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Happy Hour / A straw experiement 6-22-2018

On Thursdays I go out with my dear friend Kianna and we spend all afternoon bar hopping for happy hour drinks. We enjoy the sunny patios, the cheap cocktails and conversations with those around us. The day leads us into the evening where we make our way to the bars of the night life, and of course finally to VIP lounge with bottle service galore.
These Thursdays have become my science experiments on communication, consumerism, and consciousness.
    I know plastic straws are measurable on impact to our environment and so I take most Thursdays as a time to communicate with bartenders, servers, and friends. I will be sure to speak up, make eye contact, and say those words “no straw please..” with a murmured “they are killing the planet” under my breath. 
I tally how many people actually hear me, and that someone might speak up and say “hey that’s neat” but more likely a “oh she’s a no straw girl.. i don’t get it”
I go through my night adding volume to my conviction as the music gets louder. All in all, with many bartenders still giving me straws.. I find the result at the end of my night is usually Average to good. My ability to reduce the number of straws I went through, the conversations I had, and a couple times a high five for speaking up... 
and then I try the other route.
I take a Thursday and I say nothing and I watch my conversations, consumption, and the outcome... Let’s take a look.
on an average Thursday Kianna and I go to minimum 3 happy hours, each happy hour bar gives us 
1 straw per water
2 straws per cocktail with 
an average of 2 cocktails per spot.
That number is so far 15 straws and its not even 8pm yet.
Let’s move on to the night life.. with dollar night at johnny kaws, I get 1/2 straws per drink in disposable plastic cups no straw.. this number adds up considering the flow, size, and risk of spilling the drinks. Last but not least, bottle service at a fine nightlife bar. Quality products with reusbable cups, and entire supply of straws per table, I’m assuming with no wrapper on straws leaving them open for messy contamination, without us even using them they must still be thrown away.

I must say on theses Thursdays, my silence, in my head I hear myself saying “No straw please” and as the number starts to add up so quickly, I find my self in a part of my brain, shutting down an important functionality of mine. I start to mute my care, my passion. My feelling of “fuck it” starts to mute the singing in my heart.
In conclusion.
I watch myself shutting my own self down... a numbing in order to go on. And that feeling is a scary one to feed. 

The difference is less the impact i made on the world. More how its impacted my communication and awareness.
Its a practice of awareness, a show of passion in measurable amounts. More than a number of straws, it’s a number conversations, and practices to build strength and pride in reducing consumption 

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