Not just a flash in the pan: short and long term impacts of fireworks on the environment
Philip W. Bateman
A * , Lauren N. Gilson A * and Penelope Bradshaw B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Behavioural Ecology Research Group, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.
B PO Box 78, South Fremantle, WA 6162, Australia.
* Correspondence to: bill.bateman@curtin.edu.au, lauren.gilson@curtin.edu.au, penguin4th@bigpond.com
Handling Editor: Graham Fulton
Pacific Conservation Biology 29(5) 396-401 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC22040
Submitted: 17 October 2022 Accepted: 8 January 2023 Published: 31 January 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Fireworks are used globally, mostly for recreational purposes, despite overwhelming evidence that they negatively affect wildlife, domestic animals, and the environment. Fireworks cause short-term noise and light disturbance, causing distress in domestic animals that may be managed before or after a fireworks event, but impacts to wildlife can be on a much larger scale. The annual timing of some large-scale fireworks events coincides with migratory or reproductive behaviour of wildlife, and thus may have adverse long-term population effects on them. Fireworks residues also contribute significantly to chemical pollution of soil, water, and air, which has implication for human as well as animal health. Modern technological alternatives to traditional fireworks – both ‘eco-friendly’ fireworks, and reusable drone and laser-based lightshows – provide safer, ‘greener’ alternatives that also present a sustainable way forward for maintaining cultural traditions without perpetuating their adverse impacts.
Keywords: bioaccumulation, fireworks, heavy metals, light pollution, noise pollution, perchlorate, pollution, wildlife disturbance.
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