Straws

Numerous documentaries have explored the environmental devastation wrought by plastic fragments and products in Earth's oceans. Narrated by actor Tim Robbins, filmmaker Linda Booker's Straws approaches the subject in a more limited fashion, focusing on the obscene proliferation of plastic straws in our planet's waters. Arguably one of the silliest products ever produced using toxic, long-lasting chemical materials that are now part of everyday life, plastic straws are manufactured in large numbers—the equivalent, viewers are told here, of 1.6 straws daily for every American. There is no shortage of alternative materials (reusable stainless steel, glass, or bamboo; or even good old-fashioned decomposable paper). But consumers have been conditioned to accept plastic straws first—from the little straws attached to juice boxes for kids to the grownup straws served automatically with cocktails. Straws does briefly address the larger topic of global plastic pollution, and it features several advocates who are working to enlighten businesses, organize cleanups, and rescue animals. An effective, mostly niche approach to an ecological horror, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)