Fireworks are a lot of fun, but it’s not so great for the environment, the wildlife or for pets
Happy New Year! Today we celebrate the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, and I want to wish you all a happy new year. I hope everyone had a nice 2017, and hopefully 2018 will be even better. We all celebrate this event differently, but a lot of countries send up a lot of fireworks during the changing of the years, and this is what I wanted to take a closer look at today.
Fireworks in Australia. Image by Alex Sims, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
We all enjoy the fireworks, but is it really worth is? Sure, it looks great up on the sky, but there are also many problems with this type of entertainment. I’m going to be talking a lot about pollution and the effects on the wild animals, but let’s not forget that 11,000 people were injured and 4 died from fireworks in the US in 2016 during the 4th of July celebration. This does of course not tell us exactly how dangerous the New Year Eve celebration will be, but it certainly shows us that fireworks can be really dangerous for us humans as well! So if you are going to launch fireworks today; stay safe, sober, and wear protective glasses!
How fireworks affect the local wildlife, as well as pets
Fireworks can be extremely scary for both wildlife as well as pets. One of the big problems that a lot of us has probably witnesses is that birds die when they are exposed to fireworks. What happens is that the birds panic, and fly while fearing for their lives, and end up hitting objects or each other. There are probably very many birds that die due to this each year, and we also see mass deaths every once in a while, where thousands of birds die at once.
It’s not easy to find good sources for finding out just how dangerous the fireworks are to the local wildlife, but we do know that it has harmful effects on birds, and most likely does on other animals as well.
Several studies have also shown that dogs are really afraid of fireworks, and I can verify that myself, since I will have to stay inside to try to soothe my dogs this evening. One of them gets panic attacks when the fireworks are at their fullest, so it can be really problematic for some dogs. The same anxiety problems have been reported from pet owners that have horses, birds, cats and pretty much all animals that are sensitive to noise.
How fireworks affect the environment
Fireworks are not good for the environment, and most of it contains pretty harmful chemicals. In order to get it up in the sky, perchlorates are used. This is a group of chemical molecules that are used as propellants, but are also toxic to humans. They inhibit the sodium-iodide symporter, which is important in creating thyroid hormones.
Anyway, the big problem with perchlorates is that it is soluble in water, and drinking water can become contaminated, and potentially cause harmful effects to humans. There have been lots of studies about this, and if you are interested, then I suggest that you check out this fact sheet about perchlorates, because they got lots of different sources for it, and it’s a good read. However, here is a good paper about perchlorates and fireworks that gives a decent idea about it.
The air itself is also polluted
In Norway’s largest city, Oslo, the amount of atmospheric particulate matter measured 525 micrograms per cubic meter of air on New Years Eve 06/07, which is considered very polluted air that should not really be used for breathing. This is generally not that harmful for healthy people due to the fact that it’s only this high for a few hours, but it could be a problem for people with heart-, or breathing problems.
A study from the 4th of July celebration in the United States have come to the same conclusion with the atmospheric particulate matter, but recorded much lower average concentrations. However, they also found that the amount of air pollution is very close to the 24h limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As a final point, many of the different colors in the fireworks are made from heavy metals, which are generally bad to get in your drinking water. There are many different heavy metals used, so I won’t go into any detail, but some of these could potentially be very bad to get in your drinking water.
Thanks for reading
The post has gotten pretty long already, but I could go on for even longer with this topic. I get that fireworks are beautiful, but I also think we need to think about the environment and other animals when we do stuff like this. I have personally never bought any fireworks, but I did of course enjoy it when I was young. For me it’s just not worth it, especially considering the fact that my dog gets a panic attack when he hears it. I also find it extremely counterproductive to purchase expensive stuff to blow up in the sky. Anyway, I don’t mean to judge anyone who intends to launch fireworks tonight, but I think it’s really important to be aware of the consequences and be educated about the choices you make.
Thanks for reading, and have a happy new year!
I follow you up on this one @Valth
Fireworks are a massive pollution source and can be a risk for many animals.
So 2017 was the first year I didn't buy any myself. Instead me, my wife, the two kids and our dog went out in the woods and had a campfire to celebrate the new year. Nothing beats a campfire, hot chocolate and marsmellows :)
Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn
Hi, @gyldenhorn.
