What Goes Up, Must Come Down

By: Chaeryn Yoon

Balloons are something that are never missed out on birthday parties and special occasions. A few days ago, I saw a little kid let a balloon accidentally slip out of his hands into the air and it made me wonder, where will that go? We all seen a balloon fly off into the air. But to be honest, most people, myself included, do not think too much about where those balloons will go or what kinds of impact it will have on the environment.


It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it piles up to be one. People don't consider releasing balloons in the air to be littering, but it is, and they normally end up in oceans and beaches. Balloons are made out of different types of plastic, like rubber and polyester. And, we all know that plastic aren't biodegradable and are harmful to the environment, but a life without it is hard to imagine. Balloons pose serious threats to the environment and the animals. Different animals have been feeding on these colorful pieces of plastic thinking it is food and ends up harming the them and killing them. Sea turtles for instance, have been discovered with bright colored balloons in them because they thought it was a jellyfish or a sponge.


There are places that do sell biodegradable latex balloons that claim to be an alternate and sustainable. They do degrade with a few years but it still has the same negative impact on the environment before it degrades.


Lately, there has been several articles and news considering this issue. Also, some places, such as California, Florida, Virginia, and Tennessee have started banning mass release of balloons.
What are your thought on this problem?
What can we do about this issue?
Is there other things/material we can replace balloons with?
Are there other effects can balloons have?

https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/balloons-why-they-blow/
https://www.littlethings.com/dont-release-balloons/1

