#refusethestraw is an online movement where people are pledging to pass up on straws with drinks.

What does everyone have against straws? Did Starbucks put out a straw that offended people to go with the offense cups?

#refusethestraw may have it's internet popularity, but it is inspired by the National Park Service alongside Eco-Cycle "The Be Straw Free Campaign".

A straw might seem like a little bit of plastic, but it makes a huge impact.

The National Park Service claims that Americans use 500 million straws per day. This would fill 125 school buses every day and about 46,400 per year.

Just by offering a straw, as opposed to putting them directly into drinks, Americans are 50-80% likely to refuse the straw.

So we all know that there is this big oil issue the environmental and economic community has. Oil is used in factories and it is burned just adding to this entire global warming crisis. It is also used to make plastics.

Even though oil may come from the earth, its biogeochemical processes have a hard time breaking it down. It takes about 200 years for a straw to break down. This means that every straw every made is still around today to some extent.

Let's be honest, no one wants to swim in straws or find your dog chewing on old ones at the park. It is just an understood that this is not good for anyone or anything.

Follow this link to take the pledge on being straw free: http://ecocycle.org/bestrawfreepledge