Thanks to Sierra magazine for this one:
I'm not big on beverages that require straws to drink, but if I were, I would get myself a made-in-the-USA reusable sipper from GlassDharma, the brainchild of glassblower David Leonhardt. I would also spring for a bamboo carrying case, because, well, how cool is that? (Answer: very.)
Reusable glass straws? Who woulda thunk? (Answer: more people than you might imagine; Leonhardt got the idea from a glass shop in his town.) And wouldn't a glass straw just break? Well, apparently not as easily as you'd think, because the company offers a lifetime guarantee against breakage.
That's a pretty good reason to opt for a reusable glass straw, which won't leach toxins into your beverage and won't take up space in the landfill. Granted, traditional straws probably don't represent a major percentage of the world's plastic waste, but every little bit helps. Furthermore, I have to believe that having these things in use out in the world has the potential to make observers reexamine the role that plastic plays in their lives.