Saturday, June 8

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

Today is World Ocean’s Day! And if you’re a beachcomber like Dot, or just someone who’s heard about the volume of plastics winding up in our oceans, you’ll want to know how you might cut back. That’s exactly what one of Dot’s readers wondered. He’d tried out items made from wheat straw and wondered if the material was just another plastic, cleverly greenwashed to seem like a good alternative. Dot investigated: 

Dear Dot,

Is plastic made from wheat straw (and what does that even mean, anyway?) really eco-friendly? Just looking at it/feeling it, it appears to be regular old plastic.

–Paul Allman

Dear Paul,

As Mr. Maguire famously said to his daughter’s boyfriend, Ben (played to perfection by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate), “I just want to say one word to you, Ben [errr Paul], one word. … Plastics.” And indeed, plastics have lived up to their hype, eclipsing just about all other materials. Consequently, they’ve  become so ubiquitous in our water, soil, and food that microplastics (and sometimes larger plastic items) are now found inside pretty much all living things, from sharks to turtles to … human testicles (and other human parts). The New England Journal of Medicine recently published findings showing that the presence of microplastics was associated with a roughly quadrupled risk of heart disease or stroke, an increased risk that one cardiovascular researcher called “stunning.”

Reducing our use of plastics is of paramount importance. It can also feel impossible. And yet, petroleum-based plastic is a relatively new material. Prior to its invention, humans often relied on ivory and coral, among other natural materials, problematic for different reasons than plastic is. Plastic has only become ubiquitous in the past century, gaining momentum with each passing decade. And though it has permeated so many aspects of our lives, it’s possible, with just a little imagination, to determine where we can do without it. Exhibit A: straws. 

So … what’s the deal? Are items made from wheat straw a good alternative? Read on.

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