A friend posted on Facebook that fireworks emit the equivalent carbon of a years’ worth of 12,000 cars. And that’s why she was against fireworks. She got several responses calling her a libtard (or worse). Here’s my response to her — but mostly to her Republican friends:
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I googled it and found a source that says fireworks emit about the same carbon as a year’s worth of 12,000 cars. So that’s what, about 240 cars per state per year? Definitely more cars in California and fewer in Wyoming, but whatever.
I also found that carbon emissions dropped drastically (about 13%) during the COVID pandemic. Some people lost their jobs and stopped driving to work. Some people kept their jobs but worked from home (they also stopped driving to work). Airplane flights dropped drastically.
Because of COVID, carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 2,300,000,000 metric tons in the US. That’s 2.3 billion tons. Fireworks emit about 60,430 metric tons of carbon each year in the US. 60.4 thousand tons. Fireworks are a drop in the bucket. Less than 1/100 of 1 percent. You can boycott fireworks. But I’ll bet switching to electric cars and electric lawnmowers would make a bigger difference. Or insulating your house. Or building better mass transit in cities. Or switching to solar and wind power. Or lots of other things.
I’m definitely against fireworks, however. The loud noises drive dogs nuts. They make military veterans with PTSD go nuts. Plus, I personally think they’re a waste of money – why spend a hundred dollars or more to get drunk and blow shit up? Also, they cause fires and property damage (when many parts of the country are in a drought). They sometimes blow off people’s fingers.
Some people might think firecrackers are fun but overall they’re just fucking stupid. That’s just my own opinion. If you like fireworks, go ahead and blow off your fingers and piss off your neighbors and scare their pets. But at the same time, maybe it’s a good idea to buy an electric car.