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Helium Balloons are a real threat to the environment.


When released Helium Balloons can travel 100's of miles.

They eventually burst and come back down to Earth often in the sea

where they get digested by sea creatures Many choke.


Whereas Helium is one of the most abundant elements in the Universe not much exists on Earth.

Most of it escapes into the atmosphere.


It cannot be made in large quantities

It is produced when Certain Radio active elements decay and can take 1000's of years.


The most important component of an MRI system is a large magnet containing superconducting wire cooled to 4.2 Kelvin, or minus 452 F. "Helium is currently the only element on Earth that can effectively keep the magnet this cold and consequently allow for the high field strength, stable and uniform magnetic fields that make modern MRI systems possible.


When the Helium has gone , it has gone. Do not waste it on polluting Balloons.


DulwichFox

Any kind of fair, festival or anything fun should be completely banned from all London parks, commons and open spaces.


No music of any kind should ever be allowed to disturb the peace of the good people who are fortunate enough to live in an expensive house near to a common, it should be reserved for them to walk their dogs as and when they want to.

Re helium that takes thousands of years .. surely then every day we have sone more being produced .. (today minus 'thousands of years' = todays helium ?


Im not belittling the important environmental question thoug. My biggest bugbear is the amount of blue carrier bags given out on rye lane . They seem obsessed about giving uou one at every opportunity

i wouldn't go so far as to call the noise on P Rye 'music'

it's carny noise, and it is loud, and by some meteorological aberration, sounds just as loud on CP Road as it does on the Rye itself.

i won't say anything about the 'free' fireworks on saturday

no doubt people enjoy all of that, but thankfully for the rest of us, it's only a few days a year


and DFox is right - helium is being used faster than it's being produced (by radioactive decay) and there is now a global helium shortage

so it could soon be a choice between taking SpongeBob home on a string and having working scanners in hospitals


not miserable, just realistic!

Genuine question about helium . If its that rare why isnt the price so exhorbitant than to render using it for baloons untenable ? Simple market ecominics ? Im genuinely interested but defo wont be buying my little one a baloon in the future .. just interested in understanding mire on this .. although i suppise same concept as oil .. sell it whilst its there and think about the futture later ?

Yes!!! Helium is rare


On the Earth only - helium is the second most abundant element in the universe (second to hydrogen) and accounts for 25% of the atoms in the universe (although dark matter accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe, the other 15% being all known elements - so helium is 25% of that 15% of matter).

I spoke the guys actually and they were very nice. Happy to turn the music down a little bit which was all it needed. It was just the bass.


BTW re expensive house, that would be nice - we are three people sharing a rented flat at the top of a building that is divided into four other flats.

Humdinger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I heard that they have a "helium bar" set up at

> this fair, where they are selling ?2 balloons

> filled with Helium which they sell to kids who

> then inhale it.

>

> I think it is high time a councillor was notified

> of this heinous practice.


But only if you inhale from a balloon first and talk like Mickey Mouse to the council officials. Now that would be funny

tomskip Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Really, it's time to say goodbye to helium

> balloons along with as much single use plastic as

> possible. I cannot see how they can be defended.


Time to start using hydrogen instead.


I don't see what could possibly go wrong.

I enjoy the fair and the music, although admittedly don't live near enough to hear it from home, that could be annoying. I also find it's relatively low in retail of random associated junk compared to many events.


I agree on the helium though, and the plastic it's wrapped in. We've noticed the effects of the helium shortage at my work as it's used to run some air quality monitoring equipment and is becoming difficult to get without delays. Not as important as some of the vital medical applications but still a concern.


Here's a link for anyone who is unaware of the issue and wants to know more. I only found out about it recently myself:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1007151


Using helium for balloons seems to be the type of thing that just shouldn't be allowed. I'm sure many people are completely unaware of the issue and others may be unlikely to limit their own use if they're real fans of floaty balloons. But probably most people wouldn't even notice that much if it was not sold any more.

Humdinger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I heard that they have a "helium bar" set up at

> this fair, where they are selling ?2 balloons

> filled with Helium which they sell to kids who

> then inhale it.

>

> I think it is high time a councillor was notified

> of this heinous practice.


Go on then.

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