FIRE the Fireworks! It's Time WE Change America's Traditions!

Image ©Chris Conway, used with permission.  See original image at Fireworks - Cheap Thrills with Toxic Consequences, at the following link: www.backcountryattitude.com/toxic_fireworks.html 

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BackCountryAttitude.com, the website founded and brilliantly compiled by Chris Conway, who has generously permitted the use of his graphic here, which is 'worth a million words' perhaps, beautifully includes information about something I'd forgotten about, which is the term 'stewardship'.  I suggest you follow the link, presented above (and at the bottom as I always do) and read more about that OR see the neat information he as about bear safety, low impact walking on beaches, trails and the Earth in general, including a delicious looking hammock that's going to be on my 'wish list'.  

My concern about fireworks is coming from my place of being middle aged and having had a lot of life experiences to draw upon.  When I was in OT school in the mid 1990s, my significant other's coworker came to our housewarming party on summer solstice and sometime around July 4th, his house sustained a significant fire which was suspected to be started by an airborn firework.  I recall talking with his wife about all the time involved in taking electronics to the repair center for cleaning internally as that was cheaper than replacement; at the time I only thought about the time and energy that was being covered by insurance money.  A year ago I went to visit old friends and found out she had recently died of brain cancer; I can't help but wonder if it was something to do with her having to handle things and be around a fire scene over a dozen years prior.  I've had a neighbor die from side effects of multi-chemical sensitivity which was definitely caused by going into a fire scene at work to rescue the maps (he was a cartographer for the USGS).  

So let's start with the obvious that most people hopefully think of related to fireworks.  More fires are reported on the 4th of July than any other day of the year.  A decade ago, there were an estimated 32,300 reported fires per year on July 4, I read in a blog about pollution, when researching online to do this piece. They also create a lot of unnecessary pollution.  

But first, the financial costs of doing the shows is enormous, and I can't help but think "WHAT IF 'we' put that same amount of money into doing things for our veterans and communities and bring everyone together OTHER than 'under the rain' of fireworks pollution?'   Facebook is riddled with thanks to the veterans, but is that REALLY showing them we honor them and care?  The average small town fireworks display runs $10,000, a small city's is $100,000+, so imagine THAT if you live in a small town or city -- what could YOU be doing with that money otherwise?  Being a lover of live music and liking the aspect of people coming together to celebrate, maybe pay big and popular musical acts to come and perform for a FREE concert.  I bet bands would adapt to have something special they would do for July 4 to 'raise their patriotism' a bit.  Maybe if they learned those songs and 'felt it from the audience', those pieces would end up in their ongoing shows!  AND maybe we'd get some NEW patriotic songs for perpetuity for these upcoming generations we're going to be turning our Earth and world, countries and home communities over to. 

In Philadelphia, where the Founding Fathers ratified the Declaration of Independence, "The City of Brotherly Love" has had a change in sponsors recently, and no wonder!  They had to cut back from spending $3 MILLION to just over $2 MILLION.  That's the whole ticket/expense for the parade, stage, etc, not just the fireworks display, but what would happen if, instead of July 4 being a day we have turned into barbecuing hot dogs and watching a bunch of Chinese-made explosives burst toxins, including heavy metals, into the air, ending up with sound and water as well as air pollution, we turned it into a day we come together in our communities to enjoy music and some enjoyment through education and finish it up with music and perhaps some American-engineered and made pyrotechnics of a DIFFERENT and less polluting way?  A popular news magazine reported recently on the record breaking revenues this summer for music events worldwide. I say we quit having our municipalities allow poisoning us more and start having them transition to 'something better'.

I had to watch fireworks from my house last night because, despite living in an area where wildfires are a threat, one of my 'neighbors' between me and the Colorado National Monument, was propelling the things into the air.  There are many wild and domesticated birds who went to bed last night thinking it was any other day who had a RUDE awakening from the 'intelligent humans' in their midst.  There are four deer that come by on a regular basis and I hope wherever they were last night they didn't think people were shooting at them and run out into the road and get killed; five years ago one ran in front of me and was killed (and cost me and my insurance company about $5,000).  That's the beauty of getting older and being 'middle aged' -- I can see the connection between my personal experiences and the collective experiences of the society I am in, not only in health care but in the related aspects, such as this 'thing' I have now 'about fireworks'.  Wouldn't that be a wonderful teaching/thinking platform related to health and what is causing our problems, if 'they' transitioned from doing fireworks to something actually GOOD for our environment instead of proven to be bad?  When is our leadership in government going to 'get it'? I personally don't feel safe having leadership which not only allows this, but supports it! 

