to think that you don't let off a load of helium balloons, whatever the cause?

[SignoraStronza]

Found this morning in the hedgerow of a cattle field, a memorial balloon with accompanying length of ribbon and plastic wrapped message. Thankfully I found it before our friend's beasts did.

While I have every sympathy (well, mostly but that's another thread) with the cause that the message was promoting and the bereavement the organisers suffer, AIBU to think that the damage this could have potentially caused to the environment is akin to those sky lanterns that people are finally beginning to get the message about?

There is a request to email with the location it was found - am not sure whether/what I should write. Prepared to be told In a grumpy arse.

Maybe one of the willow coffin places would take it on, Archery?

You can get wedding favours in the form of banana leaf boats to put tealights in.

I've been sworn at and accused of lacking in compassion by someone I have never interacted with, just for stating the truth on this post - that wasting helium now will harm people in the very near future.

Oh come off it Archery do not play the victim here. I understand your point completely about helium, however don't make out you came on a thread and peacefully informed people about the dangers and they attacked you in return. What you did was mock, sneer and make rude comments about the way people grieve and actually told them that they'd have to explain to their grandkids how they are at fault for them not being able to get a MRI scan. You were condescending and very rude. About 90% of posters on this thread put the same view you have across in a much more sensitive way, and they have made helpful suggestions. Are you really surprised people are upset after your comments and attitude?

I am one of the evil helium balloon releasesrs, for next Father's Day I'll look into alternatives thanks to the kinder posters on here. Because I was uninformed before. And no not everyone does research on every daily activity they do. Do you really think it's acceptable to berate those who have no idea the impact that balloons cause?

I think there's a danger this thread will become like the last one when poor U2 got absolutely flamed in the most horrible manner, let's not let it be like that please people

Piper ...what? I had never interacted with the poster who swore at me. But I'm the one that's rude? Okay then!

let's not let it be like that please people

And after you have spent a paragraph blasting me, this is incredibly hypocritical of you, Piper.

Yes you were rude. And insensitive. Not swearing doesn't make you exempt from being rude

And I didn't "blast" you I pointed out that you're insensitivity was uncalled for and didn't go unnoticed. You can't have that kind of attitude with people and not expect to be pulled up on it

You are a hypocrite, Piper. Please don't interact with me again.

if there wasn't enough it wouldn't be available on the market

"Scientists have warned that the world's most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle"

Peace and love MNers

Rather than being defensive how about apologising to the people you have upset? Like I said in an earlier post I think you need to re-read your posts as if you were someone who had

1. Lost a relative close to them
2. Grieved for them by letting off one balloon a year with little realisation of the effects, which is no fault of heir own (everyone can't know everything).

You were insensitive and I think you need to know this. If you'd read previous threads that vilified U2 you might understand the pain these types of lectures give people

My 8 yo DD's wanted to release a balloon for their grandad ( he is having palliative care so a matter of days before he dies) as they are not attending the funeral. Not sure what to suggest as an alternative now as I never realised the impact they have.

Oops just seen the above link.

So sorry for everyone who has lost someone close, and I can completely understand why a balloon soaring into the sky is a powerful symbol.

I didn't realise so many people used balloons this way, I was more thinking of endless 'promotional' balloons and competitions to see which gets furthest etc.

Personally, now I know in advance that balloons (and their strings) have such a impact on wildlife, I would look for an alternative. Even our scattering of ashes at certain popular spots is a problem - it is now not allowed on certain mountain and fell tops because of the effect of lots of ash .

Petals or leaves in a stream, or on the wind, a little rush boat with a message written on dissolving paper, (e.g rice paper), name a star , plant a tree or a lovely plant, or (this will probably be controversial) light a firework / rocket. Perhaps a bang-free one. Light a candle.....

Many other cultures do versions of these things.

I think petals in a stream sounds nice, Blu. I'd thought about rice-paper boats (my DS is an obsessive origami folder) but I don't know how they'd work in practice - either in terms of would they float at all, or if you would end up with big gummy lumps at the bottom of streams being a problem. I shall look at the links.

I didn't know about the ashes thing. I still have to do my mum's ashes (which is difficult to arrange anyway as my ill big sister can't cope with it happening at all), so I will look into the place I am thinking of very carefully, in case it's a problem. I had heard of football pitches being a problem (lots of fans + a limited spot = trouble) but it would never have occurred to me that mountaintops could get rather over-ashed.

What about small light feathers?
Either on a stream, or in the breeze?

I have never experimented with rice paper on water. But if it was written on and rolled up on a boat of a leaf...

I've posted on here before about losing two of my children, and like everyone else, we have had other bereavements in the family too.

