Release a helium balloon on a bright, sunny day, watch it magically float up into the sky, and I dare you not to feel some variety of exhilaration, a sense of wonder, a longing¹ for freedom, suspense².... It's like a 21-gun salute³, but quieter. It's like a Chinese Sky Lantern ceremony, but for the daytime.People release big bunches of balloons for memorial services, grand openings, birthday parties and parades. It's just a Thing We Do, and it's fun. But it's really, really terrible for the environment.

在一个阳光明媚的日子里，你放飞了一个氦气球，并看着它神奇地漂浮在天空中。我敢肯定，这时的你会感到一丝兴奋与惊喜，还有对自由的渴望。这就像观看21响礼炮一样，只是更安静。这也像中国人放飞孔明灯一样，只是在白天而已。人们会在纪念仪式、盛大开幕式、生日聚会和游行中放飞大量的气球。虽然这只是人们喜欢做的一件有趣的事，但是这对环境来说真的非常糟糕。

When a balloon ascends⁴ into the heavens, it doesn't end up on Jupiter. You know this. Although a helium balloon can rise to altitudes of 8 kilometers into Earth's atmosphere, it's got to come back down eventually, and when it does, it wreaks⁵ some havoc⁶. That colorful little scrap⁷ of latex may end up living in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It could get tangled⁸ up in the flippers of a sea turtle or be eaten by one who mistakes it for a jellyfish. Or a bighorn sheep could mistake it for forage⁹, or it might land in some farmer's pasture, where a cow chokes on the string. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, animals of the land, sea and air are equally susceptible¹⁰ to mistaking deflated¹¹ balloons for food, or, arguably worse, getting tangled up and strangled by the ribbon attached to it.

我们都知道，即使氦气球一直向上升，它最终也不会落到木星上去。尽管氦气球可以升到距地面8千米的高度，但它最终还是会回来的，一旦它降落了，就会造成一些破坏。那些五颜六色的乳胶碎片最终可能会掉在太平洋垃圾带，它们可能会缠住海龟的鳍状肢，或者被海龟当成水母给吃掉。它们落在陆地上时，大角羊可能会把它们误认为是饲料。它们落在农民的牧场时，气球上的丝带很可能会呛死一头牛。美国鱼类和野生动物管理局的数据显示，陆地、海洋和空中的动物都很容易把泄气的气球误认为是食物，更糟糕的是，它们都有可能被气球上的丝带缠住并勒死。

And it's true, some balloons do break down eventually. A big part of the reason releasing balloons is permitted in so many places is that latex balloons are technically¹² biodegradable — it takes one between six months and four years to break down completely, though they deteriorate¹³ in seawater more slowly than they do on land. Mylar balloons, on the other hand, are made out of NASA-grade nylon¹⁴ and are not biodegradable, so they can hang out in the environment indefinitely.

诚然，有些气球最终会分解掉。许多地方之所以允许放飞气球，很大程度上是因为乳胶气球在技术上是可生物降解的。但是它们也需要长达6个月到4年的时间才能完全分解，而且它们在海水中的降解速度比在陆地上要慢很多。还有一种迈拉气球是由美国宇航局级别的尼龙制成的，不能生物降解，因此它们会一直存在于自然界中。

So, if balloons in the environment are so bad, why isn't releasing them outlawed¹⁵? Well, in many areas, it is. And a few places in the UK and Australia have banned the release of balloons of all kinds. In the US, California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia and some cities like Louisville, Kentucky, and Huntsville, Alabama have put the kibosh on balloon releases. But the thing about helium balloons is they don't care about our random¹⁶ geographic¹⁷ boundaries. They land wherever they want to land.

既然停留在环境中的气球有这么多危害，为什么放飞它们不是违法的呢？其实在许多地方，放飞气球都是违法的。英国和澳大利亚的一些地方已经禁止各种气球的释放。在美国，加利福尼亚州、康涅狄格州、佛罗里达州、田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州，还有肯塔基州的路易斯维尔和阿拉巴马州的亨茨维尔等城市，都已经禁止放飞气球。但是氦气球的问题在于，它们才不管人类划定的地理边界。它们想在哪里降落，就在哪里降落。

Hundreds of balloons drifting slowly into the wild blue yonder might give you the feels, but is a brief display of color and zero confetti cleanup at your party worth a bunch of dead birds and turtles and many beaches full of trash? Absolutely not. But, on a related note, the world may be running out of helium soon anyway — giving the turtles and the birds a reason to throw their own great big party, sans balloons.

看着数以百计的气球慢慢地飘向远处的蓝色天空可能会让你心潮澎湃，然而只是为了欣赏一次转瞬即逝的多彩美景，或者为了不必清理派对留下的五彩纸屑，你就要让一群鸟儿和乌龟用生命来买单，让一片片沙滩堆满垃圾。这值得吗？当然不值得。而且，再这样下去，这个世界可能很快就会耗尽氦气——这反倒让海龟和鸟儿有理由开个大派对来庆祝，没有气球的那种。

最后，不要错过一个重要的事实：

Helium balloons can interfere¹⁸ with airplanes. In Singapore, you have to get permission from a government aviation regulation agency in order to release balloons.

氦气球会干扰到飞机。在新加坡，你必须得到政府航空管制署的许可才能放飞气球。