When the Jesuits in Cambodia gathered for the usual days of prayer, discussions and celebrations in honour of St Ignatius this year, one interesting outcome was the decision to practise a unified, symbolic action to strengthen the Jesuit witness of working for ecological conversion. Such would be a communal response to the Holy Father’s invitation towards care for our common home in Laudato si’.  So, during the meeting held from July 27 to 29, they decided that this symbolic action would take the form of giving up the use of plastic straws.

The suggestion to consider a communal response was raised by Fr Gabby Lamug-Nañawa SJ, Director of the Jesuit Service Cambodia Ecology Program. Various responses were considered to live greener lifestyles, for example saying no to plastic bags, reviving the practice of not eating meat on Fridays, and ceasing to buy bottled water. In the end, the group chose to adopt what Fr Gabby and his team had begun some years back – to stop using straws. “When we visit some of our favourite eating places, some attendants already know us by our advocacy and say, ‘Oh the group that doesn’t like straws is here!’” said Fr Gabby.

In Cambodia, plastic straws are frequently given and used, with little thought or reflection.  Iced coffee, sugarcane juice, fruit shakes and even bottled water automatically come with a straw, whether the customer asks for one or not.

Fr Gabby explained that plastic straws are symbolic of what is unnecessary in our lifestyles. Beverages taste the same, with or without a straw, and if they do make a difference, he says, it is a difference we can easily do without.

Straws naturally (or rather, unnaturally) add to the exponentially growing problems of solid waste management.  A handful of straws can always be found in any given square metre of garbage in the city or countryside.  They add to the litter in the streets and furthermore, are not yet among the plastics that are recycled in Cambodia.

When these straws, along with other garbage, find their way to rivers and seas, marine life and birds eat them, and they become a real and lethal threat to wildlife.  In previous reflection sessions on Laudato si’, Fr Gabby had shown members of the mission videos of the birds in the Pacific whose populations are being wiped out because many of their young are dying after eating plastic refuse. Another video showed a concerned group of biologists excruciatingly trying to extract a plastic straw from the air passage of a marine turtle which had nearly choked on it.

Members of the Cambodia Mission have therefore committed to:

• Refuse plastic straws when these are offered along with beverages;
• Briefly explain to shop attendants why we are refusing them (thus furthering the advocacy for the environment);
• Discontinue the purchase of straws for our houses and institutions;
• Ensure straws are not used in our events and gatherings;
• Share our decision with collaborators and friends and invite them to join us in this communal action.

Giving up plastic straws may appear to be a small effort but, as Fr Mark Lopez SJ, Coordinator of the Care for Creation Advocacy Desk of Battambang Prefecture, said, “It’s the first of hopefully many lifestyle changes we can make towards more sustainable living. Eventually, we will see that all this effort not to use straws will make little sense if we continue to be wasteful and unmindful in many other ways.”

Main photo: Screen grab from “Midway”, a short film by Chris Jordan