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

[Ihsk]

I do wish people would stop releasing balloons in tribute to lost loved ones.

Balloons don’t up to heaven. They travel a few miles and usually land in a farmer’s field. Where animals eat the balloon and get very ill or die.

This method is a cruel and other creatures can die.

Also still can get Chinese lanterns online. Anyone setting these off now are idiots. Forest fires

Or think at all.🤯

Just a stupid troll. She's been reported anyway.

There are loads at the moment school holidays but despite being reported, they are still up, even though they are super obvious 🙄 traffic is traffic I suppose.

I'm willing to bet everything that you are an attention seeking chav.

You need the recognition that something sad happened to you. It's not about remembering them it's about being performative. The show, the sympathy, the attention.

Have a little gathering at your house, plant a tree, have a bit of class and do something quietly that doesn't kill animal and litter the environment.

I am astounded that anyone would choose to cause harm intentionally.

At the minute lanterns could cause fires that can endanger life.

Wild animals do choke to death on litter that has been chucked out a window though. Pets as well

@BeSunnyLemonSheep "They are with us in our thoughts and memories.
That is my priority. I do not care about “the environment”.

You don't care if animals die a slow, agonising death? I guess the people you're remembering didn't give a flying fuck if animals choked to death either so I guess it's a fitting memorial for them.

You don't need them. Managed for centuries without them. They are totally naff and disrespectful to the dead person to kill a few more living creatures because someone needs tk be the main character.

If someone kills wildlife vecause I've died I'll come back and haunt them.

It's always the live laugh fly high with the angles splar lights crowd. Tacky as all hell.

I've just seen this on Facebook. Very pertinent to this thread. It's only a short clip and balloons are mentioned at the end.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CmgjDsePb/

Balloon releases have no environmental benefits whatsoever, and cause plenty of environmental harm - I don’t understand why people want to associate the memory of their loved one with litter and dead animals.

Doing something like planting a tree firstly gives you somewhere you can go to remember your loved one whenever you want, and it benefits the environment too - who wouldn’t want their loved one’s memory to carry on doing good in the world?

At school in the late 1980s we did a balloon release to see how far around the world they would travel. I cringe looking back on it now!

Yes, I remember those so-called "balloon races" that used to to be popular at school fetes and village carnivals and shows. I think they started to die out about 25 years ago, when people began to be more aware of the environmental impact.

I have Facebook but that link doesn't work for me.

I didn't realise, we did the caterpillar to butterfly kit during lockdown. Our infant school also does it every year.

I think I voted you are being unreasonable by mistake!!! You are definitely NOT being unreasonable. My daughters primary planned a balloon release for some celebration (can't remember what) and a few of us parents complained citing the environmental impact, littering and harm to wildlife. The school said it was fine because the balloons were biodegradable. We pointed out that these biodegradable balloons actually took years to degrade and didn't solve our concerns. They gave up the idea and got the kids to make and fly kites instead. People power.

And this highlights some idiots will always be idiots

FFS! The alternative is mourning a loved one WITHOUT releasing balloons or little fire bombs. Quite easy really.

I know, I've been following it closely and it's shocking - not only was the woman responsible a mother but also worked in a nursery school.
The girlfriend of the man who died in the lake has posted on social media that she will relight the moorland fires - seriously hoping she gets dragged in over that post.
The total lack of remorse is more shocking and a total smack in the face for those who have memorial trees up there and a lady who was hiking up there and walked literally into the wildfire as she rounded a bend, had filmed it and has sent it to the police and she has admitted that it was terrifying and she was just glad that she'd not taken her dogs up there.
It just shows how reckless these idiots are.

I do it and still will, no one can tell me otherwise mehhh.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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