United Becomes the Latest US Airline to Ban Plastic Straws

Starting in November, passengers on each of United’s 4,600 daily flights will be using bamboo stirrers — not plastic ones.

United Airlines’ plan to ditch wasteful plastic straws follows American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, who each made similar moves earlier this year.

In 2015, it was reported that 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into oceans each year. The same report suggested that number would increase by a factor of ten in the next decade without significant change. This plastic is literally killing turtles, fish, and birds.

United’s move adds to the growing list of companies, cities, and states that are taking on the scourge of single-use plastics. Bamboo and wood disposable utensils have far  less environmental impact than plastic versions. Environmental activists have been calling attention to this issue for years, but only recently has the movement against a throwaway culture really taken hold.

United Airlines’ shift to bamboo stirrers is a step in the right direction, but there is still room for much improvement. It is essential that activists and concerned citizens do not rest on their laurels, and continue to fight for a society that eschews the convenience of disposable one-time use products and plastic wrapped foods and instead choose healthier, more environmentally friendly options.

We’ve all experienced the sickening sight of a dead animal on the side of the road. Deer, opossums, raccoons, and even bears are just not evolved to avoid vehicles. Our human need for speed causes countless deaths. But there are some major efforts out there to cut back on these tragic occurrences. Overpasses and underpasses are being built on highways across the U.S. to give safe passage to animals.

Interstate 90 in Washington State passes through the Cascade Mountains, some of the wildest places in the country. Elk, deer, moose, wolves, and grizzly reside in the area and too many come into contact with the interstate and cars that speed by at 70 miles per hour. The four lanes don’t just endanger animals that happen to be in the area; they also cut through major north-south migration routes.

But thanks to a collaboration of conservationists, government, and citizens, the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project has become the biggest wildlife crossing project in North America and a model for other animal crossing projects.

Watch the documentary Cascade Crossroads here!

After a number of bridges and tunnels were built across U.S. Hwy 93 in Arizona, incidents of vehicles hitting bighorn sheep went down to almost zero. Fences along the highway funnel the animals towards the bridges and allow them to safely roam a larger territory. In addressing the issue for sheep, other animals benefited like coyotes, tortoises, foxes, and most likely others that leave no trace of their passing.

https://ladyfreethinker.org/wildlife-bridges-tunnels-saving-animals-lives/

Today, fewer than 4,000 tigers remain in the wild, but as many as 8,000 are still being held captive across China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Some of these tiger facilities across Asia are licensed by national governments and are open to the public. Many are promoted and marketed as zoos, conservation centers, or tourist entertainment venues. But most are basically factory farms, speed-breeding tigers like livestock to satisfy mainly Chinese and Vietnamese demand for their body parts. The rest are small-scale basement or backyard breeding mills existing outside the law.

According to The National Geographic,the tiger breeding industry is still rampant throughout Asia and it’s fueling the illegal wildlife trade. Captive-bred tigers slip into the illegal international trade and feed a growing demand for tiger products, primarily in China. Especially popular are tiger pelts, which are used in luxury home decor, and their bones, an ingredient in expensive tiger-bone wine. This high-end market places a huge price tag on the head of every remaining tiger, and the wild populations are being decimated.

The commercial international trade in tigers and their parts has been banned since 1987 after a vote by CITES, an international treaty regulating the wildlife trade. In 2007, the CITES parties approved a measure stating that tigers shouldn’t be bred for trade either. Yet captive tigers are increasingly showing up alongside wild tigers on the illegal wildlife market.

Captive tiger breeding is a huge problem throughout Asia, but particularly in Thailand. These animals are being bred to fuel the cruel wildlife tourism and traditional medicine industries. At wildlife tourist attractions in Thailand, the baby tigers spend their lives being used and exploited as photo props for tourist selfies. When they are no longer cute or become too difficult to control, the tigers are then killed to meet the demand for traditional Asian medicine.

World Animal Protection is now urging Thailand authorities to enforce a ban on captive tiger breeding by 2020. The hope is that without captive breeding, fewer tigers will become victims of this horrific cycle of exploitation and abuse. Tigers are wildlife and all wild animals belong in the wild, but unfortunately the tiger cubs bred in captivity will never get to live in their natural environment.

Just like all animals suffering in the tourism industry, captive-bred cubs at tourist attractions endure immense cruelty. They’re kept in barren enclosures, with limited access to fresh food and water. Baby animals in tourism are cruelly trained, chained, and forced to frequently interact with visitors. They are forced to take selfies with tourists all day long, while loud noises and constant camera flashes surround them.

An official ban on captive tiger breeding from Thailand authorities would be a significant step in the right direction, since captive breeding continues to fuel the abusive tourism industry. Any captive animal that is being forced to perform tricks or take selfies with tourists is suffering immense abuse behind-the-scenes. And when they are not cute anymore, their future becomes even more grim. Ongoing investigations are still finding that many tigers in tourism end up killed for their body parts, used in traditional medicine and as home decorations.