

            This whole "save the environment" thing is a crock of crap and it surprises me so many people fall for the bullshit. If the eco freaks would do a little research, find out some facts, they might realize how stupid the whole mess is and help us normal people put an end to all of it.

          • Diamond Valley can hold 800,000 acre feet of water? That is one hell of a dam! If I added up all the acre feet of capacity of all our dams and reservoirs in New Mexico I don't think they would add up to that much capacity. The first dam I worked on was Cochiti and I only worked there for about 8 months as a driller/powder helper before I enlisted. It isn't much of a dam, only about 250 feet tall, but it is the 11th longest earth filled dam in the world at 5.5 miles long.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_c21Ya3u5E

            The second was Santa Rosa dam north of Santa Rosa, NM. I had just gotten out of the service, needed a job and the rock foreman was an old family friend so he hired me. First day he showed me a beatup company truck with a 165 Ingersoll-Rand compressor hooked to it. In the back of the truck was a jackhammer, various lengths of drill steel and a box of bits. I followed him down into the canyon where a mile long of boulders to big to be of use lay. He handed me a key to the powder magazines and told me to drill and pop all those boulders then come see him again. About 3 months later I caught him at the staging area, handed him the keys to the old truck and magazines and told him I was done. History was made, I was his drill foreman and blaster for the next 2 years. And I never looked back for the next 35 years. One thing though. I thought i was a tough guy until I spent 3 months dragging around a 90 pound jackhammer drilling boulders. Then I knew what being a tough man was! I can't isolate one picture to post here so here is a bunch of them.

            https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=AaURz2F9&id=176BDAB220B2FE1223A005DEE96DF4B67B2E29C8&thid=OIP.AaURz2F9msERa3zPTxFK6gHaGw&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.spa.usace.army.mil%2fportals%2f16%2fsiteimages%2fSanta%2520Rosa%2520webpic%25201.jpg&exph=336&expw=368&q=pictures+of+santa+rosa+dam&simid=608010351868773552&selectedIndex=0

          • Diamond Valley Reservoir actually consists of three dams, and doesn't even dam up a river. Water is pumped into it through a 12' pipeline coming off of the Colorado River Aqueduct. I worked on the pipeline after finishing up on the dams.

            The Metropolitan Water District is now paying off on a 43 million dollar lawsuit brought by farmers downstream of the reservoir, since digging down to bedrock and bringing the dam up from there cut off all the underground aquifer, and all their wells went dry. Unintended consequences.

          • Part of your post makes no sense. Dams have to be built on solid ground but they do not stop water from getting to the aquifer down stream. Water can get down stream just fine around the outreaches of the dam. When you said a huge pipeline was built to pump water from the Colorado that said to me the water authority may be pumping water from other sources to keep the reservoir full and that will take water from the aquifer.

          • That sounds more like it. One disgruntled family wanting millions for not much. I already figured out the dam was built to store water for L.A. Monument Lake is gone. Many small lakes and aquifers in northern California are gone. Soon the Colorado River will be gone unless the rest of the people in the state tell Los Angeles enough is enough, no more water for you. I have never agreed with piping water from a lake or river to supply water to anyone. That water is for all the people living on the lake or the river to use, not for some city. They can stop growing and live with what they have.