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think the ban on mass releasing balloons is valid! Currently, the worlds largest balloon release caused millions in damages as well as straight environmental issues. I think we should work on making biodegradable balloons out of things like processed lobster shells that serve the purpose but will be able to decompose. In general, we need to look at replacing one use plastics with something more sustainable for the future. A few balloons doesn’t seem like much, but it piles up overtime.
May 1, 2019 at 8:36 AM
Anonymous said…
The ban you mentioned makes complete sense especially with the Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986. Releasing mass balloons is extremely harmful to the environment as it is inevitable of these balloons reaching marine life. Companies advertise their latex balloons as ‘biodegradable’, however, natural latex may be biodegradable, but after adding chemicals and plastics, the balloons may degrade after several years (never becoming biodegradable). Balloon pollution is a growing problem and needs to be addressed. Balloons kill countless number of animals and cause numerous power outages. They can travel thousands of miles and pollute the most pristine and untouched habitats. Balloons will return the land or sea where they can be mistaken for food by animals.
May 1, 2019 at 9:15 AM
Anonymous said…
Not going to lie, when I was a child I would release balloons thinking they would go into space and go to astronauts. However, I actually tested the idea by writing a message and let it go. Not even a week later, I found the same balloon a few miles away in someone else’s tree. This sparked my revelation that balloons really don’t do much besides deflating after a while of losing air or getting caught. Also coming from a state where bodies of water were everywhere, I too realized that animals are at risk if the balloons are to go near them and they suffocate on them. I think we should use more biodegradable balloons if possible and at a cheap price. Highly unlikely however, if the balloons are made, they could make a far better world that wont affect animal life as well as aesthetic looks of balloons falling on to peoples homes.
May 1, 2019 at 11:04 AM
Anonymous said…
Balloons are super fun, but their environmental efffects are often overlooked. Biodegradable materials for balloons are great, but as you said, while it is still in the environment, it still has its negative effects. I think a great alternative is paper lanterns made out of paper that is easy biodegradable. While it seems like a similar solution to the actual balloon, paper breaks up a lot easier than latex and uses less harmful chemicals. Additionally, they dont need helium to make them float, so that is even better. We need to spread awareness about the harmful effects of balloons on the environment and offer alternatives that are cheap enough to be considered by the mass population. Balloons are part of the plastics that are harming animals especially marine life when they are mistaken for food.
May 1, 2019 at 11:07 AM
Anonymous said…
I do think that this issue does not have as big of an impact on nature as a whole compared to greenhouse gases and the ozone layer depletion, but this issue still should be considered to do something about it. One way to help this situation is to enforce strict rules about releasing of balloons. Make it considered to be littering to release balloons. However, I do think that this will be hard to enforce, as it is basically impossible to track who released a balloon into the air. So, instead of punishing people for the release of balloons, we could incentivize disposing balloons the correct way. Just like getting a nickel for turning in a soda can, we can do something like this for balloons. Further research could show us alternatives to rubber and polyester. Balloons, as you mentioned, have an adverse effect on life in the ocean. Sea life may ingest these balloons, making them sick and could lead to death.
May 1, 2019 at 11:07 AM
Anonymous said…
I believe that there are other more safe options than using balloons in general. Parties don’t lose much without the presence of balloons and so I believe if balloons were made illegal, the environmental impact that would benefit greatly outweighs the negative of not having balloons. If a balloon were to be released accidentally I believe that there should not be punishment, on the other hand, mass balloons releases can be detrimental to the environment and truly should be punished as a crime.
May 1, 2019 at 11:26 AM
Anonymous said…
Balloons add nothing of value to a party and are absolutely useless. Even so, balloons are ever present and are released all the time. All released balloons, whether they are released intentionally or not, return to Earth as ugly litter. Balloons kill countless animals and cause dangerous power outages. They can travel thousands of miles and pollute the most remote and pristine places. Balloons return to the land and sea where they can be mistaken for food and eaten by animals. Sea turtles, dolphins, whales, fish and birds have been reported with balloons in their stomachs and ribbons and strings can lead to entanglement, causing death. This is a major problem that can be completely avoided is if we just don’t use them. I sure wouldn’t miss them.
May 1, 2019 at 11:39 AM
Anonymous said…
While I do believe that as of right now, we have many larger problems to focus on in order to be more environmentaly sustainable, but forgetting all the little things like balloons could cause a lot of damage. Balloons along with many other “small” problems add up to create a lot of pollution and contamination. We need to think about how the strings and balloons could be killing wildlife when they land, or the chemicals and dyes getting into the atmosphere or the environment. Since balloons do float, its hard sometimes to keep them from flying away, and there’s not much the government could really do to stop this, so it’s up to us. We need to make sure balloons are always attached to some sort of weight or something to keep it from flying away.
May 1, 2019 at 1:29 PM
Anonymous said…
I had never thought about how balloons could hurt the environment, specifically sea creatures, but it makes sense that they would have the same effects other kinds of plastics do. The second picture of the balloon next to the jellyfish makes the two look very similar. The ban on releasing balloons makes sense, and more areas should do that. I think at some point there will be more general bans on plastic and littering. Littering is illegal now, but people still do it with little consequences. If the littering fines were harsher and harmful plastics were more regulated, it would be a good step to help the environment.
