A Messy New Year!

At the end of every year we wish to each other a happy start to the new one. But does it really start that happily?  Of course everybody wants to welcome the new year in a big style – with lot of firework displays. They are beautifully colorful and memorable. However, there might be also different ways to look at all the fancy celebrations.

It’s Saturday 31^st December 2022 shortly before midnight. Me and my friends decided to celebrate the New Year’s Eve at the most popular place in Munich – on top of the hill in Olympiapark. We’re arriving at the station Olympiapark at 23:45 and we want to climb on the top of Olympiaberg for the view. We’re running to make it in time. The park is crowded. In the middle of the crowds people are setting off their own fireworks and crackers. They are lighting them on the grass, on pavements, literally all around us.  We’re zigzagging between them and trying to not to get closer to any danger. Suddenly it reminds of a battlefield. Little rockets flying above our heads are making noises like warships. Every now and then some little piece of ash stands in our hair. We finally make it to the top. There are few minutes left until midnight, but the fireworks are already everywhere. People are standing really close to each other and still lighting fireworks. I have to constantly look around and watch out for them. Someone got probably hurt because shortly after midnight an ambulance comes on the top of the hill and stops quite close to us right there on the grass. I am filming the fireworks and I realize how polluted the air got. After we arrived, we could see the moon and stars and now nothing. After an hour when the fireworks stopped and the biggest celebrations transferred to the bars, we are still there on the top of now empty hill drinking champaign and talking. Suddenly I notice a starting fire on the grass three meters away. We put it down of course. But I don’t want to imagine would happen if we didn’t stay and didn’t notice. Walking back to the station I notice a the enormous mess everywhere.

Ludovica from Italy experienced something similar. In Italian cities including her hometown Udine there are always big events at the main squares. There is usually a big screen, music, open restaurants, really festive atmosphere and a count down until midnight. Then for 15 minutes there are firework displays organized by the town. This year she went to Marienplatz in Munich expecting something similar. She was surprised when there were drunk people lighting their own fireworks and filming it on their phones. The fireworks started early and people weren’t even counting down to midnight, so she missed it. She also heard a lot of ambulances, but admits that that happens also in Italy. Since she’s studying the environment she was really sad about the amount of the trash in the streets. 

“I remember this guy waving with a huge firework on a stick, which he pointed at me for a moment and that scared me. I felt unsafe so I reached the U-Bahn. I was surprised that there were many policemen but they were just watching the scene and doing nothing. On my way back while I was climbing the stairs from the U-Bahn station, she met a group of young boys throwing little rockets down the stairs, so I was really upset, because it was dangerous. And going through the park there were people lighting different fireworks from the small to big ones and it felt like a battlefield.” 

“I would recommend to the mayor of Munich to throw some drone show instead for the next year!”

It’s not just Munich’s fault

Karolina spent the New Year’s Eve in Aarhus in Denmark, where she went for her exchange semester. Between celebrating at the dormitory and going to a bar, she went also outside to watch the fireworks.

“I was watching the fireworks on sky and suddenly somebody set off the firework right next to me. That really scared me.”

Shortly after midnight she heard lot of ambulances and started thinking how unlucky it is to get hurt right on the first day of the new year. She said that local people were very drunk, but on the other hand they are used to it and they don’t lose their control. Fireworks were everywhere already since morning and compared to her home town in Czechia there were multiple times more of them. There was also no official firework organized by the city, which she would find more safe. 

“I was enjoying it, but at the same time I was thinking about the consequences. The next morning I saw all the mess in the streets and then it really hit me. The next day streets were already cleaned, but I was still mad that people are able to leave such a mess like it’s nothing. Maybe they just don’t realize it at the time. I realized myself this reality for the first time this year.”

“Even in Denmark, which is considered to be one of the leading countries in sustainability, suddenly on the New Years Eve people didn’t care.”

Pity the pets

Alex from Athens got a dog named Zara three years ago just before Christmas. Only as one month old she experienced a trauma. She had her own dog house at the garden, very cozy and warm, so Alex thought she would be safe. But already on Christmas Eve there were a couple of unexpected fireworks so she got really scared. When Alex and his family heard Zara crying, they let her in. But only a few days later was the New Year’s Eve meaning even more fireworks. This time they planned ahead and took her inside, but she was still so scared of the fireworks that she was crying all night. Since that time they always take her home, but even as an adult she’s running as far away from the noise as possible depending on where it is coming from, she’s shaking, having her tail between her legs and trying to hide.

In conclusion the celebrations of the New Year’s Eve are quite dangerous and harmful in many ways.

Fireworks produce loud noise which exposes pets to trauma and stress. It can also cause wild animals to move in roadways and unexpected areas and they may suffer from stress and devastating health complications. Reports tell that most wildlife rehabilitation centers have high numbers of injured, orphaned, and traumatized wild animals after the Christmas holidays.

Fireworks are made of various metals that give them different colors. For instance, the pink color is produced by lithium, sodium salts release orange or yellow, and barium and copper salts release blue or green flames. Typically, when fireworks explode, their metal components do not disappear. Instead, their parts remain in the air aerosols that contaminate the soil and water. These metals can also compromise human health by causing diarrhea, vomiting, asthma, kidney disease, and cancers due to ingestion and inhalation. The chemical process also creates smoke and gases, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Unfortunately, these three gases are responsible for global warming.

And for example only at Times Square alone, there yearly are over 3000 pounds of confetti litter, many of which can’t or won’t be recycled. Around 50 tons of trash needs to be cleaned up, from confetti to balloons, party hats, pizza boxes, and bottles. Let’s make a resolution that the next New Year’s Eve will be more sustainable!

Links:

https://8billiontrees.com/carbon-offsets-credits/carbon-footprint-of-fireworks/

https://sustainabilitynook.com/sustainable-new-years-eve-celebration/