I absolutely hate them. Birds die because of them, and they terrify my dog.

No, fireworks are cool and fun and people enjoy them.

The art of it has use. However I think drone shows would be an interesting replacement.

Does anyone else feel like adding salt to food is a complete waste of money?

Personally I hate them and I think they are more harm than good.

Let's do some clarification: I can appreciate the high in the sky fireworks, while I simply hate those you fire by hand in between the legs of other bystanders.

Overall I think they are dangerous and should not be freely sold, while keep doing the big ones in the sky.

But, honestly, a form of art that harms so many people and animals maybe should be banned after all.

For pollution, at least CO2, 300M lb is 136k metric tons. I didn't know the water to CO2 ratio for solid rocket motors, but I'd guess maybe half is CO2. Cars produce 1.5B tons of CO2 per year in the US, so the CO2 would be about equivalent to about 24 min of driving cars. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.

But maybe you were taking about the metals? I don't know how much of an issue those are.

So many injuries and fires every year, aside from all the noise and pollution. My friend’s house (old farm) burned down because a firework landed on the roof :(

no i think they are beautiful

They also cause fires, severely injure and kill people, trigger people with PTSD, frighten animals and disrupt local wildlife.

Fireworks are art. Art isn't inherently wasteful.

Bread and circus, boys, bread and circus.

As someone who grew up in a country where fireworks are legal and used on every festivity, they suck if you are a baby, a dog or not the one lighting the up.

If it weren't for fireworks, we wouldn't have funny stories about dumb people shoving them in their ass cracks, setting them on fire and cauterizing their buttocks.

Yes, I wholeheartedly think this

Several other people feel this way and you're all wrong. Is good food wasted because after you eat it it's gone? Are vacations stupid because once it's over nothing has materially changed? No? So why are fireworks pointless simply because they're temporary?

I agree that they've moved into the territory of mostly annoying, but getting rid of the fireworks is unlikely to reduce the cost of celebrations. they'll just be replaced with equally expensive drone shows and the like

They seem very backwards when there are drone displays and other forms of entertainment. Humans cling on to things way too long.

hey! this person hates freedom! /s