The planet is on edge of a global plastic calamity

Recently there have been announcements that 10% of the plastic in the oceans is abandoned fishing nets: https://www.worldoceanfest.org/new-blog/2017/6/9/the-impact-...

Another estimate was that 95% of the plastic comes from just 10 rivers: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4970214/95-pl... - 8 of them in Asia, 2 in Africa.

(those two numbers seem to contradict each other, unless 5% of fishing nets come from the rivers, but still - then they should focus on getting the right numbers, and then act on those numbers).

Even the case against plastic shopping bags is not so clear cut. Energy waste might be much higher for the alternatives. Assumptions that a non-plastic shopping bag can be used hundreds of times are overly optimistic. They get broken or lost much sooner.

Plastic packaging might be a huge boon to food hygiene. I don't think food manufacturers are doing it just for fun.

But no, we have to outlaw drinking straws. I'm sure that will save the planet.

I get it - drinking straws simply seem superfluous. So why not just regulate them away. But there is another fundamental issue here: why, indeed, simply regulate every detail of people's lives? There is a fundamentally anti-freedom attitude at work here.

Lastly, compared to global warming, plastic is not even a real issue. Earth itself probably doesn't care. Eventually, after a few hundred or thousand years, it will find a way to break down the plastic. Then again, maybe nature also doesn't care about global warming.