Don’t Give Your Sweetheart Deadly Garbage This Year
Volunteers at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve picking up trash on National Trails Day. Photo Credit: Cynthia Guerrero
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Birthday!
Congrats Grad!
*Picture of Disney character whose song gets stuck in your head*
These are all cheerful and happy images we often use to celebrate memorable moments with our loved ones, but unfortunately these are also images we’re prone to finding all over our beloved Texas landscape. We’re in a constant struggle with all types of litter almost everywhere we go but balloons have special capacity to reach places litter should never have a chance to reach.
I’ve begun documenting balloons that I come across on our protected properties and it feels like they always show up where you least expect them. Rather than make a map showing all of the balloons I’ve found I will simply stress the fact that you can litterally find them anywhere.
Balloon litter is unsightly in the least and deadly at its worst. There is no shortage of evidence of the direct impact balloons have on our wildlife, on the land, and in the water. We’ll spare you the graphic images, but there are many animals like birds and turtles that end up consuming deflated balloons and die a slow and painful death as they’re unable to digest or process the latex materials. Strings from the balloons can snare and tangle all sorts of wildlife and create some truly haunting scenes.
No matter how many times you hear Elsa sing to you “Let it go!”, think again. Help keep balloons out of the sky and out of the environment.
How can you help?
First, don’t let go!
You can also make a difference this Valentine’s Day with a gift alternative to balloons! Show your partner you love them AND the nature of Texas by purchasing flowers from Freytag’s Florist in Austin! Just mention Texas Land Conservancy before you make your purchase and they will give 5% of the purchase price to TLC!
Check out Balloons Blow, a nonprofit advocacy group helping spread awareness of the impact balloons have on our environment. Disclaimer, their website has graphic images of the direct impacts balloons have on wildlife.
