City Council Bans Balloons to Save Sea Creatures
Sun, Mar 9, 2008
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A British town council has banned balloons from some events, citing the health risk to sea turtles.
Image from q-tal
The members of the Portsmouth City Council enacted the ban recently after environmental campaigners expressed their fears that burst balloons were making their way into the oceans and choking dolphins, sea birds and turtles to death.
Some have branded the city councilmen “killjoys”, but they deny the charges. The council’s executive member for the environment, Jason Fazackarley, said: “I am not a killjoy. Balloons may look nice but once they are released into the atmosphere, whoosh, they are gone. Then they might choke some innocent turtle to death. They think it is a jellyfish and eat it and die horribly and slowly.”
He was quick to point out that not all balloons were banned. The ban applies to balloon releases on land. Mostly this applies to events like business openings or charity fundraisers.
At least one charity was upset by the ban. Helen Somerset-How of the Rainbow Centre near Portsmoth described how the group raised more than £1000 for charity last year by selling balloons that were later released in a race. She said: “We sold each balloon for five pounds which raised funds for us. What else are we supposed to do – cut a ribbon? That’s nothing compared to the fun and visual impact of a balloon race.”
Balloons have been found to kill some marine animals, generally ones who mistake the latex for jellyfish or another form of food. The latex of a balloon can block breathing passages or block the animals’ digestive systems, causing a painful death. Some small animals can also get tangled in the balloons’ ribbons and die.
Info from Telegraph
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“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else.”
March 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I’ve often wondered what ever happened to all those balloons that were released to celebrate a grand opening or something. I’d imagined they would merely end up as litter. More pollution for some poor soul to clean up many, many miles away. I never imagined they might actually be lethal to wildlife.
Anyone who’s upset by not being allowed to release so much pollution into the world would do well to think how they’d feel if I stuffed a week’s worth of my garbage through their letterbox. Not too chuffed I imagine! Just because you throw it up into the air instead of throwing it down onto the ground doesn’t make it any more acceptable. Litter is still litter.
Steve N Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com