We are fortunate to be back on Martha’s Vineyard and, as I do most mornings on the island, I took the dog for an early morning walk on South Beach in Edgartown.

The top picture was my initial view this morning at the start.  Just lovely.

Unfortunately, as I looked more closely, I found a familiar sight.

Balloons.

The pictures on the bottom row were also taken this morning on the same beach (just close ups of things that I found walking the same direction that you see in the top photo).  I walked on the beach for a total of 30-40 minutes.  Any guesses on how many balloons I picked up on the stretch of beach that is pictured at the top?

59

Yes, a crazy number.

When I looked closely, balloons were everywhere.  If you take notice on your next visit to the beach, I bet you will find the same.

The big mylar ones (with Happy Birthday and Get Well messages, etc.) are easy to find.

What you might not notice at first are the smaller ones.  If you look carefully, though, you will find balloons and balloon string in many dried clumps of seaweed.  They are everywhere.

I know that balloons can bring joy and I don’t want to be a killjoy, but balloons can also kill (animals who mistake them for food or get caught in balloon string).

Enjoy the non-helium filled ones, but please don’t let any blow away.  If they are filled with helium, and you are near a coastline, they are likely to end up in the ocean.

As we wrote about in our “Will Martha’s Vineyard Join Nantucket” post (click on the title to read), please help protect the ocean and consider encouraging your community to take the bold move Nantucket, MA did, and ban helium balloons.

More on restrictions that your community might already have in place about balloon releases can be found at the following:

Balloon Laws

With a little action, even just encouraging existing laws to be enforced, you can make a difference and help clean up oceans.

 

Preston McSwain can be found during the day working as the Managing Partner and Founder at Fiduciary Wealth Partners.  To see more of his posts about his day job, investments, and on issues such as clean oceans, and education, connect with him through the following social media links:

Twitter

Linked In

About.me

FWP