New eco-friendly “green” fireworks may brighten our future Fourth of July celebrations
July 3, 2009 at 12:25 pm by Katie M.
As you’ve probably read recently on our site, fireworks aren’t so eco-friendly. According to this article from the Mother Nature Network I recently posted on the Green site, “fireworks often contain radioactive, carcinogenic or endocrine-disrupting substances that seep into soil and water, potentially threatening animals throughout the food chain.” Luckily, new efforts have been made to create “greener” (read: enviro-friendly) fireworks that we’ll hopefully be seeing more of in the future.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this article, from the American Chemical Society, which tells how new pyrotechnic formulas have been created by researchers that “replace perchlorate with nitrogen-rich materials or nitrocellulose that burn cleaner and produce less smoke.” They also go on to say, “these nitrogen-rich formulas also use fewer color-producing chemicals, dramatically cutting down on the amount of heavy metals used and lowering their potentially toxic effects.”
Some of these new environmentally friendlier fireworks have already been put into use at concerts and events, but unfortunately, none have been used at large outdoor events as of yet. The reason for this is probably that these new fireworks are more expensive than the traditional ones and harder to find.
Hopefully we’ll be hearing a lot more about these “green” fireworks replacing the more toxic ones (maybe this weekend?) and that there will be stricter federal regulations in the future to limit releases of toxic substances from standard pyrotechnics.
(click button for feed)
(follow us on Facebook)
(follow us on Twitter)