I try to avoid arriving at airports early because it makes me feel like a chump. This dates from an incident thirty years ago when I observed a businessman board a full flight just in time to stow his bag and fasten his seatbelt before pushback. No waiting in line in the jetway, or standing in the aisle while every oddly-shaped package and grumpy baby is sorted. He seemed like a person whose time was valuable and well-managed. I strove to emulate him for years, with limited success.

My husband, on the other hand, loves waiting in the airport, where he can read, work, or browse uninterrupted while enjoying a coffee or beer.  His life is generally less stressful and more productive than mine.

Usually we compromise in such a way that no one has time to read and both of us have to wait. On our recent quick trip to New Jersey, though, we left for both airports early, and I ended up wandering around JFK for thirty minutes looking for unsweetened iced tea. I couldn’t find any in a disposable bottle, so I stopped at a small cafe with high-end brewed beverages served in cups with lids. Both of these container types are plastic, but this fact did not penetrate my consciousness during the search. However, when the server offered me a plastic straw, I declined.

I hang out with a lot of current and future marine biologists now, and all of them hate plastic straws. Straws are always in the top ten list of marine trash, but so are plastic bottles. I think straws incite the particular ire of ocean advocates because they are hard to recycle and seem unnecessary.  In any case, I reflexively reject them now.

My server, very competent but not especially friendly up to that point, was struck by this apparently odd request and became quite engaged. She had never heard that plastic straws cause problems for marine life, and was not aware that paper straws existed. She was an immediate convert, resolving to tell others about the problem and to seek paper straws for her shop.

It was gratifying. I should spend time at the airport more often.