Skip to main content

THE FUTURE OF FIREWORKS

I spent hours last night watching the July 4th fireworks.  I took these photos off the TV set.  It again occurred to me that these displays are blatantly terrible for the environment.  Why do current air pollution laws allow this to happen?

We can begin by blaming the Chinese.  They accidentally invented fireworks  around 200 BC.  The story goes that it took them another millennium for an alchemist to mix sulfur, charcoal and potassium, and again accidentally, invent gunpowder, which became the major ingredient for fireworks and bullets.

The records are not totally clear, but enter Great Britain around 1600 when King James II's firemaster was awarded knighthood for developing modern fireworks.  I again as yesterday quote John Adams on this 2July1776 letter to his wife Abigail:

"This day will be most memorable in the history of America," he predicted. "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival... It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade... bonfires and illuminations [fireworks]... from one end of this content to the other, from this time forward forevermore."

Surely enough, what came from London was fireworks to commemorate the first anniversary of America's push for independence on 4July1777.  This tradition has since then continued.

Italy entered the picture in the 1830's by adding metals like strontium and barium, adding color.  Skyrockets came in the 20th century, and today, China is the foremost producer of fireworks.

From Legal Planet:

In order to understand the environmental impacts of aerial fireworks displays you first have to appreciate the basic mechanics.  The heart of a colorful firework is the “color shell,” which contains a bunch of chemical pellets arranged to emit a particular color and design.  Commonly used chemicals include: potassium chlorate, potassium perchlorate, potassium nitrate, sodiumbenzoate, sodium oxalate, ammonium perchlorate, strontium nitrate, strontium carbonate, sulfur, charcoal, copper oxide, polyvinyl chloride, iron, titanium, shellac, dextrine, phenolic resin, and aluminum.

Further:

  • Firework smoke produces dangerous fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) pollution that significantly impacts air quality.
  • Metals and chemicals make this smoke toxic.
  • Contributes to lung inflammation, heart attacks, stroke, asthma attacks and reduced lung function.
  • Air pollution spikes exceed legal requirements.
  • Add noise and light pollution.
  • Disturbs nesting shorebirds (nests are abandoned with eggs, etc.), seals and other animals.
  • Known to have cause wildfires and perchlorate water pollution is a concern.
  • Long term effects of chemical pollutants have not be adequately studied.
  • Can kill or injure those involved with fireworks, and the occasional spectator.

The result of course has been more and more prohibition.  Yet, no one stopped those fabulous New York City, DC, Las Vegas, Chicago, Philadelphia and hundreds of other fireworks shows, and over other celebrations, throughout the world.  Why?  Apparently the limited use and high entertainment value are sufficient to sway government controllers.

But technology could well push out fireworks.  The future of light shows could well be lasers and drones.

Last year one of my postings showed these replacement shows.  However, I was sent this fabulous fireworks display, and checked into the authenticity.  

Surely enough, like one of these two from 2020, this one, too, was computer generated.

For the present, I don't see drones mimicking actual fireworks.  However, mere colored, but lethal, explosions will in time become obsolete, and the future of July 4th and Memorial Day light shows in the sky will more and more have lasers and drones replacing fireworks.  Sound?  Perhaps you can listen-in with your smart phone.

The July 4th 15 Craigside BBQ went well.  A few photos:

-

Tropical Storm Elsa is expected to weaken after rolling over Cuba, but there remains an outside chance she could strengthen into a hurricane before landfall north of Tampa late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

While there will be some rain, Elsa should not seriously affect the Surfside collapse rescue operation near Miami.

-


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more