The fire danger apparently is nothing to worry about for the go ahead of the Sydney New Year’s firework. What about the additional fine dust pollution that will make the already hazardous air we breathe even more toxic? Are a few minutes of pyrotechnic entertainment really worth needlessly polluting the environment? For the colour effect of fireworks, toxic heavy metals like barium, aluminium, lead, mercury salts, antimony, copper, and strontium can be used in firework compositions. What is your take on this?
Fireworks - Thrills with Toxic Consequences
goegge on 30/12/2019 - 19:32
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Easy for you to say when you're watching the fireworks from your lookout :P
stay at home if you're that concerned.
People just want to find something to feel happy about. Fireworks help them achieve that.
And alcohol.
Fireworks are a huge boom for the local economy,
They literally bring money into the CBD of the relevant state.Unless its 100% unsafe to do so i have no objections to them being held for NYE
I'm itching to hear what Greta Thunberg thinks about the fireworks show
"How Dare You!"
)':<
The fireworks are a really minor pollutant in the larger scheme of things.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-24/bushfires…
"The unprecedented bushfires devastating swathes of Australia have already pumped out more than half of the country’s annual carbon dioxide emissions in another setback to the fight against climate change."
The fireworks show isn't even a rounding error.
BTW - Lead is being phased out from fireworks: https://inchemistry.acs.org/content/inchemistry/en/atomic-ne…
"Originally lead tetroxide was used, but because of environmental concerns, today’s fireworks are more likely to contain granules of bismuth trioxide or bismuth subcarbonate mixed with a magnalium, an alloy of magnesium and aluminum. "
Bismuth! Oh no! It's only the active ingredient in… Pepto Bismol that people ingest.
Are you my mum? She was totally taking about this at Christmas
There are no bushfires in Sydney. Setting off fireworks in Sydney isn’t going to start one.
http://google.org/crisismap/australia?hl=en&llbox=-33.058%2C…
No one is suggesting there not be community celebrations. The idea is to show some solidarity with fire fighters and victims and to show that we, as a community, take the issue of the climate emergency and the tragic impact it's been having on our country (and the world) seriously.
It's 2019, surely we can come up with more appropriate ways to entertain ourselves than setting off fireworks in a country that's been burning for MONTHS. A laser show would be just as spectacular, with none of the associated risks or disrespect. Surely it's time to move on from archaic things like fireworks.
Show solidarity, by letting them protect their property in advance. Removing trees close to the house, clearing public space of fuel. My house is designed in a fire zone, and I can’t clear any tree. While power lines cut through a corner, Ausgrid can tree fell at will, so it protects the power going to the city nearby.
I can’t clear 30 years of built up fuel under the trees as I am not allowed to burn this (I am in a fire zone no fires allowed)
Catch 22 . I can’t reduce my fire danger because I am in a fire danger zone.
Solidarity would be to let me protect my property rather than stop a few minutes of fireworks
Who is going to know if you drop them down?
You have obviously never dealt with council. Like leeches, they are ever ready to hand out revenue fines.
Climate emergency? ROFL
evil
OP please stay at home in bed this new years eve, the world doesnt need your carbon footprint polluting my air. The car you drive, the public transport you choose to take, is literally killing me. OP think of my safety!!!
We should do a massive drone show. That way they can do so much more cool stuff like a countdown in the sky to start
Although I agree with the OP, no one is going to do anything about it. Half the people here probably don't even care about climate change.
Humans are reactive, no proactive
They only act when something happens
Let alone the budget
you're aware that Sydney's NYE fireworks bring in a lot more money than the cost of the fire works
Fireworks are fine. A celebration helps with the mood of a city and contributes to overall wellbeing. But we need to start getting serious on climate action. This has been a wasted decade that was caused by Greens politicking preventing action.
How is it the Green's fault when the Liberals are in power?
CPRS
Yes. Because a carbon reduction scheme is not climate action.
Hey Greens voter, thanks for the neg. truth hurts?
Greens politicking preventing action
not even a greens supporter, but exactly what 'action' was either major party going to be actioning if it wasnt for said 'Greens politicking'?
CPRS which was a step in the right direction. Opposed by Greens. Led to chaos and a decade of inaction. In Oz, changes need to occur over time. As whooah1979 said, they want all or nothing. So here we are today, nothing.
Opposed by Greens.
and….the other major party right…
at no time have the greens had a majority in the lower or upper house, so pretty sure any 'action' the two major parties want to achieve can just get walked through.
blaming the 'greens' for blocking a policy that is also not voted for by the alternate major party , doesnt seem entirely truthful@SBOB: You understand balance of power, right? Their choice to vote with the liberals blocked the CPRS. Their choice entirely. But now we have nothing.
