EarthXFilm has launched Strike Out Straws, in which individuals and businesses can pledge to stop using single-use plastic straws. People can take the pledge online at earthxfilm.org/strike-out-straws-pledge/#pledge. EarthXFilm has also partnered with vendors to provide discounts on reusable or biodegradable paper straw alternatives to plastic straws.

Single-use plastic straws are consistently among Ocean Conservancy’s top 10 items of beach litter. According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an organization working to eliminate plastic pollution and its adverse impact on the environment and wildlife, more than 300 million pounds of plastic are produced each year, and an estimated 5 trillion non-biodegradable plastic particles are already bobbing throughout the oceans. It is estimated that 1 million sea birds, 100,000 mammals and countless fish are killed every year due to ingesting plastic or getting entangled in plastic pollution.

Australian scientists Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox estimate, using trash collected on U.S. coastlines during cleanups over five years, that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying around America’s shorelines” They further estimated that 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws litter the entire world’s coastlines.

EarthXFilm’s Strike Out Straws goal is to eliminate 1 million straws by April 2019. Dallas area restaurants and hotels that have taken the Strike Out Straws pledge include Al Biernat’s Oak Lawn and North locations, Alinea Restaurant, Cindi’s New York Deli & Restaurant, Houlihan’s, The Keg Steakhouse + Bar, Embassy Suites by Hilton Denton Convention Center, and Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. People can further create awareness by simply requesting, “No straw, please” at bars and restaurants.