Fireworks

Photo by: Natasha Phillips 

Written by: Maddie Go, Year 12

People often say ‘finish with a bang,’  and that’s what fireworks do on New Year’s Eve.  Every year thousands of sparkles light up the night sky, their booms and crackles echoing for miles around.  My grandmother told me that the Chinese use fireworks to scare off evil spirits, and when I was a kid I absolutely loved them.  However, this New Year’s I found that fireworks aren’t all they crack up to be.

Firstly, there’s the problem of pollution.  After a firework show, I always look up and feel my stomach squirm at the sight of the thick smog left behind in the sky.  Being a good eco-warrior, I Googled what kind of substance fireworks emit.  To cut a long story short, there are a whole load of greenhouse gases packed into fireworks, along with other chemicals which fall into rivers or are inhaled into our lungs. Once they’ve burned out, fireworks really don’t do our ecosystems—or our health—any good.

Photo by: Vanessa Tan, Year 11

Photo by: Charmaine Singson, Year 12

And secondly, there’s the simple fact that fireworks are explosives that some people ignite right in their front yard.  Our family learned this as we drove home from a party this New Year’s Eve; everyone was tensely gripping their seats as we navigated through the smoke, praying that we didn’t roll over a leftover fusebox that would set the car aflame or something.  What’s more, the next day’s papers reported that, in an informal settler’s village in Manila, three were killed and 4,000 were left homeless due to a raging fire started by a couple of firecrackers.  This, above all, should alert us that we’re handling a lot more than just pretty lights here.

However, at the same time I know it’s hard to stop using fireworks; they’ve been part of our festivities for so long.  So maybe we could begin alleviating the damage they cause through three steps.  First, let the professionals handle them.  It may be exciting to light our own fireworks, but the outcomes could vary drastically, from a burned toe to an amputated hand. Secondly, restrict firework shows for large crowds or big events such as BSM’s Bonfire Night. This way you can have one show for hundreds to enjoy, instead of each household adding to air pollution. And thirdly, we should continue searching for ways to make fireworks more earth-friendly. Disneyland already uses compressed air to launch their fireworks—just the first step in the path towards a better celebration, the kind with a bang and without the backfire.

Photo by: Marianne Ayala, Year 12

Sources:                                    
Independent: Illegal firecrackers cause devastating shantytown blaze in Philippines that kills at least three and displaces 4,000 families
LA Times: Disney's Smoke-Free Launches
MNN: Are fireworks bad for the environment?

See the full article in the magazine here

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