The Dark Side of Flying Sky Lanterns
Sky lanterns are iconic in Taiwan, where they’re released every day by tourists vying for a good photo op. But there’s a dark side to these magical flying paper lights.
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Written and Voiceover by: Clarissa Wei
Featuring: Ryan Hevern, Shao Aiting, Yu Weidao
Produced by: Clarissa Wei and Nicholas Ko
Shot by: Nicholas Ko and Clarissa Wei
Edited by: Nicholas Ko
Mastered by: Victor Peña
Special thanks: Bank of Culture, Taiwan Ecotourism Taiwan, Taiwan Adventure Outings
Music: Audio Network
Pixabay
Resources:
Bank of Culture: http://bankofculture.com/
Taiwan Ecotourism Taiwan
Taiwan Adventure Outings: https://taoutings.com/
**NEW VIDEOS EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY
**FOLLOW US ON IG, TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK:
http://instagram.com/goldthread2
http://twitter.com/goldthread2
http://facebook.com/goldthread2
Written and Voiceover by: Clarissa Wei
Featuring: Ryan Hevern, Shao Aiting, Yu Weidao
Produced by: Clarissa Wei and Nicholas Ko
Shot by: Nicholas Ko and Clarissa Wei
Edited by: Nicholas Ko
Mastered by: Victor Peña
Special thanks: Bank of Culture, Taiwan Ecotourism Taiwan, Taiwan Adventure Outings
Music: Audio Network
Pixabay
Resources:
Bank of Culture: http://bankofculture.com/
Taiwan Ecotourism Taiwan
Taiwan Adventure Outings: https://taoutings.com/
Transcript
00:00These are sky lanterns.
00:02They’re marketed as lucky charms,
00:04wishes that people can send up to the heavens.
00:07And every year in Taiwan,
00:09up to 600,000 of them are released into the sky.
00:13And what goes up, well,
00:15eventually has to come down.
00:25Sky lanterns were traditionally used as military signals,
00:28but in the 1990s, Taiwan turned them into a tourist attraction.
00:32For 5 U.S. dollars a piece,
00:34you can paint your wishes on a lantern and send it into the sky.
00:37It’s a great photo op for tourists,
00:39but few consider the environmental repercussions.
01:16Shifen is the sky lantern capital of Taiwan,
01:19and every day, hundreds of tourists come here
01:22to release lanterns into the sky.
01:24But walk five minutes outside of the town,
01:27and this is what you’ll see.
01:33This is Ryan.
01:35And he often takes people on excursions through Taiwan
01:38 and hosts trash clean-ups.
02:33This local farmer has unwillingly amassed
02:36a pile of sky lanterns on his front porch.
03:04Shao Aiting is the president of a company called Bank of Culture.
03:08Their goal is to preserve traditional Taiwanese crafts.
03:11And in 2016, they came up with a biodegradable lantern.
03:15Traditional lanterns are made out of wire and bamboo,
03:19but this version is made entirely out of paper and combusts in the sky,
03:23leaving no trace behind.
03:47Price is indeed a factor.
03:49The environmentally-friendly sky lantern
03:51retails for $10 at the store.
03:54Traditional lanterns go for half that price.
04:14For these activists, their hope is to preserve the practice
04:18of sky lanterns in Taiwan,
04:19without leaving an impact on the environment or the economy.
04:23And they say changing the narrative is the most effective way
04:26to change people's minds.