Good for the Environment AND Your Teeth.

I wish I could remember what I was watching, maybe an episode of Wife Swap? I just have a vision of a man and woman sitting down for their morning coffee...and sipping it through a STRAW. I thought this was a little odd. First, they must have let it cool considerably because a hot beverage shot to the back of the throat would really sting. Second,...why would they do this? The woman's reasoning was that it was to protect their teeth, which makes a lot of sense. There are a ton of teeth whitening products on the market and any one of them will tell you that coffee is one of the leading causes of stains on teeth. Hmmm, am I missing out?

I'm not a straw person. If I'm having the occasional fast food lunch with a drink, I will use a straw, but only because the cups are not all that stable and I would never consider taking the top off. If I'm at home or at a restaurant that serves regular glasses (or plastic), I drink from the glass even when straws are provided (which I know some people would NEVER do because they do not feel comfortable that the glasses are properly sanitized). Hubster and the kiddos always prefer straws, even at home.

So with all the straws that get used daily, at my house and at every where else in this country, how much plastic are we throwing away daily? Think about it. how many straws do you think the average fast food restaurant goes through daily? I worked at several "casual dining" restaurants and can tell you that we went through boxes of straws on a daily basis. That's a lot of plastic getting tossed into our landfills.

So...What do we do?

Glass Dharma!

Created by glassblower, David Leonhardt, Glass Dharma has a large variety of sustainable, reusable, elegant (if you want them to be) glass straws.

I was a little skeptical when they sent me a selection. I looked at the different sizes and thought "Will I ever really use these?" Before I could get them out of the boxes I was surrounded by four (mine and two neighbors) very excited and very eager kids who just had to try them out. The excitement and fun they had using these glass straws was enough to sell me on them. I also felt confident that they were safe and were not going to break. They are both microwave and dishwasher safe. They also come with a lifetime warranty and if one does break it will be replaced at no cost.

I have yet to use one, but being an avid wine enthusiast, have heard about drinking wine through a straw to prevent "purple teeth" while drinking. I'm going to embark on a social experiment. I have been invited, by a friend, to join a Bunko game this evening and (other than my friend) will know no one at the party. I'm taking some wine, my stemless glass (a straw would look funny in a stemmed glass, right?) and my very pretty straw that looks like the ones above. I will tell my friend (and no one else, at least in the beginning) about my experiment and together we will see how well these glass straws are received. Find out tomorrow If I make new friends, or get laughed at for such a silly idea. I think we might all get surprised.