The after-party balloon effect

https://envirobites.org/2019/05/28/the-after-party-balloon-effect-disastrous-consequences-of-balloon-releases/

by sohkamyung • 7 years ago

78 60 7 years ago

envirobites.org

kjhughes• 7 years ago

See also The Balloonfest That Went Horribly Wrong

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/562556/cleveland-bal...

tdonovic• 7 years ago

The video is like it came from some alternate reality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0CT8zrw6lw

worldsayshi• 7 years ago

"No one's quite sure where they went but at least they are both longer posing a threat to fish and wildlife."

Goodie, I guess they went outside the environment then. /s

It's like no one of those who collaborated thought of the consequences past the first ten minutes of release and even days later people still fail to see past what's immediately perceptible.

thatoneuser• 7 years ago

"This will show Cleveland is a live and happening place"

"Cleveland will no longer be the butt of jokes"

They were releasing balloons... They weren't even trying to set the bar high and it still blew up in their faces...

justin66• 7 years ago

“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

latchkey4• 7 years ago

Like the war on plastic straws, this is such a small part of the problem. Come visit Cambodia or Vietnam and see the coastline. I've driven almost the entire coast of both countries and there isn't a single beach that isn't literally covered in heaps of trash.

p1necone4• 7 years ago

Well yeah, each individual type of thing is going to be a small part of the overall problem. But if it's the most effective way to get people to care then I don't have a problem with singling out plastic straws, or balloons or whatever.

Straws are a good one to single out too because a vast number of them come from just a few major fast food chains, so if you get them to care you get rid of them relatively easily.

This strikes me as another form of whataboutism, like "oh you're only dealing with such a small part of the problem, what about all this other stuff you're not doing, obviously you you shouldn't even bother". If noone ever bothers with the individual parts then the whole problem is never going to stop.

latchkey4• 7 years ago

Straws are a good one to single out too because a vast number of them come from just a few major fast food chains

At least in SE Asia, this is untrue. Nearly every single place that serves food puts a straw in your drink. From street vendors to restaurants.

I can agree with you that we need to keep bothering until it stops, but on a personal level after living in SE Asia for the last 3 years, I'm honestly of the opinion of trash being a hopeless problem on a global level.

Falling3• 7 years ago

Except straws make up less than a percent of ocean plastic, while almost half is fishing gear. Fishing is destroying the ocean for that and several other reasons. Even if we're wildly successful and completely outlaw straws and a dozen other things, the impact of the real problems is going to outweigh all of the former victories.

icegreentea2• 7 years ago

Sure, but the article calls out a variety of statistics that imply that balloons disproportionately good at killing animals.

Also, not doing balloon releases has literally no real drawbacks. I we can't get affect change here, we're so fucked.

latchkey4• 7 years ago

Yes, we are fucked.

Of course the article calls out statistics about balloons, because the article is about balloons. There is any number of ways that animals can die from trash.

You want to change things? Figure out a way to make biodegradable balloons less expensive than the rubber ones. Figure out a way to bio-engineer a bacteria that breaks down the rubber ones.

Reality is that getting people to stop releasing balloons, worldwide, isn't going to happen from a blog post or any amount of education or laws discouraging it.

fragsworth2• 7 years ago

It may not be a huge impact, but it's one of the easiest things to solve. It's just pointlessly messy and doesn't need to be a thing.

Symbiote• 7 years ago

The article says they're the main cause of death due to litter for seabirds.

deadbunny2• 7 years ago

And like most problems we approach them in small, manageable steps.

vosper• 7 years ago

Releasing these balloons is littering. It's exactly the same as throwing the empty balloon into someones garden or into a river. Get people to perceive it as littering and most will stop releasing balloons, or will no longer perceive it as cool or pretty. Make it seem gross. Shame any events that do this on instagram - that's probably a good start.

Then maybe we can get started on cigarette butts, the one thing that is bizarrely socially acceptable to litter anywhere - even in places with a strong social stigma for other littering.

fragsworth2• 7 years ago

I thought it was obvious to everyone that this is littering, but I forgot how stupid people are.

dgzl2• 7 years ago

That's pretty harsh and really incorrect. Some people didn't have great role models growing up to teach them these things and have to learn them themselves later on.

falcor84• 7 years ago

There's a very big difference between ignorance and stupidity

latchkey4• 7 years ago

I'm really hoping for a ban on tables next. https://imgur.com/a/JarB9mN

djsumdog• 7 years ago

A ban on throwing tables into a lake or ocean? That's probably be good ... pretty sure that's already banned in a lot of places. Illegal dumping and all.

dgzl2• 7 years ago

"If I could find a souvenir, Just to prove the world was here And here it is, a red balloon, I think of you and let it go"

daurnimator• 7 years ago

Where are you that cigarette butt litter is acceptable?

Here in Melbourne it was common ~10 years ago, but you barely see it now.... probably related to the >$600 on the spot fine if someone sees you do it.

doanerock• 7 years ago

I am surprised how incredibly lazy some people are. I have been standing at train stations waiting for the train to arrive and there is a trash can ten feet away and the smoker will just drop the cigarette right where they are standing.

rkagerer• 7 years ago

Are biodegradable alternatives to latex available?

e.g. Could you make balloons out of something like polyvinyl alcohol (think dishwasher pods) so that they dissolve in the rain?

dTal3• 7 years ago

Interesting idea. I would expect such balloons to pop far more readily, especially in a party environment or with human handling. But for an outdoor balloon release it could be just the ticket.

jnty2• 7 years ago

'Biodegradable plastic' is great I'm sure but it promotes bizarre thinking like this. How about we just decide not to have mass-pollution parties for no reason, rather than trying to reduce their impact with expensive new materials?

chrisseaton• 7 years ago

Are biodegradable alternatives to latex available?

Latex does biodegrade - the article says this.

Not as fast as would be ideal for balloons, and of course the balloons should just not be released. But latex is a natural organic product - it does biodegrade.

majos• 7 years ago

Weren't the original balloons animal bladders, which seem gross but certainly biodegradable?

dredmorbius• 7 years ago

Yes. Though think bigger.

benj111• 7 years ago

Why is it gross? Sausage skins are still commonly made out of pig guts.

The vegetables you eat are probably covered in insect poo, even more so for the expensive organic stuff.

Those leather shoes on your feet are the skins of dead animals.

Even plastic is made out of dead rotted dinosaur.

Theodores• 7 years ago

I normally see balloons and think of the wasted helium, which is a bit of a nerd response. We in tech worry about the loss of helium on these petty applications but lose this battle.

The damage to wildlife from ingested balloons and how they are more toxic than previously imagined is something I will be astro-turfing from now on. I care about the birds a lot more than the helium.

The after-party balloon effect

Related Stories