AIBU to object to balloon and lantern memorial releases for environmental reasons ?

Even though some of those heirs will be related to @BeSunnyLemonSheep(children/nieces/nephews/grandchildren) that she presumably does care about. I just can’t imagine being so cavalier about the planet and then passing it on to the next generation. I’m really embarrassed for @BeSunnyLemonSheep for not managing any joined-up thinking.

They're not 'with you ', though. You may think about them from time to time, but death isn't an abstract concept.

I'm so sorry that you are mourning @BeSunnyLemonSheep. Losing someone you have loved is horrible. I miss my mother terribly and my wonderful mother and father in law and some very close friends as well. Like everyone, I've learned that grief is a raw and terrible thing, but those we love who have died will always be with us in some way. For me, as a Christian, I take comfort knowing I'll see those I have loved when I get to heaven. For you? Perhaps the same, or perhaps going to a stream and watching paper boats float away down the water. Perhaps encouraging butterflies into your garden and watching them fly away. How we deal with loss is a very personal thing, but what would your loved one have wanted you to do? Would your family member have wanted animals to suffer and die to help people remember them? If you have or they had pets, would they have wanted someone's balloon to end up in their stomachs? Mourning is healthy. Grief is natural. Deliberately dealing with this with balloons is not.

Balloon release etc have only become popular since Social Media became a thing .. so people can show his much sadder they are than you.

It’s all a rather tawdry performance.

There are so many alternatives!

Absolutely agree! It's moronic and people who do it are stupid. In no way does it pay tribute to anyone, it's just a danger to wildlife and it's been well advertised as such.

However those groups will see it as the only way and tell anyone who questions it to f##k off.

We don't 'need' an alternative, it's a new trend that's been invented in the past few years for people who want to put their grief on social media

I think this balloon thing is really out of control. And quite expensive tbh. Are these balloons the same sort as you can buy for Children's birthdays in card shop!

The ones that are made from man made fibres and flashy coloured plastics which take forever to decompose probably pollute landfill
sites

Planting a few bulbs or small shrub in the garden in loving memory or a small water feature. Used to be fairly common back in the day and was considered to be really respectful and very cherished

Completely agree!!! But based on the amount of rubbish thrown in the streets these days, people really don’t care!

we need a national campaign to educate people about pollution and rubbish. Makes my blood boil every time I go out for a walk!

You are right. People are aware enough now of what it does to animals, and what ends up in the sea ends up in the stomachs of the animals there. Even birds have fed their young bits of plastic rubbish. It does kill them and whoever thinks otherwise, well, natural selection needs to do a better job. For the 4%, we are killing everything else on earth with our pollution and rubbish.

My choice of venue for such a release would be the edge of a very high cliff !!

I think it’s very telling that @BeSunnyLemonSheep used inverted commas to refer to the environment. She clearly cares more about her dead relatives than those who will inherit the consequences of their, and her own behaviours.

The morons that set the moors on fire and now planning a balloon release.

They wouid do better spending the money on educations resource for schools, telling young people not to trespass in reservoirs.. especially with an air-bed as a raft

Ooh good idea.

Maybe the ones who release them should eat a few and see how they get on without medical help

It’s a stupid thing to do. 🤷‍♀️

So people want to remember the dead by killing wildlife and setting moor / grassland on fire
great idea NOT
plant seeds , a tree have a torch light meeting a ballon is not a memory taker it does not reach heaven

The mind boggles at people’s stupidity

tou wouldn’t throw a carrier bag of rubbish up in the air to honour a relative but a balloon is ok. What the hell.

mind you I was recently shocked to see a horsey person I know (I’m horsey) releasing a foil balloon AT A HORSE SHOW to honour her recently dead horse.

Also lol @ @BeSunnyLemonSheep’s ‘environment’ in inverted commas as if it’s a made-up thing 😂

I always wonder what sort of person the deceased was if they would condone the utter irresponsibility of doing this. Certainly the people who do the releases can’t be accused to being over burdened with intelligence.

I know of one town where there were a couple of miles of the funeral route with plastic ribbons tied to every post and even bushes. Still there weeks later. People are too scared to remove them.
What if everyone did this?
People are having death anniversary parties. Again, what if everyone did this?
It has got completely out of hand.

The bit that makes me and the majority of posters uncomfortable is the bit where people send litter into the sky; not the bit where other people tell them they shouldn’t do that. You’ve quite an unusual logic if you think that asking others not to deliberately damage the environment is a cunty thing to do.

And if you’re thinking ‘but they’re bereaved!’ So what? Most people over the age of about 40 have been bereaved. Most of us don’t respond to it by creating deliberate harm to wildlife and nature for the sake of putting photos and videos on Instagram so everyone can see how sad we are that someone has died.

And if we’re just going to allow people to damage the environment because they’re grieving, why stop at balloons and latterns? We could also commemorate our lost loved ones by dumping mattresses in the countryside, putting dog shit in people’s front gardens and throwing our household waste in the sea. No?

Please attach your name and address to them so people know where to send vet bills

Can I send you the vet bill of your balloon injures or kills one of my animals