About time! Hard to believe this wasn't done years ago, considering how much harm balloons cause to our Florida wildlife & ecosystem........
Not a fan of Desantis but I definitely support this. There's not much upside to releasing a bunch of balloons other than a few fleeting seconds of happiness I suppose when you watch them float away only to become someone else's problem. Hopefully enforcement doesn't become too much of a burden but imagine just by cutting out any corporations, businesses, wedding venues or county governments who may do this for events you'll stop the bulk of it.
I agree as well. The only thing I wonder, if this isn't a stunt and he's suddenly so concerned about the environment, is why he hasn't banned more pernicious and widespread plastic products, such as straws, bags, and so on almost ad infinitem, not to mention Styrofoam. Further, if he's so worried about the environment, why did he ban the phrase "climate change" from being mentioned in state law? Big Government Ron is a fraud, but at least he got balloons regulated.
You mean like when our “environmentally friendly” governor decided he’d get high fives from MAGA by taxing only electric stoves and eliminating the tax from gas stoves?!
For many years, the medical establishment has tried with limited success to bring attention to this world's diminishing supply of helium, a non-renewable resource. Used in medicine and scientific research, it's global supply has been sold like a commodity. MRI machines cannot run without helium to cool the magnets. So I'm glad that some progress is being made by banning balloon releases for environmental reasons, but realistically restrictions of helium use for entertainment purposes should have been addressed years ago. Baby steps, baby steps.
Ron "Don't Say Climate Change" DeSantis, our environmentalist governor (laughing as I type that last part.)
DeSantis doles out more money for Florida's environment https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/Florida_Wildlife_Corridor.pdf
This is probably a good thing. But as it’s not something many would think about, I’m guessing small potatoes (or more like micro sprouts) compared to the environmental impact of something like plastic grocery bags and straws. It’s a small niche. Esp when juxtaposed against some of Desantis other actions. To Desantis’ credit, he at one point blocked a Republican presented law that would have prevented Florida municipalities from banning plastic bags and straws. So I guess he’s consistent on this plastics littering issue, although in just vetoing the other state Republicans he didn’t *do* anything per se, it was just maintaining the status quo and preventing nutbar anti-environmental law to rule over certain cities and areas like Sanibel Island where they either already ban bags and straws or are considering it.
I’m skeptical that plastic bag and straw bans move the needle. What is that trying to accomplish? In the US a vast majority ends up in landfills like everything else. There is a world wide plastic in the ocean and environment problem but it come from China and other countries. Some states have banned single use plastic bags. So now grocers are using more heavy duty plastic bags that can be reused ….in theory but most only get used once, and in these states/areas the plastic bag amount in landfills is actually increasing. I do support the reduction of plastic for consumer purposes, especially foods, as micro and nano plastics are building up in our body and most likely never go away.
DeSantis is furthering gender confusion with this law, if you cant release pink or blue balloons at a gender reveal party, how will we know the gender of your baby? I thought this was where woke goes to die. Shame.
Right wing war on balloons! Where is the individual right to let off a balloon?!?!?! Ron "Nanny State" Desantis with more big brother rulings. Will we have to get a permit to throw a birthday party with balloons? Ridiculous commie action that is more invasive than vaccines. At least vaccines were supposed to save people, these balloons are going to save, what? A lizard or bird from eating it? Its called natural selection. Dont eat balloons dumb animals.
A lot of the plastics that are “recycled” end up overseas as well. Maybe just doing stuff to improve the rate of plastics that are actually recycled domestically is more impactful than a ban on its own. But, as with most large scale pollution/environmental issues probably something that needs a multifaceted approach to really solve. There is no one single or simple thing. I agree just using heavier duty bags definitely sounds stupid, I went to one of those stores (they admonished me for not having my own bags already and then charged me for their bags!) - so I know exactly what you are talking about. It was more like a Macy’s bag than a grocery bag. I was on a vacation so I used those bags a second time, but that was it. I bet each one of those heavier bags used is like 10x the volume of plastic and like you say I bet most people just toss them right away. They might even be more difficult to recycle.
It’s crucially important, so why not address it more comprehensively? “Baby steps” are woefully insufficient at this point, IMO.
This is who we are dealing with. https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251769080/florida-desantis-climate-change-law Starting July 1: But hey we solved the balloon "problem"
