One day as Jasper Ralph was sitting in a restaurant in Martha’s Vineyard enjoying a cool drink, he started to wonder about the plastic straw in his glass. He hadn’t asked for it, and he didn’t want it: it seemed like such a waste. So he created a group wit h other students called Straw Free MV, and together they convinced many businesses on the island to only give out straws to customers when they specifically asked for them. That was just the beginning: Jasper and his friends soon expanded their goal to advocate for a new bylaw that would ban the sale of plastic bottles smaller than 34 ounces on the island. So far they have gotten the bylaw passed in three of the island’s six towns.

“We really do have the power to change what is happening,” Jasper says. “Adults listen to kids: when they see that kids are standing up for something, it makes it look like it’s really important.”