The release of helium balloons into the sky has a direct impact on our environment; having let the balloons go into the sky, we have no control over where they may end up. 

It is a threat to our wildlife and also farm animals that may come across these balloons whilst grazing. The balloons are made from non-environmentally friendly materials and will take years to decompose. 

Please help stop this from happening! 

‘A helium-filled balloon is thought to be able soar up to five miles into the sky before shattering into small pieces. However, around 10% of them don’t make it that high and make it back down largely intact. They can travel for tens of miles, and will often land in the sea, where they become a risk to marine life. Turtles are attracted to balloons, which can get trapped in their gut and cause starvation (the MCS says even the fragments could be harmful to hatchling turtles); dolphins, seabirds and other marine animals have been killed by balloons, or the plastic strings that are usually attached to them. The MCS, which has long campaigned against balloon releases, says the amount of balloon debris on beaches in the UK has tripled since 1996.’

Article: The Guardian 14th June 2016

Mother Nature Says Stop Releasing Balloons

By: Jesslyn Shields

Release a helium balloon on a bright, sunny day, watch it magically float up into the sky, and I dare you not to feel some variety of exhilaration, a sense of wonder, a longing for freedom, suspense.... It's like a 21-gun salute, but quieter. It's like a Chinese Sky Lantern ceremony, but for the daytime. People release big bunches of balloons for memorial services, grand openings, birthday parties and parades. It's just a Thing We Do, and it's fun. But it's really, really terrible for the environment.

When a balloon ascends into the heavens, it doesn't end up on Jupiter. You know this. Although a helium balloon can rise to altitudes of five miles (8 kilometers) into Earth's atmosphere, it's got to come back down eventually, and when it does, it wreaks some havoc. That colorful little scrap of latex may end up living in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It could get tangled up in the flippers of a sea turtle or be eaten by one who mistakes it for a jellyfish. Or a bighorn sheep could mistake it for forage, or it might land in some farmer's pasture, where a cow chokes on the string. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, animals of the land, sea and air are equally susceptible to mistaking deflated balloons for food, or, arguably worse, getting tangled up and strangled by the ribbon attached to it.