Have you heard? Apparently, plastic straws aren’t a problem. Yet, when I walked the beach in Carlsbad on Friday, I found all of these.

During a White House announcement, Trump stated that paper straws “explode” and added, “I don’t think plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean.”

My personal record for the most straws picked up in a single beach walk is 200. Now that the president has claimed that plastic straws don’t harm sharks, should I just leave them behind? It’s an ironic question, but out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT what I should do.

Here’s the advice I received: “𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘱? 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯!”