4th of July: Forget Traditional Fireworks - There's A Safer Alternative

              The statistics are grim.

(According to a 2021 report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)

-- Last year eighteen people died after episodes involving fireworks. That's a hefty 50 percent increase from 2019.

-- About 15,000 people went to emergency wards because of fireworks injuries in 2020. A 56 percent increase over 2019.

-- Most of the firework injuries occurred from June 21 to July 21, and the two leading sources for injuries year-around were firecrackers and sparklers.

-- Children are the ones that are most frequently injured statistically. 

-- The biggest increase in injuries last year however, was in the 20 to 24-year-old category.

More Reasons Not To Use Traditional Fireworks:

-- Fireworks terrify household pets and other animals in nature.

-- Fireworks add toxic chemical pollutants to the air, water and land.

-- Fireworks trigger terror in PTSD victims.

-- Fireworks cause wildfires.

How to still have spectacular light shows

The 21st century version of traditional fireworks are drones with LED lights.

If China - where fireworks were invented - is hosting massive displays of drone light shows why can't the USA do the same?

The light show drones are usually controlled in fleets of hundreds by a remote computer to create colorful shapes and patterns in the night sky.

As the technology advances the fleets will grow (biggest current fleet is 2,018 according to Guinness World Records). 

Look at it this way; Americans will still get their spectacles in the sky, but people won't have to die.

There's no need to trash tradition. It just needs an update.