Nobody cares how many straws you own... the (potential) issue was how many straws are discarded per day, and specifically how many made their way into waterways. It's no where near 500M - that is indeed an absurd number.
Being one order of magnitude right isn't sufficient here (he could have just as easily made up 999M and still be one order or magnitude right) - particularly when fabricated "data" was used to push for legislation that impacted so many people yet has had so little effect on the environment.
Additionally, this kind of stuff causes the public to lose faith in "science" and our legislators that push this type of agenda through.
Not one entity stopped to research the data themselves - they used a 9 year old's made up data to ram through laws. Really should give us all pause when considering new legislation.
Being one order of magnitude right isn't sufficient here (he could have just as easily made up 999M and still be one order or magnitude right) - particularly when fabricated "data" was used to push for legislation that impacted so many people yet has had so little effect on the environment.
Additionally, this kind of stuff causes the public to lose faith in "science" and our legislators that push this type of agenda through.
Not one entity stopped to research the data themselves - they used a 9 year old's made up data to ram through laws. Really should give us all pause when considering new legislation.