May 1, 2019 at 3:23 PM
Anonymous said…
I think this problem is severely overlooked. I, for example, have never really thought of balloons contributing to pollution and environmental issues. Balloons are something that not all of us deal with that frequently, and, as it is out of sight, it's out of mind. However, this is obviously a horrible problem that needs addressing. Some of the solutions presented in the blog seem very valid. The banning of mass releases of balloons and the development of degradable balloons are great starts. It will be hard to phase out balloons since they have such a firm stance in our society, but there are certain steps that we can take to remedy the issue. I feel like it would be doable to create balloons out of other types of materials in an attempt to lessen its appeal to animals.
May 2, 2019 at 3:42 PM
Anonymous said…
I’ve always had balloons at my birthday parties and never thought about the impact they impose on the environment. However, recently I have heard this issue arise in both the school system and on the media (such as twitter). I defiantly believe that there should be the ban on mass releases of balloons. Killing a multitude of marine life should not be worth our entertainment. I’m not aware of another product that could replace balloons (since not many are light enough to float with the helium), but I believe that more research should be done to improve the biodegradable balloons. This could allow their decomposition to be much faster and minimize the amount of ocean pollutants.
May 2, 2019 at 7:31 PM
Anonymous said…
I never really though of balloons as being as harmful as other plastics, but they are. I don't think that there should be a full out ban on releasing balloons due to how hard it will be for it to enforce. Biodegradable balloons could serve as a great alternative to plastic balloons if they are able to be produced at a low cost. However, the bottom line is that if people are well educated about the dangers of plastics in the environment, they should be able to use common sense to not release a ton of balloons into the sky. Balloons are okay as they are now, they only become a problem when people use them irresponsibly.
May 2, 2019 at 9:19 PM
Anonymous said…
A ban on mass release of balloons sounds realistic and something that can be followed, but a single balloon release ban seems a bit harsh considering there are kids that do this unknowingly. I think that if we switch to having more biodegradable material then we'll be at a benefit in regards to our environment. Ballons in my household usually only last 2-3 days and having plastic ballons as a twice or one time use just seems unnecessary. I'm glad to see that some action has been taken on it in California, Florida, Virginia, and Tennessee as you mentioned. Maybe in the future, we could make balloons that only elevate to a specific height. That might be a stretch and lead to other issues, but it would prevent them landing maybe near the oceans and beaches. After a certain altitude we could maybe have materials that would dissolve in the air that don’t cause air pollution in the near future.
May 2, 2019 at 10:21 PM
Anonymous said…
I have found that humans often forget the fact that the items they use day to day can produce devasting results when they are littered in large amounts. In the case of balloon littering, it is easy to see how the buildup of rubber waste has harmed much of the earth’s environment. I remember watching a video on a disaster back in the 80’s. To celebrate a special event, thousands of balloons were inflated and held under a net to be released all at once. When the balloons were released, the sky was littered with balloons as it created a massive cloud that shaded the earth beneath it. Like the article states, the balloons eventually all fell and in a nearby beach, littered the water surface with colorful rubber. Only days after, a sailor was declared missing and unfortunately, was never found due to the amount of rubber littering the ocean. In order to educate the public and cause change, we must do all we can to bring awareness about littering and anthropogenic pollution.
May 3, 2019 at 10:01 AM
Anonymous said…
I’ve never thought about the effect that releasing balloons has on the environment. The reason for this is probably because I didn’t think there was any, and if there was, I’d figured it was negligible. I don’t think balloons have ever had an immense amount of value, but people enjoy having them at parties, so I don’t see people really reducing their use. I think a high tax should be placed on balloons to discourage the use, but if people are not open to that idea, then I think we should work on making balloons out of a biodegradable material.
May 3, 2019 at 10:14 AM
Anonymous said…
People often times believe that once its out of site it is out of mind. I have seen balloon strings in nests and trees almost every time I go and clean my neighborhood creek. Much like straws, you really forget how much of an impact these “small” pollutants are. Like Ritchie’s said, i have never seen an importance of balloons in parties. Honestly we could forego the balloon all together, they last f o r e v e r, my older sister got a balloon (not the rubber kind) for her 16th birthday, it is still fully inflated, she is now 19 since the 2nd. These materials are simply frivolous products that are completely unnecessary. banning mass release is the first step but there should eventually be stricter regulations in the factories that they are made on.
May 3, 2019 at 10:30 AM
Anonymous said…
Now that I think about it, I realize that the mass release of balloons truly is a problem! I never realized that this was a major issue prior to reading this article, however. I think that by simply putting up signs at party stores like Party City telling people to pop the balloons and throw them away rather than release them into the sky could help, as this is where the majority of people buy their balloons from for parties and whatnot. However, I don’t currently know if there are other materials that we could substitute balloons with. Maybe a small 1 or 2% city/town tax could help with cleanup, though. I feel like in the future this problem will not happen though.
May 6, 2019 at 11:13 AM
Anonymous said…
