By Harlan Flamm
My name is Harlan Flamm and I am a 6th grader at IMS. I would like to tell you a little bit about my story. It all started last summer when I went to visit my grandma in Florida. When I got to my grandmother’s we went to go visit a sea turtle in the Loggerhead Marine Life Center Hospital. There I saw so many injured turtles. And oddly enough, most of them had the same story. They had all been poisoned or had buoyancy issues because of plastic that they consumed, incorrectly believing what they were digesting was food. Right then, I thought this issue could easily be fixed and came up with a plan.
I wanted to do the best that I could to reduce plastic usage at a large scale and work with corporations such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Intercontinental Hotels, Choice Hotels, Disney, and others. My goal was to get them to make straws optional and have compostable utensils. I talked to the offices of corporate responsibility. Though they were really nice, it did not look like they would follow up. Although if corporations and businesses get enough emails like mine, in the future, they might just change their policies.
My other goal was to get businesses to do the same thing on a local level. First, I used a petition that I took to the school and got 101 signatures with the help of my friends Adarsh and Nathan. Then Adarsh and I took the petition to local businesses and told them how they could help sea turtles. These businesses included Brrzaar, Red Barn, Black Cat, and Geordanes. There was even one quote from a business owner,” I don’t want to do it if it is just a trend, but I will do it if it is genuine and more people want me to do it.” So if more people in Irvington took action, we could get a lot more done.
After talking to the owners, I used a rating system to see how well they are currently doing in terms of helping the environment. The ranking system works as follows:
Angelfish: Put up a sign that says plastic straws are optional because they hurt the environment.
Manta ray: you also use paper straws.
Sea lion: you use compostable utensils as well as straws.
Orca: go completely waste free.
The way these businesses stand right now is Red Barn: orca. Geordanes: sea lion. Brrzaar: sea lion. Black Cat: Sea lion. If people in Irvington let the businesses know that they care, this list is going to grow. Hopefully in the future sea turtles will stay out of hospitals.
