The editor of a running magazine who publicly admonished two schools in Paarl for harming the environment by releasing hundreds of balloons at the weekend says he has had a positive response.
Sean Falconer‚ editor of Modern Athlete Magazine‚ was horrified while watching the inter-schools rugby match highlights on Supersport between Hoërskool Gimnasium Paarl and Hoër Jongenskool Paarl Boys' High School on Saturday.
In a post on Facebook at the weekend‚ now widely shared‚ he wrote: “Absolutely gobsmacked to see that somebody decided it would be a good idea to release hundreds of balloons into the environment at today's big inter-schools rugby match…
“After all the public outcry and recriminations following similar recent environmentally-damaging releases of balloons by (a) the University of Stellenbosch and (b) 5FM at a music concert‚ you'd think at least somebody in Paarl would have said‚ wait‚ this isn't a good idea. Even the invite for Paarl Gim Old Boys to attend the match featured a photo of a release of balloons‚ so that means they have done this before. Come now‚ people‚ it's way beyond time for a complete mind-shift re protecting the environment.”
In an update on Tuesday‚ he posted a long letter that he had written to the schools‚ adding: “I'm happy to report that I have already received a positive response from one of the schools.”
In the letter he said his post on social media was not intended to be an attack on the character of the schools‚ nor the people of Paarl. “It was an effort to highlight an unfortunate repeat of a practice that has been widely condemned in the recent past‚ and should no longer be happening‚ on both environmental and legal grounds‚ let alone allowed by a municipal authority.”
Falconer was one of the founders of the Modern Athlete #runclean campaign to educate runners about the litter problem caused by discarded plastic sachets.
He pointed out that Stellenbosch University used to release thousands of balloons during First Year’s Week but had discontinued the practice in 2016 after a public outcry.
“It is important for you to understand that my Facebook post was part of an ongoing effort by dedicated people to highlight the huge problem of plastic waste‚ and to educate more people to stop practices such as this‚ as well as understand the bigger picture it is part of. It is also an effort to make people think about the long-term effect of their actions. My post‚ and the debate it has led to‚ has hopefully achieved that‚” he said in the letter.
This is a developing story.
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