I don't agree with releasing balloons into the environment because I don't want the things in these photographs to be the legacy of me remembering the people I love.

I don't want to remember my children by potentially harming or killing wildlife in their names.

I'd rather buy a bag of birdseed and feed the birds and have them fly into the sky/heaven than release a balloon that harms something. Particularly as we always think of our children when we see a particular type of bird.

There are many other ways you can remember lost loved ones, lighting candles, having children write a letter to post to heaven, planting something that grows rather than releasing something that kills. Having a special song played on the radio, donating a gift to a relevant charity. So many other ways that are not harmful to the environment and wildlife, which I'd be teaching my children to value if we were lucky enough to have them here.

Thanks to all for suggestions, when I first read this thread I thought "I'm still gonna release a balloon for dad as that's what we do" but reading the fair comments and link I've decided that there's many other ways I can mark it, it doesn't matter how as long as we do it. But when you do something for a loved one a certain way and someone tries to convince you that's wrong, seeing logic and reason is not always your first move! I love the idea of a rice boat, we scattered half of dads ashes in a river so might make our new tradition writing a message on a boat and sending it where he's laid to rest

I still wouldn't judge someone who let's off helium balloons mind, and wouldn't expect anyone to change their Traditions

I think a little message boat on that river would be a lovely tribute, Piper.

Just got back to this. Sorry, I didn't realise that this thread would become quite the bun fight. I've also been educated in the use of helium in MRI scans.

I would like to message the senders and express support for their cause and be sensitive and sympathetic to their bereavement.

To be honest, if I hadn't found one in our friend's cattle field, it wouldn't be an 'issue' that was really on my radar, although I do recall urging the dcs and their friends not to accidentally on purpose let them go during a recent birthday party. I've mostly lived rurally but is only in the last five years or so that I've been living in a 'proper' farming community and have been truely aware of the problems that dog walkers, litter bugs, fireworks, sky lanterns etc can cause. I'd imagine that it's not something that has crossed the minds of many people in charge of these events.

The balloon itself was all but shattered, but the length of ribbon attached to it could have caused quite a bit of damage and was certainly not biodegradable.

I'll try and come up with something that acknowledges their aims but gently implores them to look at a a different way of commemorating next year's anniversary.

I'm really sorry I have not RTFT.

When there was an explosive thread about this it transpired that there are different grades of helium and the stuff used in balloons would not be good enough for the medical standards.

So the balloons will not deprive anyone of care or tests that they should have.

When my grand father died we had a friend who lived in Tokyo who told my daughters, aged 4 and 2, that Japanese people write messages and draw pictures on bits of paper and set light to them.

The message goes up in the smoke to the person who has died.

My little girls spent a lot of time drawing and writing and were very comforted by this idea. It was enacted many times.

When there was an explosive thread about this it transpired that there are different grades of helium and the stuff used in balloons would not be good enough for the medical standards.

Bewitched this theory has been pushed very heavily by some of the balloon companies (I wonder why...) but alas, it isn't true.

When there was an explosive thread about this it transpired that there are different grades of helium and the stuff used in balloons would not be good enough for the medical standards.

To be fair this sentence may be correct. I can believe that helium with impurities could be used in balloons and not MRI scanners. BUT impure helium can be purified into pure helium, so it is a waste using it in balloons.

I fucking hate people letting balloons or lanterns go. I lost a very much loved and long awaited foal to a lantern that had landed in her field overnight. I cried my eyes out holding my mare while the vet shot her foal.

There are so many other ways to remember someone that won't kill animals.

Oh , I didn't mean to imply that I think the balloons are good, just that the MRI reason may not apply.
Thanks for bringing me up to date Annie and Its All

That's terrible Valiant, I'm really very sorry.

We had letters through in the village a couple of years back after someone's pony choked on a commemorative helium balloon. So the grieving family remembering their lost one also caused another family to lose their pet.

Not intentional, of course, but entirely avoidable. And don't forget that these balloons and lanterns also pose hazards to young children as well as animals, and they can come down in a family's garden just as easily as they can come down in a field.

If you want to remember someone, try writing a letter and burning it, and watching the smoke go up into the sky, or write a message on rose petals and scatter them (or burn them too!), or place a rush boat in a river, or plant a tree, or write messages on the sand on a beach and let the waves carry them, or let a candle burn in a window at night so they can find their way home (this is the origins of the candles in pumpkins at Halloween, if you didn't know!). There are a tonne of other options if you use your imagination.

Helium balloons are great fun - indoors. I loved them as a kid. But if you wouldn't leave litter in parks or fields then you should certainly not be intentionally letting them go.