UNL Sued to Stop Husker Balloon Release
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
Joe_5700
Starter
How's about all of the sand they dump in west Omaha? It is only needed on hills, and those trucks dump enough of it to make Omaha Beach. Not to mention how much gets in the garage, your house and making turns dangerous on two wheeled vehicles...
hskrfan4life
Heisman Trophy Winner
There is no evidence tying Nebraska's balloon release to any dead animals.
Bradr
Starter
I have mixed feelings about this. I love the balloon release and the tradition behind it. It still gives me chills. On the other hand, there's no way this isn't negatively impacting the environment.
In the scheme of things there are much worse things happening. But thinking this way is definitely a slippery slope. Every little peice adds up to making this place called earth more polluted.
Definitely conflicted.
In the scheme of things there are much worse things happening. But thinking this way is definitely a slippery slope. Every little peice adds up to making this place called earth more polluted.
Definitely conflicted.
There's not much evidence of lit cigarette butts starting unintentional fires either. Probably still not a good idea to throw one into dry brush.
Hooked on Huskers
All-Conference
shyndy
All-Conference
instead we just can hand out a bunch of birds that are spray painted red for people to release
Blackshirt316
Starter
He's not lying he knows how they work and is specifically manipulating the process trying to make a point.This has been addressed before and may not fair well for the university. Here is an article that shared this picture with the caption below. Link
The way these balloons work is the latex used has a special chemical coating that increases it's degradation speed. That chemical process is activated by exposure to sunlight.
So yeah if you bury one it is basically a regular balloon, but if you send them into the atmosphere.. which we do, they degrade.
Thanks_Tom RR
All-American
Interesting. The way I read your comment is that as the balloons are floating in the atmosphere, which we release them into, they degrade. I doubt that is what you meant. My question is how long do they take to degrade if they are not buried? Also, do they have to remain in direct sunlight to degrade faster than normal latex balloons?He's not lying he knows how they work and is specifically manipulating the process trying to make a point.This has been addressed before and may not fair well for the university. Here is an article that shared this picture with the caption below. Link
The way these balloons work is the latex used has a special chemical coating that increases it's degradation speed. That chemical process is activated by exposure to sunlight.
So yeah if you bury one it is basically a regular balloon, but if you send them into the atmosphere.. which we do, they degrade.
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Blackshirt316
Starter
I just knew how it works not much else so I looked it up.Interesting. The way I read your comment is that as the balloons are floating in the atmosphere, which we release them into, they degrade. I doubt that is what you meant. My question is how long do they take to degrade if they are not buried? Also, do they have to remain in direct sunlight to degrade faster than normal latex balloons?He's not lying he knows how they work and is specifically manipulating the process trying to make a point.This has been addressed before and may not fair well for the university. Here is an article that shared this picture with the caption below. Link
The way these balloons work is the latex used has a special chemical coating that increases it's degradation speed. That chemical process is activated by exposure to sunlight.
So yeah if you bury one it is basically a regular balloon, but if you send them into the atmosphere.. which we do, they degrade.
Looks loke it depends on the quality and how high they fly.
They are designed to reach 28,000 ft. At which point they freeze and basically disitigrate.
There seems to be a 1 in 500 failure rate to reach that altitude.
A quality balloon that doesn't reach that height seems to take 6 months in indirect sunlight but in poor lighting a non quality balloon takes "as long as an oak leaf".
That didn't sound bad to me... until I looked up how long an oak leaf lasts. An oak leaf can take 4 years to degrade.
So.... yeah. Not great.
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Thanks_Tom RR
All-American
Great information. Huskers release anywhere between 2,000 to 5,000 balloons per home game. Based on manufacture specs, 1:500 will reach the ground (the rest will disintegrate in the atmosphere). That's 4-10 per game that require 6 months to 4 years to degrade on the ground. It would be hard to determine how many degrade at the slow or fast rate. At worst, this means that 10 balloons for 7 home games per year during a 4 year period are littered on the ground. That's 280 balloons at any given moment in different stages of decay.I just knew how it works not much else so I looked it up.Interesting. The way I read your comment is that as the balloons are floating in the atmosphere, which we release them into, they degrade. I doubt that is what you meant. My question is how long do they take to degrade if they are not buried? Also, do they have to remain in direct sunlight to degrade faster than normal latex balloons?He's not lying he knows how they work and is specifically manipulating the process trying to make a point.This has been addressed before and may not fair well for the university. Here is an article that shared this picture with the caption below. Link
The way these balloons work is the latex used has a special chemical coating that increases it's degradation speed. That chemical process is activated by exposure to sunlight.
So yeah if you bury one it is basically a regular balloon, but if you send them into the atmosphere.. which we do, they degrade.
Looks loke it depends on the quality and how high they fly.
They are designed to reach 28,000 ft. At which point they freeze and basically disitigrate.
There seems to be a 1 in 500 failure rate to reach that altitude.
A quality balloon that doesn't reach that height seems to take 6 months in indirect sunlight but in poor lighting a non quality balloon takes "as long as an oak leaf".
That didn't sound bad to me... until I looked up how long an oak leaf lasts. An oak leaf can take 4 years to degrade.
So.... yeah. Not great.
Now, a fundamental question would be what is the environmental impact of 280 balloons spread from Nebraska to, allegedly, as far as the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and Atlantic Ocean (hundreds or thousands of miles away).
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SUHperman
Starter
Lol this was my exact thought as well. Guy just seems like a douche.
Orly Taitz springs to mind, though I'm guessing she and this guy have opposing political positions.