California Disgrace: Reporters, Politicians, and Activists Rely on Environmental Research Conducted by a 9-Year-Old (Oops!)

I have written about how the state of California is considering fining servers $1000 and face up to 6 months in jail if they offer a straw without being asked for one.

Ian Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California’s lower house, is leading the charge against the evil of drinking straws.  He has recently introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from giving customers straws with drinks unless they specifically ask for one.

“We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans,” Calderon said in a statement.

Reason Magazine says that this clown is not the only anti-straw advocate:

This isn’t just Calderon’s crusade. The California cities of San Luis Obispo and Davis both passed straws-on-request laws last year, and Manhattan Beach maintains a prohibition on all disposable plastics. And up in Seattle, food service businesses won’t be allowed to offer plastic straws or utensils as of July.

Why are they so upset at straw usage? National Review has the scoop:

So, what kind of environmental crisis justifies such a draconian step? How about the “fact” that Americans are using a staggering 500 million straws per day. That’s more than one straw per American, per day. That’s a lot of straws. That’s a lot of plastic.

In fact, that’s so many straws, it doesn’t even seem accurate. A Reason editor decided to fact that that claim, and the results were laughable:

The 500 million figure is often attributed to the National Park Service; it in turn got it from the recycling company Eco-Cycle. Eco-Cycle is unable to provide any data to back up this number, telling Reason that it was relying on the research of one Milo Cress. Cress—whose Be Straw Free Campaign is hosted on Eco-Cycle’s website—tells Reason that he arrived at the 500 million straws a day figure from phone surveys he conducted of straw manufacturers in 2011, when he was just 9 years old.

A 9 year old?  I called it laughable, but can you imagine being thrown in jail and having to pay $1000 because of some kid’s research?  California continues to swirl about the cultural toilet bowl…  and this is just the latest, ludicrous, example.

Image Credit: MaxPexels

Hat Tip: National Review