Dorset Rubber Jellyfish film screenings Wave of Change

‘Don’t Inflate to Celebrate’ is a campaign raising awareness of the negative impacts of aerial litter –i.e helium balloons and sky lantern releases.

We have decided to become totally anti-balloon – owing to their risks:

It’s not just balloons that are released (into the sky) that cause havoc when they land – it is also balloons dropped on the street – which can end up being washed down the drains and end up in the waterways tempting some marine/aquatic creature to a #deadlyjelly meal

Latex balloons – often use in releases, are coated in HI-Float (equivalent to PVA glue) to stop the helium from leaking out. It also extends the floating time in the air.

Balloon companies pride themselves on using latex balloons – as they are marketed as 100% ‘biodegradable’ – because they are made from natural latex; but the latex is white in colour, balloons are all sorts of different colours – so what do they add to colour balloons?? Pro-balloonists often claim that latex balloons biodegrade on compost heaps too – if that’s the case, why aren’t balloons labelled as ‘compostable ??

Foil balloons are foiled covered plastic (usually called Mylar balloons which is the incorrect name as these balloons are not made of mylar) . They also pose a fire risk – if they come into contact with power lines, they cause an explosion resulting in a power cut and causing a fire

Balloons are a single-use item that we just don’t need – we’re pretty sure that wildlife and domestic animals would appreciate us not using them too. How much do people really enjoy balloons – before watching them float off into the sky (often with the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude?)

Helium

Often used in balloons, is a finite resource and is needed for far more important things such as MRI scanners, deep sea diving, the space industry etc.

Helium is also lethal to inhale – particularly deadly when inhaling directly from a helium canister – replacing the oxygen in the lungs leading resulting in asphyxiation and often death – there have been a number of deaths, particularly young people.

Latex Allergies

One other important thing to remember when it comes to latex balloons (even air-filled balloons) is to consider that some people have a latex allergy – so they cannot be anywhere near balloons or in the near vicinity. The latex particles can stay in the air from days to weeks. People with severe latex allergies cannot even step inside a room where balloons are.

Source: @banballoons on twitter

Tweets by dontinfl82celeb

(Don’t Inflate to Celebrate is one of the Wave of Change Partners)

Our ‘Don’t Inflate to Celebrate’ campaign:

I was a Voluntary Marine Warden down at Kimmeridge (for Dorset Wildlife Trust – 2004-2008), when I got when I was given the role of ‘balloon warden’. I was asked if I wanted to design a flyer/leaflet highlighting the negative impacts of balloon releases (not about sky lanterns at the time, though, as we hadn’t heard of them then and they didn’t seem that popular at the time, of course I could have just had my head buried in the sand..??)

Anyhow, leapt at the chance – did loads of research and came up with a logo.

A few years later, when I started my FdSc Marine Ecology and Conservation (at Kingston Mauward College – through Bournemouth University), I made the decision to withdraw from my volunteering with the Wildlife Trust and concentrate on my work load – academic work has always been a bit of a struggle for me – I have always preferred the practical side of things.

During my FdSc Marine Ecology and Conservation , I did a Independent Research Project – ‘Measuring the percentage of degradation of latex balloons in varying conditions’ (in fresh water, brackish water and salt water – over a course of eleven weeks – a longer period of time would have been preferred).

When I had time, I was doing frequent beach cleans, writing to organisations/charities asking them to (please) reconsider their balloon releases…and I did a couple of talks for schools and interested parties.

In 2012, We launched Don’t Inflate To Celebrate on Facebook (I had met my partner by now), setting up a page (making it ‘official’) – to share articles about the negative impacts of balloon releases, contacts of people planning on holding balloon releases (so that people could also get in touch with them; to ask them to kindly reconsider) and generally sharing educational material on the negative impacts of balloon releases..

By this time, Sky/Chinese Lanterns were becoming popular too – so we decided to add that to our campaign and approach this in the same way as the balloon part of our campaign.

The decision was made – that we needed some educational material – so we designed and printed flyers. All self-funded. It was important to us to have some hard copies (to give out at events), as well as the information we were sharing on Social Media.

The first few years (since launching on facebook) were quite tough because we were often met with opposition), but sometimes we were met with positive results – people reconsidering their balloon/sky lantern release/race.

 Some people actually thanked us for getting in touch and for using considerate language (because most of us know that balloon releases are an emotive subject as they are often held in memory of someone – so of course, emotions are raw and ‘one’, who is asking *them* to reconsider, has to tread carefully).

Anyway, because of these positive results, we continued and slowly, but surely, the message about the negative impacts of aerial litter got ‘out there’ …with the additional help of Martin Dorey’s 2minutebeachclean campaign.

Roll on to 2020 and we are still going strong with our campaign and are even more determined than ever to get balloon and sky lanterns banned (with the help of our followers) – especially during this COVID-19 Lockdown where some people are choosing to praise the NHS by releasing balloons and/or sky lanterns!

