WEBVTT

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Hi, my name is Molly Steer
and I'm nine years old,

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and I've just found out
that straws really do suck.

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Earlier this year, my mom and I
went to see a movie

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called "A Plastic Ocean."

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It was the first time that I've been told
that plastic never ever breaks down,

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but actually never goes away.

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The movie said 
that all over the world

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oceans are filling up
with our plastic rubbish.

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This plastic gets into our oceans
and hurts the marine animals.

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But not only that,

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when humans eat fish and seafood,

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we are eating the plastic
that they have eaten.

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Birds are eating broken up
bits of plastic and then starving

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because there's no room
left in their stomachs for real food.

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Turtles think that plastic bags
are jellyfish which is their favorite food.

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And we've all seen that plastic straws
stacked up on poor turtles' nose.

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It's not fair.

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On my way home from watching
the movie that night,

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I started thinking
about what I could do to help.

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I started thinking about plastic straws.

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They seem kind of harmless, don't they?

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But did you know, every day,

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humans use more
than 500 million straws?

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If you wind these up, end to end,

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that would wrap around 
planet Earth four times,

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every single day.

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I thought about how we only use
these plastic straws for a few minutes

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before we throw them in the bin.

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And what about the drinks
that come with more than one straw?

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It's crazy!

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The problem is: they
don't always go in the bin.

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They often end up
in the storm water drains

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and go to the ocean.

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And even if the straws
do make it to the bin, what then?

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What do you think happens to them,
once we throw them in the bin?

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As I said before,
plastic can't break down,

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so can't actually ever go "away."

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You see, when my mom tells me
to put my clothes "away,"

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I know where they go.

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They have a place to go,
but with plastic there is no "away."

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Did you know that the very
first plastic straw you've ever used

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is still somewhere on this planet?

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Somewhere.

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It will never break down
and it will never go "away."

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I knew that if my friends
knew about all this plastic,

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they all would help the ocean, too.

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After all, we live in Cairns,

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and the Great Barrier Reef
is our backyard ; it's our playground.

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I wanted to help the Great Barrier Reef,

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so I decided to try to get plastic straws
out of canteens of local schools.

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And of course, the first school
to start with was my own school.

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I felt really happy that all the teachers
at my school were so supportive of my idea

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and content to help
protect our environment.

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They were the first school to join in
with the Straw No More project.

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I then started talking
to other people about my idea,

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including the newspaper,
TV and radio stations.

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Because of this, other schools
from around Cairns heard about it,

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and said they wanted to join in too.

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Soon, we had messages
from people in South Korea,

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New Zealand,
England and America,

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as well as some other states in Australia,

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who wanted their schools to join in
with the Straw No More project.

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Now, I know there're some people
with limited movement of their arms,

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people in wheelchairs, for example,

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and I understand those people
really rely on straws.

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They need to use straws,
but most of us don't.

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Living straw free
is actually really simple.

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All you need to do
is make the decision to stop.

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Simple!

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And if you must use straws,
you can make sure it's a reusable straw.

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Bamboo, stainless steel,
glass and paper straws

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are much better alternatives
than plastic straws.

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Of course, you can just say,
"No to straws" altogether.

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When you buy a drink
at the take away shop or cafe,

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or a bar if you're a grownup,

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specifically ask for "no plastic straw"
and tell the staff member why,

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ask them to join in
with the Straw No More project

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as well as showing their customers
they care about our planet.

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Currently, 16 schools have agreed
to take the Straw No More project,

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which is about 10,000 kids
not using plastic straws,

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in their drinks, at school, every day.

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If each one of this kids was previously
using just one straw a day,

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that means a total
of three million less straws

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are going into our environment
near to the Great Barrier Reef

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each year.

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But my job isn't done yet.

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I'm going to keep going until plastic
straws are out of every school

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in Cairns,

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in Queensland,

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in Australia,

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and maybe one day, in the world.

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My name is Molly Steer and I hope
you'll agree, that straws really do suck!

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(Applause)