Balloons and Plastic/Pollution
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Let's face it. A large percentage of helium-filled festive party balloons get released into the environment. Historically much of this was intentional, with massive releases at sporting events and festivals. Recently, more releases seem to be unintentional accidents or intentional by uninformed persons. It's a fact that free-flying balloons sooner or later loose helium and drift back down to earth. They blow in the wind, get entangled in fences, and, in the case of metal-coatings such as Mylar, often cause power lines to short out causing outages. A lot of coastal balloon releases end up in the waterways and into the ocean. Here their colorful coatings and messages of good things will decompose and leave behind an amorphous, translucent plastic bag. Whether they float on the surf for a while or sink slowly in the water column, they are aesthetically unpleasing and, more importantly, dangerous to marine life. There are many animals in the ocean that feed on semi-transparent gelatinous animals such as jellyfish, salps, ctenophores, and more. These predators can confuse a decomposed balloon with a prey species and consume it, only to cause its unfortunate death. I believe helium filled balloons should be banned to save the environment.
"Balloons blow. Don't let them go."
http://www.balloonsblow.org
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Read MoreLet's face it. A large percentage of helium-filled festive party balloons get released into the environment. Historically much of this was intentional, with massive releases at sporting events and festivals. Recently, more releases seem to be unintentional accidents or intentional by uninformed persons. It's a fact that free-flying balloons sooner or later loose helium and drift back down to earth. They blow in the wind, get entangled in fences, and, in the case of metal-coatings such as Mylar, often cause power lines to short out causing outages. A lot of coastal balloon releases end up in the waterways and into the ocean. Here their colorful coatings and messages of good things will decompose and leave behind an amorphous, translucent plastic bag. Whether they float on the surf for a while or sink slowly in the water column, they are aesthetically unpleasing and, more importantly, dangerous to marine life. There are many animals in the ocean that feed on semi-transparent gelatinous animals such as jellyfish, salps, ctenophores, and more. These predators can confuse a decomposed balloon with a prey species and consume it, only to cause its unfortunate death. I believe helium filled balloons should be banned to save the environment.
"Balloons blow. Don't let them go."
http://www.balloonsblow.org
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