No balloons, please

[marlingardener]

'Tis the season for graduations, weddings, family celebrations. Please, please do not release balloons to celebrate! The balloons are a hazard to wildlife--birds ingest them, use them for nesting material that is terrible for the chicks, and litter trees. Also, cows will eat plastic and that can be fatal when lodged in their stomachs.
There are alternatives that are equally festive. Giving guests a small container of soapy water and a "bubbler" ends up filling the air (temporarily) with beautiful bubbles. If you need to show where a celebration is to occur, put up a sign, don't put several balloons on a gatepost.
Here is an example of the bubblers. Everyone can have fun, and no wildlife suffers!

 

[zigs]

Good call @marlingardener

We had a fad for those stupid lanterns that folk lit and let go into the air

Join our campaign to ban sky lanterns

Sky lanterns litter the countryside, cause fires and injure animals. See if your council has banned the use of sky lanterns.

www.countrysideonline.co.uk

Basically it was sending an incendiary bomb into the air with no regard for who ever it burned to death.

 

[Tetters]

What a brilliant post/thread @marlingardener !!! If only a few people take notice it will be a good result. One of those 'chinese lanterns' came down in a field near here a while ago, and I saw lambs playing with it - so dangerous to them, so climbed over a fence to retrieve it before too much damage was done.

If only ''humans'' could use the brains they were given, and common sense and thoughtfulness were adopted, our animals and wildlife would be so much better off.

I personally would like to see the obliteration of plastic netting too that gardeners use to drape all over beans and other plants - that can kill our wildlife and slowly maim animals like hedgehogs

and foxes

 

[zigs]

There was an article on the local radio about sky lanterns today, can't find a link to that but I found this in the local newspaper site...

Warning issued over 'inappropriate' trend during Clap for Carers

Kent Fire and Rescue Service and the National Fire Chiefs Council have strongly advised against the use of Chinese lanterns

www.kentlive.news