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Kids do it for fun at birthday parties. Merchants use them as
advertising
gimmicks. Our own government
does it in celebration.
At one
time or another we may have all done it, ignorant of the
consequences.
I am talking about the release of helium balloons into the atmosphere.
Question:
How, one might ask, is that doing any harm?
Answer:
What
goes up
must eventually come down and the problem, is
where
those brightly colored balloons with their long dangly strings come down..
Air
currents frequently float these helium-filled potential killers out
to sea
where they burst and enter the
water. Hungry sea
turtles,
mistaking the floating balloon for a jelly
fish, snap up the
balloon,
string and all. The turtles fill up
on plastic bags
and balloons, and then lacking nutrition, they starve to death.
Turtles
are not
the only
marine life affected by this simple toy.
A young sperm whale was found dying from a balloon stuck in its stomach
and three
feet of purple ribbon wound throughout its
intestines.
Balloons
have been spotted as far out to sea as 200 miles, generally
singly
but clusters have also been sighted. Balloons
released
in Toronto in a 1981 Balloon race were found in Souris, Prince Edward
Island, 1,392 km,
Pictou,
Nova Scotia, 1,352 km, Fuguay Varina, North Carolina, 933 km, and
Saint
‑Eleuthere, Que., 909 km. away from the release site. These
seemingly innocent party balloons are much hardier than we could ever
imagine.
Question:
Are there any alternatives to these helium-filled little killers?
For
the merchants, hand out balloons but let the
kids have
the fun of blowing them up. As for
the other
events,
would not the release of thousands of lady bugs have a greater
positive
impact to our environment? Or think of the beauty and
fun of releasing butterflies in celebration.
Plant a
tree, or visit a wood-lot.
If the event involves children, have
them make
some pine cones stuffed with peanut butter and
bird seed to take home to their backyards.
Why
not give nature a
hand? The next time you feel
like celebrating,
think of
some environmentally-friendly ways
to share your
happiness
with our earth, like freeing those
little bugs to do what they
like best
....eating up aphids.
Contact
Dee at dee74@shaw.ca. She'd love
to hear from you.
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