Children’s birthday parties are colorful, happy, full of fun, laughter, loud music and screams of joy. There are gifts given, return gifts received, and prizes won. Then there is candy, popcorn, decoration and, of course, balloons.
Balloons are very attractive to a child. They fly high in the sky, look like they are going up to heaven, but all they do is bring momentary joy and land in oceans, ending up killing turtles, dolphins, other marine life. They pollute our lands and choke birds and stray animals. Is our momentary happiness at the cost of another life, real happiness?
Despite knowing that balloons are non-biodegradable and non-recyclable, parents continue to use them. Candy is wrapped in non-recyclable plastic. Most gifts are made of horrible toxic plastic ultimately generating tonnes of non-degradable waste, and are wrapped in glossy paper, wasting another valuable resource, i.e., paper. Even if paper can be recycled—not all will be, nor all can be. As for the glitter and graffiti, they go straight into our landfills and oceans.
