Let's get to work! Action Plan & Toolkit
Record Pledges:
Click here for our google form to recored your personal or institutional pledge.
Thank you to Senator Liz Krueger and our panelists for fantastic discussion on October 25th! Click here to review their bios and connect to their websites.
How-To Video!
THANK YOU to Rob Almanza and Danielle Billera of SUGARCANE Raw Bar and Grill for hosting us for a wonderful conversation! We are also thrilled to celebrate SUGARCANE for making the switch to sustainable corn syrup straws!
Action Planning
- Phase 1: Get Connected and Informed.
- Download the app: STSV Last Straw Campaign. (links above)
- Make your own pledge to reduce your use of plastic straws, and start learning together about how to encourage others to be part of this national work.
- Start making your list of people, schools, restaurants, businesses, and offices that you will plan to approach.
- If you are thinking BIG - like a local or national chain, start researching decision makers and how to approach them. Consider rallying your school community for a letter-writing campaign or something similar.
- Make a list of what you know and don't know about the plastic straws issue - search out the info you need to be an informed advocate!
- Phase 2: Make connections; identify and celebrate allies.
- Put the roots in 'grassroots' and start with people and places where you have connections. Survey your local neighborhood for possible businesses or community groups to approach about reducing or replacing plastic straws.
- Coffee shops, community centers, bubble tea stores, restaurants - any place where straws are served! Ask your friends and family about their use of plastic straws - why do people feel they need them?
- Talk to your school leadership. Ask them who makes decisions about cafeteria/beverage supplies, and how to start a conversation.
- Identify any neighborhood restaurants or businesses already engaged in best practices with plastic straws - and make a personal effort to congratulate them!
- Be sure to enter their names into the pledge sheet on the app so we can add them to our map of businesses doing good work!
- Phase 3: Start conversations and ask for pledges.
- Write a letter, or stop by in person to ask for a meeting with your school and the businesses on your list, and create a script or action plan for in-person conversations.
- Set up a meeting date or a time to bring your proposal to your community member. Work to develop a positive relationship that can lead to more conversations in the future!
- If they are in: ask them to sign the pledge on the app!
- If they aren't ready to make a change: Listen! Learn about what the barriers and concerns are for community members.
- Plan to follow up with more information and resources by email.
- Reflect on your process and community impact, and think about how that will improve your plan going forward.
- Phase 4: Continued outreach, celebrate successes.
- Keep going! Keep reflecting on what you've learned about plastic use in your local area and how that connects to our global concerns.
- Consider writing an article for school paper, creating a piece of art about what you have learned, or writing letters to your government representatives about your work in your community.
- Share your knowledge and the results of your community action as part of your school’s Earth Week celebrations.
- April 27th: Conference Day! We'll share out our experiences, and celebrate all the people and institutions who have pledged to reduce or replace plastic straws!
- We can't wait to show off a map of manhattan filled with 'pins' of businesses who are reducing or eliminating single-use plastic straws!
Toolkit
Check back soon for sample introductory emails/letter templates.
NYC Restaurants That are Already on Board: Give a Sip Campaign
Why it's not a 'ban.' Members of our communities who have allergies to metal, or need straws in order for foods to be accessible, have asked that the organizers behind the straw ban consider their unique concerns. This article explores how this issue played out in Seattle. How would you suggest anti-single-use plastics campaigns be more inclusive?
Why is reducing plastic straws important? Some argue that the plastic straw ban is either unnecessary or won't do enough to mitigate plastic use problems. This article explores these arguments. As you propose that members of your community consider leaving straws behind, could you respond to these criticisms? Practice having a mock argument with your green team members. What solutions can you come up with?
How does reducing or replacing plastic straws benefit a business?
- Cost savings from reduced straw orders.
- It helps companies be regarded as socially responsible and conservation-minded.
- Social media recognition! Through our channels, as well as campaigns like NYC's Give a Sip.
What's so bad about single-use plastics? Click here for a fact sheet from Earth Day Network.