UNL Sued to Stop Husker Balloon Release

[greenmonkey51]

Ignore if the balloons degrade and if they kill wildlife. Several hundred balloons are released into the environment every week basically just for the hell of it. This is no different than your next door neighbor throwing a party and leaving all the trash all over the neighborhood. We need to be good stewards of the environment before being football fans.

 

[zoogs]

Yeah, on the whole, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the operation of staging a football game. On the other hand, there are probably plenty of practices that aren't environmentally sound that could be improved or discontinued (I really wouldn't notice, or care, if there weren't balloons released at football games..)

I guess the ways these things happen tend to be via political pressure, activism, or lawsuits. Not all of them are reasonably necessarily, and it can be hard to tell what is and isn't, but these things don't often happen on their own.

 

[JJ Husker]

You want I should make a certain "Randy" disappear? Just blink once for yes or twice for no. Okay, gotcha.

Once it is.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Ignore if the balloons degrade and if they kill wildlife. Several hundred balloons are released into the environment every week basically just for the hell of it. This is no different than your next door neighbor throwing a party and leaving all the trash all over the neighborhood. We need to be good stewards of the environment before being football fans.

Your numbers are exaggerated. Blackshirt316 and I already debated the numbers. Based on the manufacture specs, of the 5000 balloons released each week, on average, only 10 will ever touch the ground. If you have specific information to suggest a different number, please share. However, you should not tell us to be mindful Stewart's of our environment while posting misinformed statements. In fact, as I note in post #41, the lawsuit states that these balloons that do land can travel hundreds or thousands of miles first. You tell me if 10 balloons across thousands of miles sounds like a significant detriment to the environment.

Personally, I came into this thread very option minded about the potential for the negative effects this tradition may be having, but through reasoned debate, I would say the impact would be rather negligible.

 

[dvdcrr]

Too bad he didnt sue to stop the real husker plague: brony ponies

How much coal is burned just to power the lights?

 

[JJ Husker]

He would have a good point and position, but I'm pretty certain I have read that the balloons are bio-degradable.

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

DEGRADABLE? Vogt buried this Husker balloon in his garden two years ago.

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong but that ballon does not appear to be the same as the ones they typically sell at the stadium. It has a rather large, raised, puffy 'N' on it. Aren't the typical balloons a smaller, flat, smooth 'N'?

Not that it matters for my opinion but it seems somebody is playing fast and loose with the facts. I'm glad the balloon release is impressive enough for somebody to think it could damage the environment but it clearly isn't, as TTRR has shown. It's not even a drop in the bucket on this planet compared to thousands of other things. A handful of typical kids birthday partys likely have more of an impact. This is just the creation of some over the top whackadoo.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

He would have a good point and position, but I'm pretty certain I have read that the balloons are bio-degradable.

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

DEGRADABLE? Vogt buried this Husker balloon in his garden two years ago.

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong but that ballon does not appear to be the same as the ones they typically sell at the stadium. It has a rather large, raised, puffy 'N' on it. Aren't the typical balloons a smaller, flat, smooth 'N'?

Not that it matters for my opinion but it seems somebody is playing fast and loose with the facts. I'm glad the balloon release is impressive enough for somebody to think it could damage the environment but it clearly isn't, as TTRR has shown. It's not even a drop in the bucket on this planet compared to thousands of other things. A handful of typical kids birthday partys likely have more of an impact. This is just the creation of some over the top whackadoo.

Looks the same to me.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

I would have guessed that he was a Creighton fan, but since he has tried to sue the City of Omaha at least twice and they got dismissed. I am guessing he is another idiot with too much money.

 

[Savage Husker]

🚑💨🏃🏼

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

I just knew how it works not much else so I looked it up.
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.

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.

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).

My take on the data available is that there is very little actual scientific research that backs up either stance. The baloon industry likes to use numbers based on a single study that was done decades ago funded by a hot air baloon company. Hardly an unbiased source.

Currently there are a lot of environmental groups that say this study is BS, but again, they are relying on anecdotal data. Yes balloons can kill marine animals, but how much of a threat exists statistically?

here is a more recent and maybe more relevant study that was done at Clemson:

A Clemson University paper looked at the environmental impact of latex balloon releases, and the picture it paints is far from a natural material quickly breaking down into harmless pieces.

The study used tracking and video methods to see what happened when balloons were released during sporting events, and the researchers discovered that only 12 percent of balloons fell to Earth in the tiny pieces that the balloon industry talks about. In fact, 81 percent of the balloons that researchers recovered were half-intact.

The other interesting aspect of balloon releases this study discovered is that balloons aren’t the only piece of litter at play here. The strings, often not made from biodegradable materials, can do a lot of damage when animals ingest them.

They also found that sea turtles and shore birds are both harmed when they ingest latex.

So I guess for me the jury is still out. This subject needs more research to come to an accurate conclusion one way or the other. Unfortunately, the only ones that are probably willing to fund said research will be biased for one side or the other. Just not a big enough priority for anyone else.

I don't want to see the tradition go away. I wish there were a "more biodegradable" baloon option, but I think the baloon makers aren't yet motivated enough to develop that.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Thanks, IA State Husker. That definitely changes the tone of the discussion.

 

[huKSer]

He would have a good point and position, but I'm pretty certain I have read that the balloons are bio-degradable.

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

DEGRADABLE? Vogt buried this Husker balloon in his garden two years ago.

He's not lying he knows how they work and is specifically manipulating the process trying to make a point.
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.

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?

I just knew how it works not much else so I looked it up.
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.

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.

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).

Say 1000 miles radius, that is 3.14 million square miles. That's 3.14 million square miles divided by 280 balloons is one balloon for every 11200 square miles. Nebraska's area is 77,421 square miles That's 7 balloons falling in an area the size of Nebraska. A seven year old's birthday party has 7 balloons tied to a mail box.

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

bad data in = bad data out. We can't start calculating stuff like that based on "manufacturer's specs" that are based on a single biased study. Way too many assumptions and variables. And assuming that the baloons will all spread out evenly like a drop of food coloring in water is laughable.

Baloon makers say 1 in 500 will touch down. The study above found 81% touching down. BIG difference. So who knows?

Almost like trying to calculate recruiting class rank.

 

[commando]

i've lived in nebraska for 53 years and have never found 1 of these balloons. what does that mean? my guess is that it means we either are not dropping that many to the ground....or we are apparently bombing iowa with these extinction inducing balloon bombs.

 

[JJ Husker]

i've lived in nebraska for 53 years and have never found 1 of these balloons. what does that mean? my guess is that it means we either are not dropping that many to the ground....or we are apparently bombing iowa with these extinction inducing balloon bombs.

If that is case, the only question is how do we release way more balloons, way more often. I propose we expand the season to 24 home games and incude 2 balloons with each seat per game. Take that Iowa.