Probably_in_Class
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Yeah. And in my answer at post #138 or so, I didn't even mention other considerations that contributed to Nebraska's decision.
For instance, there has been a low-grade environmental group denunciation of balloon releases for decades. The complaint is that the balloons rise high in the air, expand, and eventually pop. Then the helium escapes (eventually into space, lost forever from our perspective) while the latex rubber falls back to earth. Where it settles in streams and lakes, or on farm fields, or in the canopy of forests, there to remain as a hazard to animals and a contaminant in the soil for months or years.
Anyway, Nebraska (and everyone else who regularly release large numbers of balloons) have been getting a ration of grief from the environmental groups over this. Never enough on its own to force an abandonment of the tradition. But just another small weight, another contributing factor, that helped make their decision as the price of helium is expected to continue to rocket up.
It never seems to be just one thing; always a compound of factors that brings about the end of traditions.
OR
that's just the way the world is supposed to progress and HAS progressed up until now. As we learn more about the world through science, we start viewing the world differently. It's not about killing people's way of doing things. It's just about putting the things we learn as a society to use.