环保问题一直以来是世界上所有人的关注焦点，环保，我们可以做的有哪些呢？来看看地球的另一边美国人的做法吧！

Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses.
每天美国人都要扔掉5亿根塑料吸管，足以绕地球两圈，或者装满125辆校车。

Made from fossil fuels, they are almost never recycled because they're too small and could be made from several different types of plastic. They simply contribute to the massive problem of plastic pollution; eight million tons of plastic is dumped into the oceans every year.
用化石燃料制成的塑料吸管几乎从来不会被回收利用，因为它们体积太小，而且可能是由好几种不同类型的塑料制成的。这些吸管直接加剧了塑料污染的严重问题，每年都会有800万吨塑料被倾倒进海洋中。

小小的塑料吸管竟然会造成棘手的环境问题，很多成人可能都没有意识到，但是美国一个9岁的小孩却意识到了，还发起了第一场反吸管运动，让塑料吸管成为可选项。

Plastic straws are now the target of a growing movement to reduce their use. Possibly the first of such campaigns, Be Straw Free was started in 2011 by Milo Cress, who was only nine years old at the time. "I noticed that whenever I ordered a drink at a restaurant, it would usually come with a straw in it, and I don't usually need a straw," he said.
现在以减少塑料吸管使用量为目标的运动越来越多。“不用吸管”可能是第一场这样的运动，该运动在2011年由年仅9岁的米罗?克雷斯发起。克雷斯说：“我注意到，无论何时我在餐厅点饮料，杯子里总会有吸管，而我一般不需要吸管。”

"This seemed like a huge waste. Straws are made of oil, a precious and finite resource. Is making single-use plastic straws, which will be used for a matter of minutes before being tossed away, really what we want to do with this resource?"

“这看起来是一个巨大的浪费。塑料吸管是用石油制成的，而石油是一种宝贵的有限资源。用石油生产才用几分钟就丢掉的一次性吸管，我们真的想这么利用资源吗？”

Cress started asking restaurants in Burlington, Vermont, where he lived at the time, to stop providing straws automatically to customers and make them optional instead. Many agreed and his request made ripples nationwide. He says that restaurants that make the switch report a reduction in the number of straws they use between 50 and 80%.
克雷斯开始请求他当时的居住地佛蒙特州伯灵顿的餐厅停止自动为顾客提供吸管，改为自选。许多餐厅都同意了，他的请求产生的影响像涟漪一般在全国扩散开来。他说，做出改变的餐厅报告说，所用的吸管数量减少了50%到80%。

Offering alternatives or making plastic straws optional, rather than banning them outright, is a common trait among these campaigns. "We do not want to make people feel bad for needing or even wanting to use a straw in their drink," said Jackie Nunez, founder of The Last Plastic Straw.
提供塑料吸管的替代品，或者将塑料吸管变为可选项，而不是完全禁止，是这类活动的普遍特征。“最后一根塑料吸管”运动的创始人杰基?努涅斯说：“我们不想让人们因为需要或想要用吸管喝饮料而感到不痛快。”

"There are many other viable alternatives to single-use plastic drinking straws that are less harmful to the environment, wildlife and humans," she said.
她说：“有其他许多对环境、野生动物和人类更无害的可行选择可以替代一次性塑料吸管。”

Some people use straws to reduce the damage of sugary or acidic drinks to their teeth, or due to special requirements. "There are disabled people who write me to tell me they carry reusable straws with them -- many reusable straws even come with a carrying case," said Cress. "There are reusable glass, stainless steel, copper, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws."

有些人为了降低含糖或酸性饮料对牙齿的伤害或其他特殊需求而使用吸管。“有些不得不用吸管的人写信告诉我，他们随身携带可反复使用的吸管——许多这种吸管还自带收纳盒，”克雷斯说，“现在有可反复使用的玻璃吸管、不锈钢吸管、铜吸管、竹吸管，还有好几种其他类型的吸管可多次使用。”

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