Are fireworks bad for the environment?

Question

I love fireworks as much as the next guy, but I have to wonder -- are they bad for the planet? Are there statistics that show what kind of effect fireworks have on the air?

Answer 1

Of course they are bad for the air they create unnatural toxins in the air which mix with the vapors circulating around the air. Thus, much of the toxins in the air that will be mixed in there in about 1.5 weeks will be from the fireworks of the celebration of Fourth of July. Also in New Years much more toxins are released with the wide variations of national celebrations that many countries hold. These toxins create smog, acid rain, and a few enviromental damages. The fireworks also create physical distractions in the enviroment expecially oceans because as you probably know, fireworks release plastic and ash onto the ground which usually goes along the way with run-off. This is a problem but it is minor considering the great factor that other problems are to the damages of the enviroment (such as huge factories). Statistics show that about 0.03% of the toxins on the planet each year come from fireworks. That isn't much compared to big factors.

If you really do care about the enviroment perhaps you would use simple fireworks like the ones that pop on the floor (-_-). I'd like to help the enivorment but don't we all love using fireworks? Just don't use many of those big ones...

Good night : )

I wish you a happy and safe Fourth of July.

Answer 2

Yes, bad. At our community fireworks show last year, there was a lot of smoke and vapors in the air from the fireworks, but much more from the cars people drove to get there. There was also a lot of litter from the people watching the show.

Answer 3

If we put all the fireworks together that are lit and shot up into our air I would say yes they are bad for the environment. The smoke alone does not dissipate into nothingness. It lingers in the atmosphere and creates a haze that our population has to breath. As a member of this great planet of ours, now a user of oxygen to breath, I find the fireworks very offensive. Beautiful as they are they are just not worth the cause of respiratory problems for our youth and elderly population. And, not to say what the left over trash does to the ground where it lays for days permeating the soil and the water.

Answer 4

There is a festival called "Deepavali" (spelt as also 'Diwali', a festival of 'lights') in India, sometime Oct/Nov each year. The fire crackers, etc burnt on that day chokes almost all the cities that day. We hardly need any statistics after witnessing it. But whether it harms the planet is not very clear. It does pollute the much needed , but very little available fresh air in the cities, especially due to skyscrapers that have come up in the recent years.

Answer 5

If the environment is the beach, yes! I'm always picking up fireworks debris on the beach. Animals can ingest the plastic parts and kill them.

Answer 6

Fireworks are a mixed conundrum. Aside from the geographical aspects listed by others, our enviromnent includes individual people affected by them. The difference of impact from one person to another can be quite revealing.



For example, last year while attending my community's Independence Day fireworks display I paid close attention to others nearby. Some of those observations literally made me cry.



Many of the war veterans, especially those who served in Viet Nam, were visibly distressed. This was brought on by audio, visual, and ollifactory memories triggered by the stimulus affecting those senses. Varying degrees of PTSD behaviors were manifested.



Our community has lost a much beloved young man who died in Iraq. (Jason Clairday has just been awarded the Navy Cross, post-humously.) Family, friends, and neighbors were weeping during the fireworks display.



Then there were the casual citizenry, relatively unaffected by military conflicts, either past or present. For them the display seemed like little more than a free outdoor pyrotechnics show.

Answer 7

In addition to the excellent information provided by sexyteddy above, you should also consider the impact at the manufacturing plants where fireworks are made, not to mention at the mines where the raw material is ripped out of the ground. It is not very pretty.

Answer 8

Fireworks Litter the Ground, Pollute Water Supplies, and Damage Human Health



Dear EarthTalk: Do fireworks celebrations cause any significant pollution?

—David Hiebert, Scottdale, PA



Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the fireworks displays that go on around the U.S. every Fourth of July are still typically propelled by the ignition of gunpowder—a technological innovation that pre-dates the American Revolution itself. And the fall-out from these exhibitions includes a variety of toxic pollution that rain down on neighborhoods from coast to coast, often in violation of federal Clean Air Act standards.



Fireworks Can Be T0XIC to HUMANS

Depending on the effect sought, fireworks produce smoke and dust that contain various heavy metals, sulfur-coal compounds and other noxious chemicals. Barium, for instance, is used to produce brilliant green colors in fireworks displays, despite being poisonous and radioactive. Copper compounds are used to produce blue colors, even though they contain dioxin, which has been linked to cancer. Cadmium, lithium, antimony, rubidium, strontium, lead and potassium nitrate are also commonly used to produce different effects, even though they can cause a host of respiratory and other health problems.



Fireworks Contribute to Environmental P0LLUTION

The chemicals and heavy metals used in fireworks also take their toll on the environment, sometimes contributing to water supply contamination and even acid rain. Their use also deposits physical litter on the ground and into water bodies for miles around. As such, some U.S. states and local governments restrict the use of fireworks in accordance with guidelines set by the Clean Air Act. The American Pyrotechnics Association provides a free online directory of state laws across the U.S. regulating the use of fireworks.



