0
0
By William Van Zyl (Published in 2020)
Table of Contents
Essay: Soft bait is a silent killer.
Synthetic fishing lures have been developed to catch any type of freshwater and saltwater fish. Designers and manufacturers have spent large amounts of money, time, and resources, on creating the most effective lures and soft baits. Soft bait is so effective that it is far more effective and successful than organic appeal in some instances. It kills.
The question is, how can soft bait silently kill thousands?
When a helium balloon pops hundreds of meters high in the sky, it glides and floats down as soft bait. The Maori Sky Father (New Zealand context) – Ranginui – immediately issues a warning:
Alert! Alert!
(Kia Mataara,
Kia Mataara!)
Rubber jellyfish, rubber octopuses, and rubber sea anemones plop into our oceans every day. The colour of the ‘bait’ is bright and enticing. It moves in the water, waving its tentacles and arms, inviting sea life to come closer. As if performing a magic trick, it says, ‘Eat me, please eat me!’ For sea turtles, it is camouflaged as a silent killer. Other sea life and birds are also affected.
Nevertheless, what can we do to solve this problem? Sky lanterns also pose a threat. The lanterns are more biodegradable than balloons, right? The beautiful floating lanterns lit up the sky for our enjoyment. Large paper ‘bags’ – propelled by burning candles suspended just below the mouth of the bags – are made of paper. Harmless paper, right? Green designers — please listen and investigate — there are metal parts in the sky lanterns!
Let’s continue to look at helium balloons. Moreover, for sea turtles, it is camouflaged as brightly coloured jellyfish. Other sea life and birds are also affected. When digested, it blocks the animal’s intestines. Do we take enough notice? What are we doing about it? With many sea turtles dying and other sea and water life affected, we have a decision to make. The question is, do we want helium balloons, or do we want sea turtles? We can’t have both. Will we choose short-term entertainment, or will we choose to keep sea turtles alive in their natural habitat. When sea turtles mistakenly eat balloons as jellyfish, they die. While most ocean animals confuse burst balloons as food, other sea and freshwater creatures also consider the deadly rubber edible. Interestingly, when researchers looked at the death of 1733 seabirds from 51 species, they found that one in three birds had ingested balloons. Plastic and rubber in our oceans are a huge problem.
Sea turtles employ a vital position in the food chain – providing an ecological equilibrium. What do we know about sea turtles? Even at diminished population levels, they play an essential role in ocean ecosystems. Their function? They maintain healthy seagrass beds and coral reefs and provide critical habitats for other marine life. All of them help balance aquatic food webs and facilitate nutrient cycling from water to land. Do we want to disturb the oceans’ biodiversity and risk losing sea life and, consequently, most of our vital food sources?
Here are more facts about plastic in our oceans: It is estimated that one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans every minute. Did you know that there are five massive patches of plastic in the seas around the world today? These huge swirls of concentrated plastic debris cover large swaths of the ocean; the one between California and Hawaii is the size of the state of Texas (US).
Maybe green designers and environmental activists could initiate a solution by looking at sky lanterns. Sky lanterns are made of paper, which is very environmentally friendly. Paper is harmless when it breaks down, right? Within about 3 to 6 months, it enters harmlessly into the earth’s ecosystems — it vanishes. Unfortunately, the wire is used in some cases to support the paper structures. Bamboo or other types of supportive organic material could be used for the shaping —some manufacturers use organic material — however, on a mass-production scale and producing it very cheaply, the wire is the easy way out. Next time you see sky lanterns for sale, read the labels; touch the framework. It has been reported that a cow died after consuming the ‘paper bag’ sculpture of a sky lantern.
Unknowingly the cow swallowed the metal parts. The wire supports inflicted the fatal injury. On how long it takes for the metal wire to break down, a scientist answered that it takes about one year. I have seen some wire in our gardens that have probably been there for decades. Not so sure about the data; one year for thin gauge wire to decompose? I wonder how long it takes for candle wax to decompose? I have done a Google search for you: it takes an average of 10 years to decompose.
Burst helium balloons often end up looking like jellyfish. To ensure our turtles and birds aren’t selecting them as food (and causing them great pain and suffering), ensure you keep your balloons tied down. Alternatively, consider using Sky lanterns to celebrate and have fun on special occasions. Queensland Environment @QldEnvironment
A modern version of a Sky Lantern. How many metal parts are there in this lantern? Credit Pixabay.com
Typical Sky lanterns. Those supportive rings, are made from bamboo or wire? Credit: Pixabay.com
What happens if a dog eats a candle or beeswax? Wax candles are typically made from paraffin, beeswax, or soy. These materials do not tend to be poisonous to dogs. When ingested, they tend to soften and pass through the dog’s intestinal tract without issue—eating large wax pieces may cause an intestinal blockage. Soy-based candles are softer. These types of candles pose less of a risk to animals.
The other bits of the sky lanterns are the real threat: Aluminium cups, wire components and parts, metal wicks, and more. Long wicks can become tangled up in the intestines, causing a linear foreign body that requires surgical treatment. Metal parts in the wick and the candle base may also become lodged in the GI tract. Therefore, the next time you send a sky lantern off, think of the possible consequences.
We can’t wait any longer; now is the time to design an organic solution for helium balloons and sky lanterns.
For teachers and students:
Excellent lesson on writing, sustainability, and more. Read the article with a well-developed lesson for students and teachers (Secondary School and University Level).
Download the complete resource for free (products available on this website): https://fivehousepublishing.com/product/helium-balloons-…rs-of-the-future/
Excerpt:
Learning intention:
- Hooking the reader in with an interesting and compelling introduction.
- Planning and structuring of the paragraphs
- Include comparison and contrasting of two subjects: E.g. Helium balloons and Chinese lanterns.
- Exploring the sustainable practice of these items and the impact on the environment (parts, movement, animal behaviour, and more).
- Conclusion: delivering a power sentence/paragraph at the end (short/ powerful/pro-active).
- Providing additional links and resources to inspire young writers to write on the topics of helium balloons and Chinese lanterns in the environment. Young writers could explore additional/other sustainable aspects and other unsustainable ideas related to the named subjects — harming the environment. For example, meteorologist’s helium balloons pop high up in the sky and eventually falls to earth. Skyfall. It could reach land, the ocean, a river or a dam. Though we all need weather data, how could these large rubber balloons influence the environment? Are alternative solutions available? Are there other methods to collect weather data?
- This lesson was inspired by the Write that Essay (WTE) education company in New Zealand. See https://www.writethatessay.org/. 12-sentence styles, paragraph styles, and more.
More articles, stories, eBooks, lessons and resources available for teachers and students at:
More about the author: http://williamvanzyl.com/
Copyright © 2020 by William Van Zyl
Lesson (Essay Writing) – Helium Balloons and Sky Lanterns: Our New Jellyfish and Alien ‘Space Killers’ of the Future?
Lesson: Essay writing – compare and contrast (Secondary School level). Exploring sustainable practice and our oceans.
All rights reserved. This article or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)
First Publishing, 2020
