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

Report away. Balloon releases are legal 😊

Whoever lives near this person, please report them to the police for littering.

Thanks.

Not really. Not damaging, I agree, but the butterflies won't survive, probably won't breed, probably won't pollinate. Why would anyone do that?

It's not though. You're literally killing animals. How is that a nice thing to remember them by?

Do you think they would want an animal to die in agony in their memory? Blocked gut is a horrific way to die.

If my kids are stupid enough to do that when I die, I'd come back and fucking haunt them for being completely idiotic and selfish.

why?

Hopefully fines will start to happen and get enough fines, dealt with through the courts.

What I would like is for those selfish people 5o be taken for chats with people who have to deal with the consequences of balloon releases. Maybe taken to see a dead animal that's choked on one or inside the belly of a whale who's been washed ashore full of them.

Not in 160 council areas they aren't.

Which town are you in?

Over 160 local authorities in the UK have banned balloon and sky lantern releases on council-owned land, with many extending this to include all council-supported events. This includes Brighton & Hove City Council, Norfolk County Council, Lincolnshire County Council, and South Tyneside Council, as well as a ban on sky lanterns across all local authorities in Wales

Helium gas is widely used for health reasons, for use in MRI scanners. The helium supply on earth, is finite. Can you imagine it running out and not being able to use MRI machines because we wanted to release pieces of plastic into the sky. It is akin throwing a piece of litter on the ground or throwing a carrier bag in the sea. How does that honour someone’s memory?

This. It's massively chavvy.

not to nitpick but I am a bit opposed to the industrialisation of butterflies.

Don't be daft.

We recently attended a celebration of life where everyone brought a rock or flower etc, then the man's siblings made a beautiful mandala in the grass, before then taking everything in a basket to the river where he played as a kid. It was beautiful.

No one needs to fling toxic manufactured crap into the air to remember someone's life.

They're not actually. It's just not enforced.

Hopefully after the outrage after the more recent one in Scotland. Something might be done to deal with these people.

Yes we really need to ban the use of helium in bloody pointless balloons.

Helium is a precious resource.

It’s a shitty, selfish thing to do. It doesn’t bring the person back and if you can’t remember them without risking setting places on fire or killing animals then shame on you.

Plenty of ways to celebrate or remember loved ones but people who do this are selfish arseholes. Of course you can’t convince them of that because they don’t care. I would be so ashamed at the thought that my family and friends would do this if I died.

They’re absolutely legal where I am, but I will point out that a council bylaw is pretty meaningless 😊

We didn’t need anything else until about 20 years ago when all this started.

Absolutely moronic behaviour, though I suspect the insolent poster here is simply pulling our chain.

I remember back in the dark ages (the 1980s) a local fete would have a competition where you’d tie a label with your name and address to a balloon and release it into the air; the idea being that someone would find it and let you where it had landed. There was a prize for the person whose balloon travelled furthest. As a small child, I didn’t really think it through but in hindsight I can’t believe anyone thought this was a good idea.

This is selfish to the bone.

ETA: I've just realised you're on a wind up.

Oh they are. Some councils have bans, but there is no national law against them. They’re perfectly legal 😊

Laugh it up.

Twat.

We’re 10 miles away and my husband’s asthma is so bad from it that I’m about to go and pick up another inhaler for him.

It’s just so depressing that this is how some people commemorate a loved one. Beyond the short term impact on humans and wildlife, the peat up there is irreplaceable. It takes 1000s of years to form and is home to so much wildlife, all wiped out so a few people can publicly grieve.

They'll be the sort who play Barbie Girl (the jungle remix so its a bit cooler) at full volume as soon as the sun comes out, white Under Armour vests on 2 for £15 at Sports Direct, using a peppa pig toddler plate as an ashtray and bring the sofa out into their garden, so tbf they'll be racking up the ASBO points already 😂

Would you consider planting a rose? Obviously I don't know your loved one's name but there are many many roses with people's names, both male and female, and there's a very high chance you could find one with your loved one's name. Or if you don't mind potentially waiting a bit, you could name a sweet pea for them: https://www.englishsweetpeas.co.uk/exclusive-breeding

Maybe the deceased hated wildlife and nature, and looks down with approval at each cow that chokes to death.

I really really really want to be able to block people on MN