I did not know balloons would become a problem in the environment. In my opinion, balloons used to celebrate someone's special event is all just extra things that are not necessary. Although it would be very hard to make a sudden change and ban all use of balloons, I think simply reducing the amount and prohibiting the amount of purchase to a certain small number would provide a significant change. I also think that educating people about the negative impact balloons bring to the environment could also allow individuals to be more careful in helping the environment.
May 7, 2019 at 6:28 AM
Anonymous said…
I feel like most people don’t see letting balloons go as littering, because they don’t know where the balloons end up. That’s why I think the first step to combatting this problem is educating people on the dangers of letting balloons fly into the atmosphere. Just recently, I myself did the same thing and let a balloon go just to enjoy it fly away. I never thought about where it would end up or what the consequences would be for my action. Biodegradable balloons seem like a good alternative, but something as simple as making sure plastics get recycled or disposed of properly can make all the difference for marine animals to which balloons pose a threat to.
May 7, 2019 at 9:18 AM
Anonymous said…
As a kid, it was always so cool to watch the balloon go up when you let it go. It felt like it went on forever, even into space. In reality, the balloons do come down, and when they do they cause huge issues for marine life. This is a very serious problem that many people don’t think about. Sure, we could create biodegradable balloons - and I don’t think that is a bad idea. But we need to start by educating people. Letting go of balloons is just as harmful as littering. They still end up in the ocean and they still end up harming marine life. Without knowing that balloons are doing so much harm, people likely won’t stop releasing them.
May 7, 2019 at 10:32 AM
Anonymous said…
Balloons are fun things throughout someone’s childhood that brings joy to them while reminiscing. However with all those fun experiences we had as kids, it is no doubt how poorly our generation and the generations before us have neglected our environment. I never really had thought about where the balloon would end up after you let it off to the air, and it makes complete sense that they end up in our oceans. A ban or fine on letting balloons go should be put into place because marine wildlife suffers the most from balloons.
May 7, 2019 at 7:40 PM
Anonymous said…
Balloons have been a cultural aspect of parties and though they are tools of decoration they are causing much harm to the environment. Iv'e never thought about when the balloon does come how it falls in oceans and other areas where animals mistake them as food. They also ruin the beauty of the environment and become litter. I think we must invest our time in biodegradable balloons so we can enjoy balloons without destroying the environment.
May 8, 2019 at 4:45 PM
Anonymous said…
While I love balloons, they're completely useless. The easiest solution is to have them banned. I don't think there's any material that can function as a balloon without causing harm to the environment. On a related note, the use of balloons is contributing to the helium shortage. Despite being the second most abundant element in the universe, helium is relatively uncommon on Earth. Helium is manufactured from natural gases in the ground. When it's used for balloons, the helium slowly leeks out and falls up into the atmosphere, where it is lost forever. Right now, 79% of used helium comes from one place, Qatar. Like oil and coal, helium is not a renewable resource and not recyclable. While the biggest consumer of helium are balloons, helium has many other applications. Helium is used to manufacture semiconductors and to cool magnets in medical MRI scanners. Should the global supply of helium deplete, we'll have no way to recover.
May 8, 2019 at 10:20 PM
Anonymous said…
I think their should be a ban for balloons in order to prevent these horrible things from happening.It is not fair that our marine life is the one suffering for our human errors. Balloons may be fun but are definitely not worth the deaths. I’ve let some balloons go in my time but I blame myself for not thinking about the consequences that come with my actions.
May 9, 2019 at 1:12 PM
Anonymous said…
I feel that a ban on balloons would be a valid decision. Balloons pose numerous threats, taking the lives of many innocent animals and causing pollution in oceans that can be avoided. It is not worth having balloons for a single party for it to be floating in the oceans for several years, possibly being ingested by aquatic organisms and suffocating marine mammals. I think balloons are not useful and do not need to be produced as there are many other ways to decorate a party or celebration that is eco-friendly.
May 9, 2019 at 9:10 PM
Anonymous said…
In my opinion, balloons are one of the worlds biggest problems. Since there is no way to reduce them with the materials used right now, we need to halt them he production of them until we can find a more reusable resource for the balloons, so they can be reused more than once. Balloons are a huge problem because they are used for one day, and the after that they are either popped or let go into the atmosphere, causing them to pop and fall into our waterways, damaging the marine life. We need to find a better way to be decorate festivities while still protecting the environment in the process.
May 10, 2019 at 10:28 AM
Amogh Gokhale said…
I think we all thought of balloons hat fly away as just disappearing and never coming back down, but this shows just how deadly they can be, as most balloons are some form of plastic. It would make more sense to not use balloons at all, or maybe use streamers instead, but those can be problematic as well. We all need to work on this and look for ALL the ways we produce plastic and trash.
May 12, 2019 at 7:11 AM
Anonymous said…
There is nothing specific we could really do because most people think that once balloons are released they will fly up into the air and never come back. There are 2 solutions however to help with issue. We could use balloons as if they were a kite. Meaning, have plenty of strings for kids to hold onto which brings more weight to the balloons with a lower chance of them flying away. We could also put a light weight ball or any object hatched to the bottom of the string to slow down the balloon as it flies away so if anyone is nearby, they will be able to retrieve it before it is completely gone.
May 13, 2019 at 6:14 PM
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