Can’t really blame the Libs. They don’t present themselves as a party of the environment (in fact, quite the opposite), the Greens do.
Just like damaged boats we can take the smoke out of the environment so it won't be an issue.
You're saying we move them beyond the environment?
That would be the easy solution, it's smoke so we wouldn't even need to tow it. We could just use a fan
We could just watch last year's display on tv haha
Sure. Let’s put away the fireworks and fire a few ICBMs instead.
Apparenty it was not a sin to have fireworks celebration many years ago and it is now a sin.
It did not have health consequences then (otherwise we would have heard about it then) and now it is a sin.
I am just hoping silent Australians to put up arms and fight this mad political correctness just like the Britons and Americans do.
Looking someone in the eye will get you a intervention order these days, welcome to the new world order politically correct feminist movement that is 2020. ps: i hope your gay, if not, why?
What a load of nonsense. Congratulations on the dumbest post in this thread.
Unfair showdown OP!… very unfair.
Think how wonderful if half of Sydney catches fires! Rebuilding paradise, recession fixed.
Think how wonderful if half of Sydney asphyxiates and dies! No more overcrowding, congestion fixed.
Think how wonderful if half of Sydney Harbor Bridge melts! Rebuilding paradise, recession fixed.
You selfishness is appalling.
Just because a very large portion of Australia is burning and choking in smoke and a few people died, narcissistic city dwellers should not have their "Bread and circuses" taken away.
Please, think of the … social media catastrophe!!Next year we'll see how it went.
They both have fire in the name… Doesn't make them the same thing. If it's a funding problem, why does it have to be this? Can't you cancel something else? It's because it has fire in the name it's ridiculous.
We've been through this time and time again through out human history. Some people just keep enjoying themselves while Rome is burning. It was quite interesting all the headlines "Premier says still going ahead", "Depty Premier says maybe not" and "RFS says they got final say"
I just try not to ask intellectual questions anymore, you just get dumb answers.
But having fireworks can't be as bad as this
This earth is going to die, we all going to die. So have some fun before you die!
China outputs 10065 MtCO2 emissions in 2018
OP sleeps
Australia outputs 420 MtCO2 emissions in 2018
OH GOD THESE FIREWORKS ARE KILLING MEEEEEEE! ARGH! STOP PEOPLE FROM HAVING FUN!
China will ague that total carbon output since 1770 till now was perhaps greater from downunder than China!
brb gonna invent vegan and gluten free fire works
What's so fun about watching 10 minutes of fireworks? Never understood it. Watched it many times in person but always just felt 'meh' about it. Won't bother ever again.
Won't bother ever again.
Good, more space for people who actually enjoy them
The 100 meter sprint last for 11 seconds. Why is 35 million people wasting their time watching something so short?
Lol I wonder why too.
Or a 5 second UFC fight.
I think the way they justify the ever increasing cost is the funny thing to me. Since they love to talk about money and only money (never mind the air is already full of smoke this year), my OzB brain tells me "$3M display" would probably generate as much money (so actually, a net profit gain due costing less) than everytime they boast about spending more, now to 5M or whatever.
Similarly I bet the return on say a 10 min display is no different to a 12 min one, and when events like these are costed to the literal second, it's a big difference.
Obviously there's a minimum too and point of best return; but from the numbers thrown around it's way past that.
But hey, classic mob mentality is any criticism of fireworks no matter what it actually is, just gets branded as anti-fw.
What's so fun about watching 10 minutes of fireworks? Never understood it.
It's not compulsory to watch.
Not sure why you quote. Were you attempting to answer my question by saying that not compulsory to watch is the fun bit?
I already mentioned I won't bother going anymore 🤷
No no no just stop. I'm concerned about climate change yes and pollution etc, but do not agree with all this knee jerk reactionary shite going around any time any thing happens these days. You are not going to poison anyone with a fireworks display. You are not going to fix a polluted environment by banning a single event that has been months in the organising. All you are going to do is wreck a ton of peoples holidays, piss of a bunch of already p*ssed off Australians and destroy any buy-in you might have on this issue. The City of Sydney cannot just turn this off. There are lives and jobs involved here. Banning fireworks is pissing in the wind one-solution-fits-all kind of garbage that sits in the dumpster of quick-fixes to everything everyone wants these days.
