IT was less than a hundred years ago that people began releasing helium balloons as a means to celebrate. Since then, balloon releases have expanded to nearly every special occasion. From weddings to memorials, graduations to gender reveals, festivals to New Year’s Eve celebrations, each year sees millions of balloons released.
Helium balloons can float in the air for days and can land anywhere – land, trees, or water - littering the environment and becoming a danger to wildlife, farmed animals, and companion animals that may come across them and mistake them for something edible.
Studies show that more than 265 species of birds, fish, mammals, and marine turtles, including endangered and threatened species, have ingested or become entangled in marine debris, largely from balloon litter.
Even as a kid in the 90s it baffled me how it was acceptable practice to release what is essentially randomly deployed plastic waste.
Plastic, yes, bad.
But a chinese lantern made of thin metal and paper, released on a wet winter day? I can’t see that doing harm.
Except when the metal framework ends up in the sea or tangled up in a tree.
probably a stupid question but is metal bad for the sea?
It’s non-biodegradable litter so yes?
Mild steel in seawater is aggressively biodegradable. Probably more so than a lot of biodegradable bioplastics.
I was envisioning more that it wouldn’t degrade, and was just an inert frame that coral could nucleate off.
But metal corrodes, which I suppose could be toxic indeed
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One of these things is not like the other
Chinese lanterns, while not quite as damaging as plastic balloons, still have environmental impacts like wildlife ingesting or becoming entangled in the debris, fires, litter etc
Wood and paper, go on
Which is still plenty to harm wildlife and cause fires
Yes but should be fucking fireworks like the easily impressed north Americans. HisssssPOWahhhhhh
