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One of the great tragedies of modern society is that we have politicians cherry-picking science in the interests of their own social, cultural, political and religious belief systems, and that’s the beginning of the end of an informed democracy If your belief is not based in objective truth then maybe you should not be creating legislation based on it. That’s Neil deGrasse Tyson on climate change. The photo is of Sarah-Jeanne Royer further connecting plastic and climate change with new research showing that polyethylene, a fracking byproduct, emits methane, a greenhouse gas, when exposed to the sun—specifically when it becomes trash in the ocean.

Because they can be made of so many different types of plastic and don’t include an identifying “chasing arrow” symbol, straws aren’t typically recycled. The company announced recently that it was phasing out Starbucks straws in favor of a recyclable #5 polypropylene plastic sippy cup lid. But I have a few challenges with the move: When measured with a Starbucks straw, the old container weighed between 3.23 and 3.55 grams; with the new “sippy” lid Finally, although I focused on straws as an entry point to the plastic pollution problem in my TEDx talk, more and more the focus on individual product bans like that of Starbucks straws seem to be missing the point.

Even SOLO cups are made of 100% polystyrene plastic—the same plastic that’s in a Dunkin’ Donuts foam coffee cup. Although the plastics industry reports that recycling rates of “Styrofoam” and other polystyrene plastics are increasing, it is not cost effective because expanded polystyrene foam is so lightweight and bulky. Ask the places you frequent to replace polystyrene and “Styrofoam” products with those made from a biodegradable material like paper or at the very least a more benign and recyclable form of plastic. For example, in California—now the fifth biggest economy in the world—many legislators have supported a growing movement to ban single-use polystyrene and “Styrofoam” products.

Reports show that eight million tons go into the ocean each year (the equivalent of a garbage truck full every minute) and that if we don’t do something about it, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. In 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Report projected that by 2050 the plastics industry will consume 20% of oil production. In the ocean, it can absorb toxic chemicals like PCB and DDT; in addition, many types already contain endocrine disrupting components like BPA and BPS. These toxic plastics can work their way up the food chain and onto our plates: In 2017, researchers found particles in 33% of shellfish, 70% of fish, 83% of drinking water and 93% of bottled water.