Americans light over 300 million pounds (or 136,000 tonnes) of fireworks annually, or almost one pound for each person in the country. That amount increased to almost 460 million pounds (209,000 tons) of fireworks in 2022. That’s a lot of glitter and explosions, but there’s also a lot of smoke and garbage, which could hurt surrounding people’s lungs in addition to the planet.
Several historians contend that firecrackers date back thousands of years, with the first ones possibly emerging in China in the second century BC.
However, the extent of their impact on human health, the environment, and wildlife is only now becoming clear to us.
detrimental to our well-being?
While burns and explosions garner the majority of attention when discussing the risks associated with fireworks, these joyous displays can have broader repercussions, particularly when set off in enormous displays like those for New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.
Undoubtedly, there has been a rise in injuries caused by fireworks in recent years, with men accounting for 70% of those affected and 66% of injuries in the US occurring in the weeks leading up to and including July 4.
However, Waikiki, Hawaii-based Peter Brimblecombe, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia in the UK, released an article in 2023 analyzing