Fireworks Add to Worldwide P0LUTION

Of course, fireworks displays are not limited to U.S. Independence Day celebrations. Fireworks use is increasing in popularity around the world, including in countries without strict air pollution standards. According to The Ecologist, millennium celebrations in 2000 caused environmental pollution worldwide, filling skies over populated areas with “carcinogenic sulphur compounds and airborne arsenic.”



DISNEY Pioneers Innovative Fireworks Technology

Not usually known for championing environmental causes, the Walt Disney Company has pioneered new technology using environmentally benign compressed air instead of gunpowder to launch fireworks. Disney puts on hundreds of dazzling fireworks displays every year at its various resort properties in the U.S. and Europe, but hopes its new technology will have beneficial impact on the pyrotechnics industry worldwide. The company has made the details of new patents it has filed for the technology available to the pyrotechnics industry at large with the hope that other companies will also green up their offerings.



DO WE REALLY NEED FIREWORKS?

While Disney’s technological breakthrough is no doubt a step in the right direction, many environmental and public safety advocates would rather see the Fourth of July and other holidays and events celebrated without the use of pyrotechnics. Parades and block parties are some obvious alternatives. Meanwhile, laser light shows can wow a crowd without the negative environmental side effects associated with fireworks.



GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: [e-mail].

Answer 9

Hey there,

To download for free Adobe Fireworks you can click here http://bitly.com/1p3iluR

Very useful program!

Bye Bye

Answer 10

Yes fire work is not simply bad but it is hazardous to entire environment. It induces sulphur in air, which causes various breathing diseases. Like running nose, asthma skin diseases. it also produces lot of noise pollution. Some children's may develop fear, some one having BP may increase. Fire work gives instantaneous joy to some one but long lasting problems to Marney. Apart from this lot of money is wasted, one can donate this money to orphan schools or old age homes etc.

Now a days we have electronic display systems which can be used insted of fire work, they also produce sounds. one can take up this job and earn more.

Shrikant S. K.

Answer 11

Yes they are.



Fireworks contains Barium, copper, cadmium, lithium, antimony, rubidium, strontium, lead and potassium nitrate. All these cause respitory and other health problems and copper is linked to cancer.



The chemicals used sometimes contaminate the water supply and even contribute to acid rain.



They also contribute to physical litter on the ground and into water bodies.

Answer 12

You can read all The articles you want about how they are bad, give more pollution and so on. How bad could they be? I mean they don't sell them here In NY where i live, but NY also doesn't allow slingshots and BB guns. Tells you something, doesn't it? We go to PA for our fireworks, and now a days they are very safe. I mean, don't play baseball with a lit firework, that is common sense. They light them off all the time in my town, especially on July 4th. The town does, i mean. There are many articles and posts about why they are bad, but I don't see the harm in lighting a few off for a good time. So in conclusion, according to articles and posts, yes they are bad, but if you ask my opinion, I don't see the harm in it.



Thanks,

Yankees91594

Answer 13

Its no different than hunting. Uses the same amount of powder in shot gun shells people use during hunting season and there is alot of hunters out there in the world , also all the quarries that use TNT explosives.. So Nawww its OK!! Fire BIG ones for me>>>>>>>>>>!!

Answer 14

Well, mike , I have a suggestion for you.

If you are a staff, please remove the score and level on your profile. Staff at level 2 at score of 700 is little annoying.

You are asking question, that is equivalent to fireworks!

It seems wonderful that Mike is asking; is it good for the fair-environment of yahoo answers?

Answer 15

Can they be any worse than automobiles that are running 24/7 around the globe?...think about it!



I don't mean to be sarcastic but that seems to be one of those "Here's your sign" sort of questions.

Answer 16

Only if the fireworks start a vegetation fire...The fireworks themselves no...

Answer 17

yes

Answer 18

Very bad. They add more pollution in air.

Cough... cough...

Answer 19

They are no worse for the environment than guns are, because they use almost the same stuff.

Answer 20

Rhetorical question Mike right?

You little stirrer you.

I like Sexteddy though and her answer for that matter.

Answer 21

I believe that they are because of the smoke that they produce when they are lit off.

Answer 22

nope I think it contribute in a small way to cuttin down on globalwarming because of the chemicals in it.

Answer 23

hi,



Well Think About It ......THEY Are BAD 4 The Envirinment but Woste If They Are Used In MANY Different Ways OK? BYE TOM!!!

Answer 24

I think they are because of the smoke.

Answer 25

yup they are.

Answer 26

I say no way, so fire away.

Answer 27

Fireworks cause environmental pollution

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists say Fourth of July fireworks displays often held over lakes and other bodies of water can pollute the water with perchlorate.



The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Richard Wilkin and colleagues, who conducted the research, note concerns have arisen over the effects of environmental perchlorate on human health and wildlife. Sources of perchlorate range from lightening and certain fertilizers to the perchlorate compounds in rocket fuel and explosives.



Scientists long suspected community fireworks displays were another source, but few studies had been done on the topic.



