Empowering Youth Can Save Our Oceans

September 11, 2017 3 min read

In Nov of 2016, One More Generation founders Olivia (14) and her brother Carter (16) launched their global OneLessStraw Pledge Campaign in an effort to help clean up our environment and educate people on the harms of using single use plastic straws.

olivia and carter ries

Some interesting facts: Did you know that in America, we are using an estimated 500,000,000 plastic straws every single day? That is the equivalent to 1.6 straws for every man, woman and child living in this country every single day. If you were to take an entire day's worth of plastic straws, they would fill up over 127 school busses. That is like over 46,400 school buses full of one-time use plastic straws that are ending up in our landfills and waterways every year. Sick isn't it?

Since the launch of the campaign we have had over 3,000 people from over 44 countries around the world sign our on-line pledge form stating that “they promise not to use a single use plastic straw for at least 30-days”.

Almost 300 partners from around the world have also joined their OneLessStraw Partners Page and helped to share their initiative with their fans.

map straw partners

We have had schools, restaurants, resorts and even zoos and aquariums sign-on showing their support for this important issue. If your organization would like to be listed as a partner, just email us your logo and website link you want associated with the logo for consideration. Olivia and Carter realized that reducing our plastic footprint could be very easy to do; we just need to say 'NO' to single-use plastics such as straws. To encourage everyone to stop using single use plastic straws, we have partnered with the folks at Simply Straws, who has a great offer: they will send everyone who signs our OneLessStraw pledge a coupon for a free glass reusable drinking straw (excluding postage) to help them stay plastic straw free forever.

We are asking schools across the nation and even in select countries to have their students participate in the program. Schools signing on are listed as partners on our Partners Page and on our interactive Google map.

Students are then given the opportunity to sign the pledge stating they promise not to use a single plastic straw for at least 30-days. Students are also encouraged to speak with their favorite restaurant and ask them to participate by signing a pledge stating they promise to only hand out straws upon request for 30-days. We even have cool campaign buttons for servers to wear which helps explain the campaign to their customers. The buttons are FREE (just pay postage) and are now available in nine languages

If you have a school/district or restaurant you would like to speak with about taking the pledge, just email us (info@onemoregeneration.org) and we will help you work out the details.

The OneLessStraw.org website has lots of resources and a cool interactive Google map which will tracks the progress of the campaign around the country and even around the world.

The very first restaurant to join the campaign was North Beach Bar and Grill in Tybee Island GA and they are already reporting that their staff loves the idea and even the customers are gladly participating. Check out the testimonial they sent.

Message from Kathryn Williams:

The pins are a hit! Thank you again for including us in this project. Progress is being made - I had lunch with 7 people today at the Grill. Only 1 of the 8 asked for a straw and was then shamed by the rest of the group:)

As you can see, the campaign is designed to be fun and produce long-lasting results. We encourage everyone to download the pledge forms (also available in Spanish) from our website or complete the online version.

Thank you in advance for helping us make sure this campaign is a huge success by sharing with everyone you know and please be sure to email us your signed pledge form today.

“Remember, anybody can make a difference… if we can, you can too.”


Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.