Advocate for a national recycling standard. Advocate for switching away from plastic. Lobby your state to invest in R&D for non-polluting energy technologies. Recycle your garbage properly and stop buying so much. No one person needs to be environmentally perfect but if everyone just does their best it will make a difference. I'm sick of everyone pinning this on the government of the day to absolve themselves of responsibility and getting so caught up in the 24 hour news cycle and Twitter and FB battles that it's forgotten tomorrow, all the while social media companies and Murdoch media makes trillions in sales and click-throughs and advertising. Turn the bloody news off, stop refreshing mainstream media websites and take action yourself. Be the change you want to see so people can SEE what you're doing rather than argue on the effing Internet where everyone has sold their identities out to political sides. After this year, lobby the City of Sydney to invest in a laser and fireworks display so you reduce the overall load of fireworks while allowing companies to invest in new technologies. Aim for reduction and improvement rather than some bullshit totality.
/rant
We are becoming more selfish.
People losing everything,fighting for life and we are still going ahead with these celebrations.So do you propose that we stop celebrating everything because there are people losing their lives and/or their properties?
I hate to be rude or mean, but there's a lot of pain and suffering in the world. Natural disasters, wars, illness…etc., they're all unpleasant things and they cause people huge amounts of hardship and suffering. I'm all for actually doing something that makes a difference to those in need. Perhaps spend a day volunteering in communities that need help, maybe think a little harder before you cast your vote, maybe choose to take public transport rather than drive to help with climate change…etc.
Don't do this nonsense virtue signalling. Like as if not celebrating something will ease someone's hardship.
I agree so much with this but can we please stop using the term 'virtue signalling'? Nothing constructive comes from it, it's about as useful as people using the word bigot. Most people are well intentioned, using angry internet-speak like this doesn't help, people just need their intentions redirected to something more useful.
Great vision?
When the disaster is happening in our back yard.
If it is not affeting me then it is ok mentality.
Sachy I question the usefulness of berating fireworks during a national disaster. It would be far far more useful to donate some money to the red cross, or volunteer some time somewhere. The days of just hopping online to point out a problem ad finitum and thinking that's enough need to be done. We're all guilty of it but it's time to take real action not think that these sorts of posts are enough.
You can see the bushfire smoke from satellites. You can't see any NYE fireworks smoke 15 mins after.
Think it's ok to have them for 15 minutes in a whole year (ok 1hr max if u include all celebrations in a year).
I freaking love fireworks so I may be biased.
If you want to talk about needless pollution how about plane trips to Hawaii?in the words of greta the great: HOW DARE YOU (be happy and enjoy life)
The popcorn was great, fireworks too
fireworks are going to be replaced by drone shows in the near future
The release of latex balloons to drift into the oceans does much more long term damage to the marine life. Just because it is less visible does not mean we should torture marine life. Ah there was a "can't find husband" female proving the point of a single bird casualty by fireworks…..
Given that most of those chemicals are being spread and are now present over much of the country, why are you signalling out this?
It looks like the evening was a success. The visitors got what they wanted and much need funds were raised.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/fireworks-explode-above-…
https://www.2gb.com/sydneys-nye-fireworks-nearly-1-million-r…
I wish I could downvote forum posts.
Because grand scheme of things
There is no need to ban fireworks.
Sigh, its like these people refusing to allow backburning….. look at those fires now; yes, there woulda been fires, but the amount, and scale…. hmmm
Who's refusing?
The only specific info I've seen says NSW exceeded their hazard reduction targets
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/12/is-th…
Oh another one who are following the Newscorp heard and blaming the greens for not backburning.
Tldr, but for me fireworks are boring, how about some led drones or lasers shows.
Without coal, I wouldn't be browsing Whirlpool now. Thanks coal!
In America 🇺🇸 they decided on using drones as opposed to fireworks due to fire 🔥 on 4th of July celebrations. But NSW CBF and a big F to all the people who have been impacted by fires and smoke.
How good is Australia 🇦🇺?
Fourth of July: drones to replace firework displays due to wildfire risk
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/03/aspen-fou…
That looks like fireworks.
Drones don't really work though for a viewing area like Sydney Harbour where it's viewed from an almost 360 degree angle over such a large area.
Drones would be a liability nightmare.
And fireworks wouldn't be? I'd rather a drone fall on me then getting shot by a firecracker.
There is no wildfire risk from Sydney firework display…
those chemicals are getting sprayed on us regularly everyday.
Who remembers the good old days with Sky Show in Vic/SA?
Now they were some fireworks!
Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such OZB threads as “AMG A200: High yield investments” and "Fireworks - Thrills with Toxic Consequences".
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I think life is too short to worry about petty shite like this.