As soon as Halloween is over and the nights get colder (and wetter) Guy Fawkes night is upon us. An organised bonfire and fireworks display can be a fun night out for the family. What is less fun is fireworks going off every night for seemingly weeks on end. For animals, and even some people, fireworks can be terrifying. So what does it mean to have an eco-friendly Guy Fawkes night?
How to Have (a More) Eco-Friendly Bonfire Night
The two main aspects of the 5th of November are:
- The Bonfire
- A fireworks display
In addition to this, well organised bonfire nights will also include some food and drink stalls selling burgers, toffee apples and mulled wine to keep you warm. If you live in Sussex you might also get a parade; a fascinating tradition amongst the towns and villages that sees Bonfire Societies raising money throughout the year to give the locals a great night out.
Can you have an eco-friendly bonfire?
Burning wood doesn’t seem particularly eco-friendly – otherwise why are we so concerned about the Amazon Rainforest burning? However, burning wood can be seen as carbon zero. Bear with me here… During their lifetime trees absorb carbon, when they burn they release the carbon back into the atmosphere. Unfortunately life isn’t that simple. In an ideal world we would plant twice as many trees as we cut down, if not more, to reverse some of the damaging effects deforestation has had on our planet. Burning wood and not replanting enough trees to replace them is just unsustainable.
When planning a bonfire you also have to consider what you’re actually burning. It’s not eco-friendly to burn wood that could have been repurposed or reused. You also don’t want to be burning anything that had any potentially toxic paint or varnishes on them as you’ll just be releasing those toxic chemicals into the air, and into the lungs of those watching.
Burning wood does also contribute to air pollution. Not as big a problem in the countryside as in urban areas but it’s still something to consider.
“UK air quality has reached a crisis point, with towns and cities across the UK regularly failing to meet international standards. It’s a serious problem – the number of deaths attributed to outdoor pollution each year is in the tens of thousands. The increased popularity of wood burners is making the problem worse…
…Specs of soot 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair are one of the most harmful kinds of air pollution, entering the body through the lungs and exacerbating heart and respiratory conditions.” Are wood-burners bad for the environment?
I don’t think a bonfire can be classed as eco-friendly but there are certainly ways you can minimise the harm.
Bonfires & Wildlife
When we think of Guy Fawkes night and wildlife we’re aware that fireworks can spook horses and scare plenty of animals. What many people forget to consider is that a stack of wood is a very inviting place for lots of insects and small mammals. Hedgehogs often make themselves at home, and unfortunately will suffer the consequences. When planning a bonfire make sure you don’t build it too far in advance. Burning it right after building it will prevent many unnecessary deaths. Now more than ever before, we need to protect our insects and native wildlife!
Fireworks
Even though they can be spectacular to watch, fireworks are not particularly eco-friendly. They’re made using plastic amongst other things so they’re already on my ‘never-buy’ list. Once the firework is lit all those materials the firework is made of are launched into the air. They then have to come down again – meaning lots of bits of plastic littering the surrounding area.
If you go to a big organised display there will normally be a clean-up arranged for the day after the display, when any litter that people have dropped and the remains of the fireworks can be cleaned up. Not organising a litter pick after a fireworks display is extremely irresponsible. We do not want any additional plastic littering the environment.
The noise from the fireworks is also a concern. If you really want a fireworks display but don’t want to cause unnecessary stress to wild and domestic animals it is possible to buy silent fireworks.
Is it possible to have an eco-friendly bonfire night?
Guy Fawkes night is not eco-friendly but you can certainly minimise litter and stress to animals by going to well organised displays and not having your own fireworks display or bonfire. I truly believe that the time has come for shops to stop selling fireworks altogether. For now organised displays where the bonfire is built responsibly and the debris is cleaned up the next day should be the only bonfire night you attend. Over time, maybe people will come round to the idea of silent fireworks.
Yes Bonfire Night is a tradition – but times change and we do have to consider the environmental impact of everything we do. So let’s start phasing things out and stop private firework sales. Shout out to Sainsbury’s who have banned the sale of fireworks from all of their stores due to concerns for animals and the elderly. Unsurprisingly Sainsbury’s didn’t consider the environmental impact of fireworks but that’s to be expected from a UK major supermarket!
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