Rhubarb: The alternative

As one can see, our rhubarb plant has become quite unkept over the past year. Its grown quite well over the past year but it seems to me that the only thing its good for is strawberry-rhubarb pie and personally I'd rather just eat the strawberries.
Today, however, I learned that the tubular structure of rhubarb can be quite handy when one desires a straw for their ice water. Its much less tolling on the environment than a processed straw and seems so much more natural.