It's great that you decided against buying fireworks this year! That sounds like a lovely way to celebrate New Years Eve. Me and my wife were actually talking about doing something similar, but ultimately had to decide against it because one of the dogs have an injury on his paw, so he can't go out for long walks at the moment.
How have previous New Year Eve's been for Frøya?
She is not reacting on any kind of high noise, so we have been lucky there.
But, I form next year our new cabin in the mountains are finished so then we are going to stay there in peace and quiet :)
Oh, you're very lucky then!
It sounds very nice to be able to spend that time in your cabin :)
Hi Valth. With this post you got me thinking about environmental ethics and consequentialism (see here for a webpage explaining consequentialism ). I think actually something like fireworks which is centrally planned and managed is a perfect activity that consequentialism can be applied to, as so often real life is so messy and chaotic consequentialism cannot practically be applied... but fireworks are calmly organised months and months in advance by a single organising body. It would be interesting to have like a public court or something to publicly debate the various drawbacks and advantages of them. I am sure many people would argue that the hedonistic pleasure that they supply to so many people outweigh the negative consequences. Of course environmentalists would be confident of blowing those arguments out of the water with the battalion of arguments against them. It would be an interesting excercise that could potentially pave the way for application of environmental ethics to other circumstances.
As a side, I see that there are some "green" fireworks that cut down on the harmful chemicals but they are not seen as cost-effective or viable!
That's a good point, @kate-m.
I'm not sure I get what you're saying by fireworks being calmly planned months in advance. Here in Norway, and I think also for the United States, we have to buy our own fireworks and launch it ourselves. I know some countries have public fireworks by the government, which is a lot better for the environment, because they can plan for things like breeding sites for birds, groundwater supplies etc., while regular people won't research this stuff.
Anyway, what you say about a public court to debate things like this by applying consequentalism sounds like an improvement for society, and I really think there are lots of traditions and "universally accepted practices" that should be debated and potentially reevaluated.
It's too bad that green fireworks is still unviable, but hopefully it will become more cost-effective in the future. I think at one point we humans need to face the fact that we do need to pay a little extra in order to take better care of the environment, but sadly most people seem to prefer to do what is cheapest and let other people take care of the consequences.
Ah yeah, I was thinking specifically of public firework displays!
It's not that green fireworks aren't viable, it's just that people aren't willing to pay the difference when standard fireworks are so cheap in comparison!
So it pretty much has the same issues most other green products have then. Hopefully it is something that people will start to care about in the future, or even better have the government enforce it.
You are correct about what you said about fireworks affecting animals. A stray dog once ran into my yard during a firework last year, he was so scared. I feed him, he stayed the night and left the following morning.
I have never really thought about the environmental consequence before thanks for the enlightening information and spreading awareness @valth. Happy new year
Happy new year to you as well, @abmakko! It was very nice of you to take care of the stray dog for the night. He was very lucky to run into your yard :)
I'm glad you learned something new about the consequences of fireworks, and thanks for leaving a comment.
Happy new year @valth!!!
I can definitely understand why the dogs get so scared. Fireworks would just be so foreign to them. Im human :P and yesterday morning the chinese in Liaocheng were "testing" their fireworks/crackers for their upcoming spring festival. When they went off I thought it was gun and mortar fire 😂.
I needly wet myself lol.
Happy new year to you as well, @strongerbeings.
Yeah, they can be extremely noisy, especially when you don't expect them to be used.
Good work, also a caution to humans, there are so many things we do today, accepted by many but yet most of them are disastrous to life.
Thanks @valth for sharing this.
I’m happy to have followed you.
Thanks for the comment and follow, @maxdevalue.
Yeah, there are so many things that are universally accepted based on a historic use or a tradition that can be really harmful for the environment or animals, but no one is willing to change it. I hope we are able to at least modify a lot of traditions in order to make them more sustainable in the future, so that we can keep this planet in a somewhat healthy shape.
Skal ærlig innrømme at jeg ikke har tenkt så mye på dette, men det er jo en liten tankevekker om hvor mange negative sider det har. Personlig skyter jeg ikke opp raketter av grunnen du nevner til slutt; At man skyter penger opp i røyk. Nå har jeg jo flere grunner til å ikke skyte opp neste år heller :)
Nei, det er jo fort sånn at man ikke tenker over ting som dette, og tradisjoner får ofte fripass for kritikk ettersom "det alltid har vært sånn".
