The penalty for mass balloon release should be the same as for fly tipping

[Serencwtch]

Yet another mass balloon release local to us.
This time dozens of blue metallic balloons with plastic ribbon.
We are farmers & spent yesterday morning trying to save a calf who was found with the metallic plastic in her mouth. She choked to death slowly & painfully. We have likely lost dozens of unborn lambs as the ewes were running terrified all night by the shiny metallic litter in their field.
We are in a area of outstanding national beauty & the wildlife there won't have a farmer to save them from suffering.
It gets caught up in our crop fields, damages machinery & contaminates food crops.
Theres balloons stuck in trees from a release 2 years ago - this rubbish does not break down.

YABU - if you lose a loved one you have the right to litter the countryside, cause suffering to animals & damage farmers livelihoods

YANBU - It's the same if not worse than any other rubbish dumping & should be prosecuted

But there's nothing you could say that is going to make that mother feel her loss any more than she already does.

Yes, she is grieving - and it's quite possible that grief has clouded her judgment and she's forgotten the environmental issues in her desire to do something that she perceives as a beautiful tribute to her child.

Rather than being encouraged, she needs guidance and to gently be told that releasing balloons is inappropriate and environmentally damaging.

i would gently point out to them what happens to the ballons. And no, i wouldn't be joining in. In fact i would be discouraging as many people as possible, and trying to suggest other ways (plant a tree, bubbles etc)

It is really daft to only sometimes stick to your principles.

Completely agree with you OP.

I volunteer for a litter picking group and a marine conservation charity. We take balloons out of rivers and the sea on almost ever outing. They're a menace in the environment.

Im not insisting im replying to occasional comments, most comments directed at me i have ignored. We can have different opinions, its ok not everyone has to agree with each other.

I think its ok to be flexible on occasion. I certainly wouldn't go behind a newly grieving mums back and tell her friends and family to not go to an event she has organised no matter what my opinion on that event was. Sometimes its ok to say nothing. Not everything has to be a fight for your principals or beliefs. There's a time and a place

i don't think it is at all ok to compromise our planet because of a grieving mum (presumably there is a grieving dad too)

But that is one good reason it needs to be banned by law, and then everyone can say "but you can't"

FWIW i can be super tactful, but i would be very firm.
I live in the countryside, and every year we have this issue: not so much releases as they have become very socially unacceptable, but from the fair etc.

I would also like to see a ban on helium balloons at least. (and i have had to Have Words with our local Green party for giving kids balloons on their stand - even biodegradeable ones are dangerous.)

Not killing animals through sheer stupidity is not a principle or belief.
Nobody is talking about going behind backs or looking into the eyes of a grieving mother or any other hyperbolic shite.
Hopefully you will never be in the position of having a close friend who has lost a child but if you are lets hope you do the right thing - which would be to gently suggest an alternative or attend and not actually release a balloon yourself

Yet they may cause more families to grieve:
Balloonfest '86 - Wikipedia

I will do the right thing of supporting the mother through her grief in whatever way she chooses and not push my beliefs on her at such a horrific time

Well you are a hypocritical part of the problem.

So with you on this. I only see riff raff doing them anymore so most people seem to have caught on.

I walk my dogs in the countryside almost every day. I've lost count of the balloons I've picked up to shove in the next bin I see (quite often the one at home).

Thats not the right thing, and as I said not killing animals through sheer stupidity is not a belief

No surely you wouldn't support someone to do something you know to be harmful? It's your job as a friend to prevent someone who is not functioning well from harming themselves or others.

Oh that’s kind. So, will you slit the throat of a newborn foal if the grieving mother who can do no wrong asks you to? You know, since her grief process comes before the lives and safety of any other being? God you really have no clue how pathetically gormless you sound, do you?

You’re sounding worse with every post. 🥴