Wilkin's group has now established fireworks displays as a source of perchlorate contamination by analyzing water in an Oklahoma lake before and after fireworks displays in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Within 14 hours after the fireworks, perchlorate levels rose 24 to 1,028 times above background levels. Levels peaked about 24 hours after the display, and then decreased to the pre-fireworks background within 20- to 80 days.



The study is detailed in the June 1 issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.



Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070529-12203800-bc-us-fireworks.xml



As an Asthma sufferer I am compelled to add the following:



http://www.stop-fireworks.org/fireworks_asthma.htm

In connection with fireworks one mostly thinks first of the numerous explosion consequences and burns as well as of eye and ear damages and hand injuries. And one often forgets another important aspect: The smoke of fireworks consists mainly of fine toxic dusts (particulate matter, PM10) that easily enter the lungs and represents a real danger for those already sick as well as for the healthy. In addition, fireworks let-offs are the result of explosions releasing a mixture of chemical components. In a fireworks burn-down a number of chemical reactions take place among the particles involved (so-called conversion of matter); at the same time a large number of new substances are generated, substances of largely unknown composition and toxicity.







Emission measurements, which attest increased contents of pyrotechnic elements in fine dust (PM10), are available from the USA [Perry], the Netherlands [Noordijk] and Switzerland [BRISKA]. It was shown in Basel that e.g. the concentration of potassium on August 1 was approximately 100 times higher than before or after that date. While on ordinary days potassium was mainly contained in the coarse particles, on August 1 potassium was attested mainly in small particles. Emissions of fireworks cumulate therefore mainly in small particles.







In the Federal State of Washington the metal contents measured in fine dust PM2.5 on 4th July 1990 (American national holiday) showed that the concentrations of the characteristic content materials of fireworks, such as strontium and barium, rose around 20 respectively 50 times in the daily average.







During the Stockholm Water Festival in 1996, air pollutant levels were measured before and after the fireworks display. Levels of airborne arsenic were found to be twice as normal, while levels of mercury, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc and chromium were 4 to 5 times higher than normal.







The Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) concludes in its study "Fireworks":



Ø Investigations in the country and abroad show that increased metal contents in the air on special holidays have to be attributed to fireworks.



Ø Fine dust originating from fireworks differ in their composition substantially from types of dust from other sources of emission. The health risks are only insufficiently investigated.







Emissions of fireworks are a well-known cause of health impairments. Particularly affected are persons who suffer from illnesses of the respiratory system, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) as well as heart and circulation disturbances.





The article "New Year's Eve with protective mask. Some humans suffer heavily under New Year's Eve and 1st August fireworks: The poisonous smoke leads to dizziness, heart disturbances and asthma attacks." describes the health impairments induced by the poisonous chemicals of fireworks by some people with MCS and asthmatic (à please read also http://www.stop-fireworks.org/injured_persons.htm where people with MCS and/or asthma describe in an impressive way their health problems caused by the poisonous chemical-mix of fireworks.). Nevertheless people extremely hurt by the chemical-mix of fireworks who must stay behind closed windows and in addition have to wear a paper or gauze mask to protect themselves are not taken seriously by their surroundings, by authorities, nor by a majority of physicians unfortunately.







Other countries take the situation essentially more seriously (à different newspaper articles and scientific articles). E.g. Gregg Kishaba, the "director of asthma education" of the American Lung Association of Hawaii recommends among other things: ("Fireworks sales expected to be lower for new Year's - Fewer retailers have obtained licenses, and fewer people are expected to buy them", 26.12.2002, http://starbulletin.com/2002/12/26/news/story3.html):







Ø Stay indoors with windows and doors closed and use an air conditioner or air purifier with a good filter during the heaviest fireworks celebration.



Ø Wear a paper or gauze mask to decrease smoke inhalation.





(and in addition The Lung Association offers free dust respirators and of coordinates kamaaina rates at 13 hotels to at-risk resident.)







All of these facts have long been well-known to the authorities; for years citizens have complained again and again. The complaints are addressed primarily to the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), the central office for explosives and pyrotechnics in the Federal Office for Police and to various police stations.







It is not by chance that the SAEFL writes in its report "ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS NR. 140, environmentally hazardous materials, fireworks: Impact on the environment and safety aspects 2001": <> (P. 9) and <> (P. 12) as well as <> (P. 13)







Nevertheless the report - surprisingly - concludes <> and that there exists <>.







Although some paragraphs covering health protection of its people/citizens can be found in different Swiss laws, authorities, politicians, physicians etc. neglect in an incomprehensible way that part of the population with the heaviest health impairments caused by poisonous chemical-mix from fireworks.







The majority of the remaining population does not understand why the specifically poisonous chemical-mix from fireworks leads for more and more humans to heaviest health impairments and, yes, even to a death threat. Information on this subject is very much needed – and could perhaps influence the one or the other to feel responsible towards his/her neighbours and the environment and to renounce - without waiting for additional legal regulations – to letting-off fireworks altogether.