Godt det er flere enn meg som ikke ser poenget i å bruke penger på fyrverkeri. Det finnes jo folk som brukes tusenvis av kroner for noen få minutter med raketter. Hvis man vil se fyrverkeri er det jo så mange andre som kjøper det, så det er heller ikke noe stort poeng å betale for det selv.
Takk for at du tok deg tid til å lese og kommentere forresten, @dieterschneider :)
Ja, det var mer enn nok raketter å se på nyttårsaften, og sønnen min var lei halvveis uansett :)
Hei! Dette var interessant å lese. Man tenkte kanskje ikke over disse tingene når man står og nyter synet av fyrverkeri. Tør ikke å tenke på hvor mye forurensing det ble av fyrverkeriet jeg så i Sydney sist nyttår. :/
Hei, @susanne!
Nei, det er fort gjort å ikke tenke over ting som dette mens man nyter synet av rakettene. Det er jo ikke til å skyve under en stol at det er vanvittig vakkert når hele himmelen lyser opp i alle slags farger, så jeg føler meg nesten litt kjip som "ødelegger" fyrverkeri for så mange ved å skrive poster som denne.
En ting jeg kan se for meg er bedre med fyrverkeri i Sydney kontra Norge er at jeg ser for meg at det er statlig organisert der, istedenfor at alle kjøper sitt eget fyrverkeri. En fordel med dette er at de kan ta hensyn til å drikkevannskilder, fuglereir og lignende, noe folk flest ikke bruker seg om når de gjør det hjemme i hagen. I tillegg har de gjerne litt mer rutine på opprydning, så det er i alle fall litt bedre når det organiseres på denne måten.
Takk for at du leste og la igjen en kommentar forresten! :)
@valth you raised a serious matter. Celebrating event is not a bad idea but distructing environment, endangering human life & wild life is a bad idea. you are absolutely right we should abstain from this activity to avoid heavy losses, in the end wishing you a very happy & blessed new year 2018
Happy new year to you as well, @kamchore.
Yeah, it would be nice if we could find a way to celebrate the event while being able to protect the environment at the same time. I hope we are able to make fireworks from sustainable sources in the future, or find some alternative way to celebrate it :)
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
yes alternative way with no or little impact on the surrounding will be a better choice. Thanks for your word of appreciation
In China people would have fireworks almost around the clock during Chinese New years. In a typical village or community it has become somewhat of a custom that every house hold set their fire works one after another until everyone is finish. The more fire works they set the more wealth it shows they have. Silly no?
On top of all this are the massive firework shows from the national and city government. Some firework shows last for hours.
In reality everyone is just celebrating for the upcoming year and want things to be great for the year. You are probably going to downvote me for bringing this up, but for many years this has been Chinese tradition so hard to break.
Of course I'm not going to downvote you for pointing out how it's like in China; in fact you will get upvote just like everyone who adds valuable comments to my posts :) I think it is really interesting to get opinions and experiences from other people that live in other parts of the world!
I talked a bit with other users about the same issue on the other comments, that traditions are very difficult to change, and they often don't get debated because everyone is so used to them. Older traditions are much harder to change than newer traditions, and seeing as fireworks have been used in China for a much longer time than the rest of the world, I expect it to be difficult to do much about it at the moment.
However, China is very good at creating renewable energy, so the younger generation there seem to care a lot more about the climate the most of the world, so maybe they will even be one of the first countries to change over to "green firework" that are more environmental friendly?
Appreciated for not down voting me.
You make a good point regarding the Chinese pushing for more green renewable energy. The Chinese make the most solar panels on earth and the government invests a lot of money in green projects. The idea of green fireworks has barely been brought out. I am afraid this tradition lasts not decades but centuries, maybe even millenniums? It will definitely be a challenge to overcome. Thanks.
Yeah, I think fireworks are over 1,000 years old, so it's a very long tradition. Green fireworks is not really that well known yet, but maybe it will be something the Chinese government wants to try out in a few years or so. At least we can hope :)
Your post has been discovered by @livesustainably I manage the#livesustainably tag.
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Great, I've never heard of this curation account before! I'll make sure to use the #livesustainaly tag the next time I write about sustainability :)
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