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Its those memorial balloons. The country I hike and hunt in is mostly grass and sage. So it is easy to spot and see the balloons laying around in the grass from a distance.
The areas are downwind of the Seattle metro area by a distance of 100 to 300 miles. Not sure if that is the point of origin for most of them.
It is litter. The wildlife impacts I suppose are minor. I don't like litter.
Oh, you're talking about Seattle- a special place loaded with Liberals always doing those Snowflake things like releasing balloons to get that warm & fuzzy feeling. I stand down. It probably is a significant problem there where you are.
We probably do agree on this subject-- in principle it's litter but probably doesn't amount to any real problem in practice.
What about the a-holes that toss beer cans out the car windows? Way more common than finding balloons. I've never seen a deer or bumble bee choke on one, but I don't like having to police the frontage of my property along the road every week....Now, if they were full, unopened cans, maybe I'd see a good side to it.
Well whether balloons are a major problem, they are probably not, but they do impact at least some, probably not a huge amount of wildlife. But litter is litter no matter what. I guess it's the old girl scout in me, don't litter and leave a place cleaner than when you got there. I've even instilled that in my son. If we are at a outdoor place, swimming hole, park, forest, and there is some litter around we pick at least some up and dispose of it properly. Certainly can't be a bad thing to not litter in the first place. If more people cared the world would be a much more pleasant place.
So I guess I'm a snowflake who doesn't like balloon releases, so be it.
Last edited by Izzie1213; 11-17-2018 at 08:40 PM..
Well whether balloons are a major problem, they are probably not, but they do impact at least some, probably not a huge amount of wildlife. But litter is litter no matter what. I guess it's the old girl scout in me, don't litter and leave a place cleaner than when you got there. I've even instilled that in my son. If we are at a outdoor place, swimming hole, park, forest, and there is some litter around we pick at least some up and dispose of it properly. Certainly can't be a bad thing to not litter in the first place. If more people cared the world would be a much more pleasant place.
So I guess I'm a snowflake who doesn't like balloon releases, so be it.
No, it's the snowflakes who release balloons.
If you go back to the first page of posts here, you'll see my first comment was really an observation about TreeHuggers-- they always seem to be unhappy and complaining about something... even insignificant events that are meant to bring a little joy into some lives.
Maybe the thread should have been started to discuss the advantages of cleaning up litter-- as you say--Carry out what you carry in. Leave the place a little cleaner than you found it.
Surprised no one brought up power lines. Mylar balloons regularly cause power outages when they hit power lines/utility poles. Just outside the hospital where I work is a main feeder line that supplies the hospital with power. Mylar gift balloons are always at the hospital. At least three times that I know of one of those balloons slipped loose and hit the pole causing a power outage to the hospital. Now imagine a memorial type balloon release. Winds and weather conditions can cause a series of blackouts in and around the area of the release. Is the release near an airport? What about planes taking off or landing? What about airport radar?
Birds cause 1 fatal airplane crash per one billion flying hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_strike although there are 13,000 birdstrikes per yr. Jets are designed tough.
Mylar balloons caused 300+ power outages (In Ca alone?) in 2012 https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/w...e39197307.html Interesting article-- it says Mylar balloons rise to 3-4000 ft, pop and the balloon falls otherwise intact to earth, while latex balloons can keep expanding with lowered air pressure at altitudes up to 100,000 ft (!!) and can reach a diameter of 40ft (!!!)Due to the very cold air at that altitude, they get brittle and rupture into a gazillion little pieces.
The Forest Ranger from Death Valley interviewed says he's always finding Mylar balloons scattered about. Note that Death Valley is located downwind from LA with all its MoonBeamLiberals. Perhaps we should just outlaw MoonBeamLiberals? It's better to treat the cause of the problem and not just the symptom.
I constantly see memorials and other miscellaneous ceremonies that release balloons. I cringe whenever to see one. Can't help but wonder where all that plastic and mylar balloons end up. In my eyes it's littering. Why not candels or some non pollution causing ceremony.
Not sure what "memorial" you're talking about. We don't release balloons around here for anything. Didn't even do it when the Eagles won the Superbowl. What about pigeons?
I've seen a bunch of memorial balloon releases on news etc. There are quite a few on YouTube. These are just a few. Many are done for a rememberable type ceremony for someone who had died. Sad, but I wish they would find another way to have a memorial. Plant a tree or trees. Plant tulips. Spread wild flower seeds in a meadow. Just something that would help rather than hurt.
I see the word b.a.n. written all over it. How much time do you give it?
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