Alternative Ways to Celebrate the 4th of July

Celebrate Independence from Environmental Bad Habits

This 4th of July, let’s re-evaluate both the reason we celebrate and how we go about it. Certainly, we can remember the forward-thinking optimism of America’s founding fathers when they declared triumphant independence from the tyrannical rule of King George III of Great Britain, but relevance to today’s American-British relations is anachronistic and meaningless. How would it feel to refocus our independence in real terms relevant to one of today’s problems, such as declaring independence from environmental bad habits? Perhaps you think common environmental bad habits are harmless? Think again. Fireworks this year will cause countless fires that will spread wildly in America’s drought-stricken states, injuring or killing people and destroying property and forests. Furthermore, scientific evidence is in that fireworks contribute to acid rain, and possibly glacier melting. As in warfare, detonation with gunpowder propels heavy metals: cadmium, barium, lithium and lead, as well as potassium nitrate, sulfur-coal compounds and arsenic high into the atmosphere. These atmospheric particulates mimic cloud-seeding, stimulating cloud and rain production, delivering acid rain, but it gets worse: they have broader environmental effects, namely production of black goopy pollutant-filled puddles, a soup of diesel, particulate pollution and algae. This is called cryokonite, it absorbs radiant heat on polar glaciers, leading to their melting and breaking up, to generation of icebergs on a massive scale, and overall, contributing to global sea-level rises and global warming, already exacerbated by record carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Sobering science and rational reasons to avoid buying fireworks. 

How can we lead the change? Restricting the use of only “safe and sane fireworks” this 4th of July in Pacifica is a small start. For the new Pacifica Fireworks Task Force Recommendations, visit: http://pacifica.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/will-pacifica-city-council-approve-the-fir...

 You could watch the East Coast firework displays on TV, or rent a movie about the American Revolutionary War of Independence, or attend a parade, or look for laser light shows, which are becoming more powerful and spectacular. The Walt Disney Company has pioneered the use of compressed air as the propellant, instead of gunpowder, propelling colorful confetti lit by lasers. Consider the glow of a campfire or fire pit, which provides much longer light than fireworks, and will warm you if it is a typically foggy and cold Pacifica on the 4th of July. Roast marshmallows, hold a piñata party, make your own noise-makers out of dried beans shaken inside a couple of pie tins taped together, watch fireworks from other displays overhead; and, when the fire is out, enjoy the constellations, looking for satellites and shooting stars. During the day, you could check the tide charts and at low tide, go tide-pooling to find sea-stars of red, orange and purple hues, right here at Daly City’s Mussel Rock or at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, located at Moss Beach. You might visit one of our excellent, local aquaria (California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, Aquarium on the Bay adjacent to Pier 39, Monterey Bay Aquarium), where the schools of sardines, movements of other fish and sea mammals provide excitement and color. And, you will see up close the beauty of these local representative creatures, similar to those we will be directly helping if we stop shooting chemicals and their plastic firework containers into the air; debris that lands in areas that drain to creeks and beaches, and ultimately the ocean, to be consumed by, or to kill wildlife. Let’s be forward-thinking, independently motivated, even take a revolutionary approach. 

Then, if you want to do more, that night or the next day, clean the street where you live or work, or come out next day for as long or as short a time as you like, from 7.30am on Linda Mar State Beach, Rockaway and Sharp Park beaches to help clean up the firework debris on the streets, car parks and beaches; look for Pacifica Beach Coalition members who will provide free bags for clean ups.

Celebrate, but don’t be part of the environmental problem; do it in a way that preserves wildlife, glaciers, and the environment this 4th of July. Long live the freedom to celebrate, long live our local (and global) environment!