It is our 'Mother Earth' that sustains us.  What we do has an impact on 'her'/it.  What she/it does has an impact on us.  We're intimately connected, and in July we can look for the amazing Gusti of Cottonwood Healing Arts to grace the 'pages' of Lumigrate.com, I am told; she will write about this for us.  CHANGE YOUR HABITS, CHANGE YOUR LIFE.  CHANGE THE HABITS OF OUR SOCIETY, CHANGE OUR SOCIETY.  There also will be a piece by a social economist who lives in the community I do, and who is writing for Lumigrate about how communities get the personality they have, so to speak.  This is important to know, as YOU reading and writing at Lumigrate.com are part of a community called Lumigrate, and that has power which can 'do things'.   

If you believe in the power of the mind to change what goes on inside yourself, and beyond, which is an integral part of Lumigrate.com, as we're about mind/body/spirit "holistic" medicine, then why not, at dark tonight when these displays are going off, start a collective consciousness movement among those YOU know.  Many meditate about peace in the world at noon Greenwich Mean Time every December 30 (I used to, before I got a chronic illness made better by sleeping in the morning until I wake up naturally, so I participate on my own that morning once I arise).  

YOU can meditate/pray/think about the society and Earth YOU want to be living with -- for every person who does that, it makes a difference and when you get into studying this type of thing, it's a synergistic difference.  I believe the millions of people actively engaged in this today and in the past has made a dramatic impact on the reality we have on the Earth right now, and we're going to be best served to have as many people on board this train of philosophy as we proceed into the future from today.

Then start talking to people, SHARING information any way you can.  Write letters, emails (send this to people?), or pick up the phone or Skype and talk with people.  Talk face to face with those you can --  and make suggestions to other people who have influence in your community. Even if ALL YOU DO, is Share this on facebook, you'll have done something more than if you hadn't, and everything is cumulative, every little thing, just as every thing you do in your personal life has an impact on your body/mind/spirit.   

I personally would involve the music promoters who could transition a city fireworks display to something revenue generating for the local economy and themselves.  It's widely known this year and last that concerts are making more money than ever.  Where I live there is a very active spiritually 'progressive' group of people --- wouldn't it be NEAT to have them involved in a big way in 2012's 'Independence Day' celebration and have a significant impact on what the general society 'does' for July 4? Let's get Independent from our old habits, our old thinking and ways that have gotten us into a mess as a society and planet. Instead of the the progressives doing a festivity on Summer Solstice, why not go with the July 4 'traditional holiday' and make an impact on the overall society by having an option for them to participate in and 'come to the other side' so to speak.  

We're the smart ones here, supposedly, let's start acting that way! It's truly a matter of those who make these kinds of changes having more success in the future, and those who do not NOT.  There ARE times in an individual's or society's history where it's 'a defining moment' and TODAY is one here at Lumigrate, this July 4, 2011.  Two years ago I spent the holiday with someone from the 'dark ages' who was letting his kids set of firecrackers in the same gulch that three years before had the deer running out of fear at 10 pm which I unfortunately hit with my car, killed, and suffered financial harm from. I realize there are people who are 'getting it' and those who are not, and I'm making Lumigrate to serve those who are 'getting it' and want information.  Others might find it and it might make an impression and they might come back to it someday, but "we've found our niche and we're stickin' to it!"  SO THANK YOU FOR READING this, and I hope you stick with us and go along for the ride and help us 'rock this thing' as the young people say. 

Back to the basics about fireworks -- if you think about where the fireworks come from, it's ridiculous to have 'our' funds purchase fireworks, typically made in China, which is well known to do things to get an effect without so much caring about the long term side effects -- people in the world are still getting lead in their bodies from the glazes on some things coming from there.  In the overall scheme of things, if you study how societies develop, China has a small but growing power center of people who are more conscious and that's how societies develop.  It's time for ours, now 235 years old, to UP OUR GAME.  The link below in the box to the pollution blog has really good information about how the US tests the fireworks imported and the standards they are imposing, which is related to randomly testing things that arrive into the US.  

So why not just 'say no to fireworks' and stop the problem and expense completely.  Have the businesses which earn their $ doing this polluting form of entertainment develop their less polluting FUN demonstrations?  I enjoy just seeing the big flames that burst at rock concerts, personally.  I feel the heat on my face, hear the sound of fire roaring and can think that it's much like a flame thrower, and isn't THAT about war just as much as 'bombs bursting in air', which fireworks historically represented?  That tradition got started long ago and has transitioned into something which today just makes NO sense at all to me.  I enjoy fireworks, I really do -- six years ago I sat right down where they were being set off -- huge ashes were falling on us that we had to move out of the way of, and that was in the same time frame as I found out the heavy metals lurking in my tissues.  

