Eco-Lizzie

2025 is not going to be a good year for environmental protection. President Donald Trump has signed numerous executive orders to rescind decades-old actions to help prevent climate change, pollution, and other massive damages to the environment. What I find interesting about this is Trump’s obsession with having clean water. Since 2017 during a meeting on the American Water Infrastructure Act, Trump has touted the importance of “clean, pure water.” And this seems like a positive thing, right? Why would wanting safe drinking water be a bad thing? It would be a good thing if he actually meant it.

On February 10, 2025, Trump signed an executive order that encourages consumers to use plastic straws, claiming that paper straws “don’t work”, and “on occasion, they explode.” Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with the distaste for soggy paper – these kinds of  straws can be annoying (although I’ve never had one explode while using it). However, considering his supposed desire for clean water, it doesn’t make sense to attempt to ban a product that would help achieve this goal simply because of a slightly annoying inconvenience. Also, straws are completely optional. The entire point of cups is to drink out of them!

In defending his ban on paper straws, Trump claimed that “plastic is not going to affect a shark as they’re munching their way through the ocean.” I was wondering why he mentioned sharks specifically, since turtles are usually the animals mentioned when talking about straws. Trump has tweeted about his dislike for sharks in the past, saying that “Sharks are last on [his] list – other than perhaps the losers and haters of the World!” He also has apparently talked about them at length with Stormy Daniels. In an interview with InTouch, she said, “He is obsessed with sharks. Terrified of sharks. He was like, ‘I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.’ He was like riveted. He was like obsessed.” First, it is such a Trump thing to brag about donating to charity right before wishing death on an animal. Second, while I don’t necessarily believe that he is actively intending to cause harm to animals and the ocean, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if he did considering his previously expressed hatred towards sharks. 

While it’s easy to laugh about these ridiculous comments, his actions can have a real impact on the cleanliness of our oceans and the sea life in them. Plastic straws are non-biodegradable and can take hundreds of years to break down, contributing to landfill accumulation. Because they are lightweight, plastic straws easily blow into oceans and get ingested by fish and seabirds, causing them injuries and death. When people attempt to recycle plastic straws, liquid typically remains trapped inside, which can contaminate the other recyclables. Trump may think they are no big deal but they actually create significant and long-lasting damage to our oceans. So much for “pure, clean water.”

• One thing that you can do today to actually keep our oceans clean:  Just drink out of a cup. No need for straws at all! Also–eliminating straws will cut down on the erosion of the enamel on your teeth. Fewer visits to the dentist!