In the meantime, please continue to spread the word about the negative impacts of aerial litter to everyone you know then maybe, MAYBE, we can convince this Government to ban ALL helium balloon releases and sky lanterns once and for all.

On Saturday 13^th April

AT Durlston Country Park

The activities from early to mid-afternoon are as follows:

12-1pm Craft activities – in the Gallery – colouring-in, make your own origami turtles and have a go at our brand new ‘deadly jelly’ game.

We will also have information regarding our campaigns – Don’t Inflate to Celebrate (including sky lanterns) and our BBQ with nature campaign promoting Casus Grill

1pm- 2.20pm Rubber Jellyfish film ( 12A.1hr 20 mins)
– in the Learning Centre

2.30-2.45pm Discussion/Q & As

3pm Finish

There will be no need to book, just turn up on the day.

There will be a suggested £5 donation on the door.

For more information on the venue including how to get there, please visit:

https://www.durlston.co.uk/visit-how-to-get-here.aspx

Don’t Inflate to Celebrate & Ecotainment! are proud to present the European Film Premiere of Rubber Jellyfish in Wimborne on March 14th. The venue will be transformed into an underwater wonder-world at CLaRC, King Street Wimborne BH21 1EB from 6pm. Reserve your seats for this extravaganza and see you name on the BIG screen via Crowdfunder. They are raising money for a film-tour and will be announcing more Dorset dates on the night. Entry also available by donation on-the-door and via Eventbrite. There is ample free parking (after 6pm) and it’s child-friendly, featuring crafts, stalls and activities from local campaigns Wimborne War on Waste and Ideas 2 Action.

This promises to be a very green and eco-friendly plastic-free celebration of the seas

RUNNING ORDER

6 pm – 7 pm Film Fiesta

• On-site Vegan Cafe serving snacks and beverages
  Crafts & Activities – Origami, Colouring-in, Rock Painting, Be a Mermaid!

7 –8.30 Rubber Jellyfish Film

• Seats 90

• High Definition 3.7 meter/ 12ft wide-screen

• Professional Stereo Audio

8.45 – 9.30 Q&A Discussion

SYNOPSIS

Rubber Jellyfish is a feature-length documentary film about Sea-Turtles and their propensity for eating discarded ‘novelty’ balloons. These majestic creatures which have been around since the age of the dinosaurs are under threat from ocean plastic and in particular plastic-bags, wraps and balloons which mimic their prey.

A helium balloon released into the atmosphere will travel 8 km up before exploding into a distinctive jellyfish-shape. You see balloons as bio-degradable is really just a myth created by commercial interests to increase sales and irresponsible behaviour aka ‘littering from the sky’! Take a look at any balloon packaging and it will tell you Choking Hazard.

Unlike sea-birds and other marine predators susceptible to dining on our plastic-waste the incredible evolution of the sea-turtle has created Papillae. These are downward facing throat spines meaning it cannot regurgitate anything that enters and the only way is down. Now compare a floating bag or balloon to the Jellyfish prey and voila the perfect storm for species extinction due to human greed and negligence.

Enter our protagonist Carly Wilson, Australian wildlife-conservationist turned film-maker who decided to make Rubber Jellyfish instead of publishing scientific research which may or may not be adequately communicated to the public. Just like the Plastic Ocean film that came before it Rubber Jellyfish shares narrative and content but it’s more focussed, factual and shorter. Whereas Plastic Ocean’s global outlook felt overwhelming Rubber Jellyfish is more.. for want of a better analogy, digestible.

WAVE OF CHANGE

These events form part of the Plastic-Free ‘Wave of Change’ that was created during A Plastic Ocean film-screenings in 2018. That film was shown locally in fifteen venues to over 600 people after an initial screening in Wimborne, East-Dorset (May 2017). The response from the public to Plastic Ocean was overwhelming and this was partly due to BBC Blue Planet 2 that screened in November of that year. ‘From that moment on the whole plastic-free thing went mainstream and was prevalent throughout the whole of 2018’ says Lee Hadaway of Ecotainment! ‘Obviously we would like to repeat the success of Plastic Ocean with Rubber Jellyfish but without a sponsor we are relying on public support’. It could be as simple as liking and sharing their posts on social-media or coming to a screening as either a guest or a volunteer.

Sophie From Litter Free Dorset says, ‘Balloons negatively impact our environment by littering streams, lakes, and beaches. It’s the same as intentionally throwing rubbish on the ground or into the ocean. Even balloons marketed as biodegradable or “eco-friendly” can still take years to disintegrate and are not any better for the environment than standard balloons. There are many alternatives to balloons- making pompoms, flying recycled material flags or planting a tree- Lets embrace and celebrate these alternatives!’

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