You may know that a kitten died of a heart attack in the lap of her owner when she heard fireworks explode. And you my know of a veteran who feels more greatly stressed at the sound of explosions on July 4. You probably heard of the dog that ran off and was never found on Vashon on July 4 two years ago. Surely you know that the chemicals used in those beautiful fireworks don’t just disappear (as in how perchlorates affect our thyroid gland, how particulates from firework smoke affect the lungs, how heavy metals themselves, like cadmium, a known carcinogen and one of six heavy metals used in fireworks, can create disturbances within the human body).

Let’s just say, what if you knew that fireworks disturbed animal life permanently, as in, say, deaths of birds, as well as decreased numbers of births of birds?

If you knew this was certainly true, I ask, what would you do?

— Jo Ann Herbert