Fireworks are just gross displays of human excess. They don't belong in NYE celebrations.

Just ahead of New Year's Eve, total fire bans were declared in certain parts of Australia owing to the terrible bushfires over the past few weeks. This meant that no fires could be lit in the open. Additionally, all fire permits were suspended. Despite this, the city of Sydney went ahead with their expensive fireworks display as they do every single year. As you can imagine, this has not been received too well by Australian citizens. In fact, many have come forward to openly criticize the move, The Guardian reports. And honestly, they're right. Fireworks are just grand exhibitions of wealth and they don't belong in 21st century New Year's Eve celebrations. Come on, people.

Watching a fireworks display is like watching money being set alight right before your very eyes. The annual Sydney New Year's fireworks cost about $6.5 million. That's money that could be spent on so many other things - healthcare, education, transport, public infrastructure and what not! But you probably get the gist. You're POSSIBLY wondering why cities spend so much on their fireworks displays. Well, it all comes down to this simple rule: to make money, you've got to spend it first. The over-the-top Sydney fireworks are expected to generate a whopping $130 million for the Australian economy, which can be a pretty convincing reason for a city to go ahead with the decision (even if over 25,000 concerned citizens have signed a petition against it).

According to City of Sydney spokeswoman Tanya Goldberg, "Cancelling would seriously hurt Sydney businesses, particularly in the wake of reports of a weaker retail season, and would also ruin plans for tens of thousands of people who have come from across the country and overseas." Well, if the disgusting and frivolous wastage of money isn't a good enough reason to cancel the fireworks, perhaps the environment is something that is more persuasive. Fireworks, as many of us probably already know, burn harmful chemicals into the air and more often than not, they just stay in the environment. As per the Mother Nature Network, fireworks usually contain "carcinogenic or hormone-disrupting substances" which can eventually sink into the soil and water. In addition to this, fireworks are known to scatter plastic debris that is hard to clean up and cause breathing issues.

However, despite all this, we haven't evolved enough to look past the "ooooh shiny" factor of it all. Sydney was one of the first cities in the world to celebrate the new decade, and while they enjoyed their beautiful fireworks display, they emitted tons of harmful substances into the Earth's atmosphere and choking half to death, animal and human life. Wonderful. If your city does the same every year, write to your local legislative bodies. Tell them that enough is enough. In 2020, it is finally time to stand up against the profit-hungry and feed Mother Earth instead.