Fireworks Should Become a Thing of the Past
By Cliff Yankovich || Contributing writer
7/13/2024
This is a relatively new direction for me. I can remember many summer evenings in my youthful days filled with fireworks. From the Grand River to Reeds Lake to Lake Michigan, there was always a spot to be a part of a big crowd collectively “oooohing” and “ahhhing” as the skies were ripped asunder by fireworks. How about the ones that have no flash, but a whole lotta boom?
The first time I got an inkling that maybe it was time to do away with fireworks, happened about 25 years ago in Lansing. I was attending a Fourth of July celebration and happened to be sharing a table with a man who served in the military in World War II. He had never complained much about his service to our country and never said a peep about fireworks bothering him. This night was different. When the fireworks started, he became agitated and restless. We actually left the event before it was over. He asked to be taken home and seemed to be upset at his reaction to the fireworks.
Frankly, I did not pay a lot of attention to this Veteran, who after years of attending such displays, suddenly had enough. Fast forward to about 10 years ago, when Julie and I lived out on 52nd Street, along with our beagle Otter. Otter HATED fireworks. She reacted to them pretty much her entire life. Even if they were miles away, she would get all shaky and hide underneath beds and couches. Any attempts I made to calm her down were pointless. Well, we had a neighbor who was lighting off some really powerful explosives and he appeared to be aiming them at our house. The dog was an absolute mess, and the call we made to the cops had no effect, since the use of fireworks had just gotten legalized in Michigan a year or so earlier.
Fast forward to today, and I have reached my limit. First, the way the law was originally written, fireworks are allowed to be shot off before and after holidays in most places. Secondly, the amount of statistics and research into this very subject are becoming overwhelming.
Every year, Americans blow up around 500 million pounds of fireworks, according to one study. Research indicates that fireworks displace migratory birds, freak-out wild horses, and have shown that some rabbits actually die from the stress. Yeah, but we are talking about Patriotism here, who cares about birds and bunnies? Okay, how about the fact that 9,700 injuries came about last year because of fireworks and eight people actually died? Did we remember to factor in the thousands of fires that are started every year? Which reminds me, remember the church in Kentwood that lost a good part of their roof to a fire the very first year fireworks were legal in Michigan? Go ahead and look it up, I will wait right here.
There are hundreds and thousands of fires that start as a result of fireworks. In more densely populated areas, they seem to get dealt with rather quickly, but out West, the spread of wildfires is much more of a problem. Almost 100 homes had to be vacated in Centerville, Utah, shortly after a fireworks display gone wrong in 2022.
None of this even touches on the amount of pollution caused to the planet from all of the fireworks fired off around the world. In India, they have to close schools for a day, or even more, after their big celebration of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. The reason is because the air quality is so terrible after all the fireworks. It is estimated that over 100 million pounds of fireworks are shot off during that five day festival over there. Read that again, will you please?
Over 20 million pounds of fireworks per day are launched in India. That is a heck of a lot of gunpowder blowing off, to say nothing about all the chemicals put into fireworks to provide different colors and effects. Fireworks are not limited to India and the U.S. Every country has a reason to celebrate, and too often, that is done with pyrotechnics.
Is there a better way? Sure seems like it. Think back to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in which something like 1,820 lighted drones flew in sync to create an amazing display. Did you miss it? Look it up on YouTube – you will not be disappointed. Salt Lake City, hardly a bastion of liberal attitudes and action, has switched over to all drones since the first show in July of 2022. With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is becoming easier and easier to control fleets of drones and have them do amazing things and change colors like crazy. Cities all over Canada and California are making the change to drones and AI, instead of scaring every dog within five miles of a pyrotechnic display.
In the face of mounting evidence of the deleterious effects of fireworks on animals and people, why are we clinging to this old art form? Let it go and maybe we can all move into the future with something less harmful.
