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Plastic straws hurt animals

For my daughter's fifth-grade class project, she did her topic on plastic straws and how it affected the environment. Her conclusions were as follows:

How could a tiny plastic straw cause such a worldwide argument as well as do so much damage to the environment? 

Plastic straws should be banned. Plastics have a strong polluting impact on our environment. When plastics are thrown away, they don’t biodegrade.

Kids Post says that plastics will stay in landfills for hundreds of years. In order to make plastic we have to create pollution.

Plastic straws are becoming a big problem for marine animals, and other wildlife. How? When people litter they usually pollute the ocean. Or, if you see trash on the side of the road, it will most likely end up in the sea.

Furthermore, the marine animals mistake the plastic for food. When the animals eat the microplastics, they think they are full, but then a few weeks later they will most likely die of starvation.

Can you bear the thought of living in a world without animals? It means no zoos, no more fish and other marine life, and no aquariums! Wouldn’t that be awful? 

Thankfully, people are thinking of alternatives to this situation. According to Kids Post, “Try reusable straws made out of bamboo, metal, or glass, some companies even make straws out of pasta!” Even though people with disabilities rely on plastic straws, companies can make similar straws to help disabled people drink safely. 

Just take a minute to imagine if you were a sea turtle and you see this white tube in the ocean and eat it and think you’re full — but then a few days later you die. You need to do something! Not next week or tomorrow but today!

Would you really want to see marine life suffer, while we live our own independent lives? 

—Matthew Ward (and daughter Dana Ward), Wilmington 

Storms, not sea level rise, the real problem

A recent article "Rising seas may cost Delaware $9B over 20 years" contained much questionable information from a new study, "High Tide Tax," from "The Center for Climate Integrity" which "supports litigation and advocacy to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable" for climate change.  

They want to tax and sue fossil fuel companies, but who would actually pay the cost? The people, of course, in higher costs for everything. 

The $9 billion is not an estimate of actual damages which might occur but an estimated cost to build 941 miles of seawalls "to hold off climate-driven floodwaters." 

But according to NOAA, Delaware only has 381 miles of coastline, including the extra length from tidal inlets. 

Sea level off Delaware has risen about 1 foot in the last 100 years, partly because the land is sinking, and will likely rise another 3 inches in 20 years.

But compare this to the 7-foot storm surge at Lewes, Delaware, from "The Gale of 1878" which brought hurricane-force winds and flooding to all three counties.  

Seawalls may be a good idea in some places, but the real concern should be storms which could happen now, not in 20 or 100 years.   

Prepare for storms and this will take care of sea level rise.

John E. Greer Jr., Wilmington

Presidential race has already gotten old

I turned on CNN four different times yesterday, and every single time they were talking about the presidential debates. It was like nothing else in the whole world was happening. 

If they're not talking about the people who want to be president, they're talking about the current president and his daily antics. 

Since when did the White House become the center of the universe? I know the president is important, but aren't there other important stories happening?

Just for once, I'd like to see a positive, nonpolitical story be the big story of the day.

Karen Stauffer, Wilmington

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