This past New Years, when the leadership at Colorado National Monument decided after lots of thinking and writing and talking and reviewing, that it made sense to do a fireworks display to honor their 100th anniversary, I decided that I needed to start speaking up and 'questioning authority'.  I spoke to the superintendent that night when I went to see if I could make ANY sense out of what they were thinking, and I'm pleased to say she just retired and I can only hope her replacement has a NEWER perspective on how to lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil -- when it comes to fireworks at least! I'd like to think it had something to do with my covering the 'situation' on Lumigrate.com, but what it had more to do with was the controversy surrounding her NOT allowing a bicycle race one day that was a BIG LEVEL deal that would have brought lots of tourism dollars and notoriety to our area, which naturally is a good thing if you're in the business of tourism as some are here.  OR recreation/bicycling which is a HUGE deal here -- mostly mountain biking but there's no reason to not ride the roads here as well, which many do. Out with the old, in with the new, it's happening all over the place, and it's what is going to allow us to 'make it' and not 'break it', I believe. 

I encourage you to follow the link to the blog about pollution and read the piece about what is in fireworks related to the colors and the heavy metal which makes each color, etc.  Also go to the website I refer to at the VERY bottom, they have wonderful products and information about leaving no trace and getting along with the wildlife, etc. I'm looking forward to Chris, the website creator, reading this blog and giving his feedback and hopefully blessing on using and crediting/promoting his graphic -- I LOVE IT, and worked in air quality/visibility research for eight years and just have a huge appreciating for his including this in his recreation website.y the way, think also about those metals being what colors tattoos, so if you're concerned about what you're putting ON your body, that might be a factor to consider.  I get back on a personal note to heavy metals, as about six years ago I did a heavy metals challenge test and found out I was a walking thermometer when it comes to mercury.  I also was very high in cadmium and lead, which is the tell-tell sign of a smoker -- in my case, never having been a first hand smoker, all the smokers I was around in my home and community until the Colorado smoking ban of recent years which finally took it out of restaurants and bars, so now the only place I have to deal with it is, ironically, outside on patios at restaurants or music events, street festivals, etc.  

Granted, my high heavy metals numbers didn't come from fireworks, but I started looking at the toxic burden our bodies bear and where it comes from VERY seriously at that point.  There's just something about seeing data reported that has come from a laboratory that 'has your name on it'.  To me, the expense and hassles and detriment to the body to get that 'stuff out of me' that I have gone through and will have to continue to go through in order to reach wellness, makes me want to help others NOT GET THIS WAY.  Therefore I've changed many things in my life related to what's in the environments my body's immersed in, and have changed what I do for my career's work in order to reach more people. I'm happy to say so far, it's very rewarding and Lumigrate has had good success! There were three to four times as many people this morning reading Lumigrate when I started writing this blog as there were last year.     

In closing, I want to thank some of the greatest teachers I had in my time becoming a registered occupational therapist in 1996, and that was the group of Vietnam Veterans at the Denver Veterans Administration Hospital.  They came three times a week, midday, into the locked psychiatric unit for 'lunch' but few of them ever brought food like the two OTs and student intern did.  They came for the conversation and learning.  So FIFTEEN YEARS AGO I was thinking, for the FIRST TIME, differently about July 4, as the ones who had their PTSD 'triggered' by the sound of shots or bombs bursting in air had to find ways of isolating and being where they didn't hear the rest of us celebrating. 

Do I need to say more?  I think I don't -- but I do need to think more, and DO more in this regard, in my communities, both virtual on the Internet and where I live here in Western Colorado.  Please sign in or register and leave comments about what YOUR thoughts are -- we're in this together!  And... speaking of 'signs'... as I was writing this the fire engines went roaring down the road, sirens blaring.  So to ALL who serve our society today, THANK YOU, and I hope we will serve YOU well in bringing change here from Lumigrate to YOU.  

I wish to thank ChrisMy NEW FAVORITE WEBSITE, found today looking for this information, is "Back Country Attitudue" with products and techniques for being in the outdoors, so please take a journey and support them when you have time! It's just a really neat site.  Leave a comment here and THANK Chris for creating information we can so easily forward to those we know here at Lumigrate.com, and hope to reach many more eyes and brains. OR go to his website and communicate directly there, perhaps.  www.backcountryattitude.com/toxic_fireworks.html

The Daily Finance article on-line from 2010 related to the $ involved in the 'best' fireworks in the United States, and averages spent for small towns, etc. www.dailyfinance.com/2010/07/04/the-most-extravagant-fireworks-displays-on-july-4th/