While I agree we are royally screwed (in multiple ways) I disagree about the straws vs lawn chairs comparison.
Straws are everywhere. Law chairs mostly end up at a waste facility when broken, because they are too heavy to be blown away. There they get burned (which is the only way to get rid of plastics, though not with it’s own set of problems) or they end up in a landfill, which is still better than spread as microparticles.
Banning any single use plastics (plastic cutlery, plastic ‘party’ cups, straws, plastic bags) would be a great idea. Just look around you in any city on earth.
Still, the clothing-lint problem is a touch one. I think I read the same conclusions in a german study a few years back. On a related note, I read somewhere that a large part (the largest part? can’t rmemeber) of the microplastics in the baltic sea was car tire particles, which are even more impossible to get rid off than clothing lint (filters on all highway sewers?)
I myself try to use only natural fibers and use the clothes as long as possible (repairing them instead of buying new ones for example). Cotton growing is very problematic as well, though. And sheep are a problem because of the methane. On top of that western culture is obsessed with cleanliness. Most people could easily wash their clothes half as many times without adverse effects.
Sometimes when I’m in a cynical mood I think the main problem is that there are just too many people on the planet and it will inevitably sort itself out in the least pleasant way.
/rambling
