Grade 4 students lobby school to ban straws in an effort to save sea creatures
Stories of harm to wildlife prompt children at Fredericton elementary school to act
Horror stories of sea animals injured or killed by the plastics humans carelessly toss aside have inspired a Grade 4 class in Fredericton to act.
The children at Gibson-Neill Memorial Elementary School have succeeded in convincing their cafeteria to do away with plastic straws in an effort to prevent harm to wildlife.
It all began after watching some disturbing videos showing the damage the straws can do, including one of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose.
"The animals, it just makes you want to stop this," said student Xavier Kaiser.
The students decided to write a letter to their principal and cafeteria head, explaining why the straws should be banned.
Sharon Hachey, who works in the cafeteria, said she took the letter home, and after talking about it with her grandson, decided it was "a very educated move" to remove them.
"She snapped right away and took out the straws. That was really surprising," said student Max Waugh.
Now, the class is showing other students how to drink straw-less.
They're also sharing the reasons for the straw ban with the rest of the school — and their families.
"My dad never knew anything about it," said Lily Morgan. "He knew there was a landfill but he didn't know that straws were hurting things and stuff."
Student Isabella McClosky says with the entire school on board, she's hoping she can convince her mother too.
"I was telling her I was not going to use a straw no more," she said. "And she said, 'But one person is only going to make a teeny tiny difference,' and now I'm like, 'What about 600 people?'"
Their next move is to convince other schools in the district to stop using plastic straws.
"Then Fredericton, then New Brunswick, then Canada, then North America, and then just the world," said Waugh.
With files from Catherine Harrop