Ban the Plastic Straw
Published in local newspapers June 2018 -- In early February, the News-Press published an article about the remarkable news that Fort Myers Beach now has a ban on plastic drinking straws. I thought to myself, “If Fort Myers Beach can do this, then Sanibel certainly can!” After reading the newspaper, I went for my morning walk. On that walk I saw my neighbor, city council member Jason Maughan, and asked him what he thought of the idea. He was positive. We talked about how many more straws were probably on Fort Myers Beach because of all the commercial enterprises there. But there are some near-beach establishments where plastic straws are routinely used on Sanibel. The first person I ever heard talk about the environmental threats posed by plastic drinking straws was Carolyn Raffensperger, our keynote speaker at the Committee of the Islands (COTI) annual meeting in 2011. Several COTI board members took Carolyn out to lunc...