What a better way to honor the river than filling it with trash and toxic fireworks? Each Loy Krathong, what starts off as benign offerings to the goddess of the river end up the same way each year: tons of trash fouling her waters.
To build the lovely little floating krathongs, about one million of which will be released Sunday for Loy Krathong, the banana leaves of yesterday have been replaced by styrofoam or plastic, which pollute for years before decomposing.
To show respect for the river and decrease pollution, environmentalists are encouraging celebrants to take a DIY approach by building their own flowery floats using bread or vegetables such as pumpkins, papayas or gourds.
In recent years, the number of synthetic krathongs released into the river has been on the rise, according to the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion.
Of exactly 916,354 lovely vessels plopped into the Chao Phraya River last year (a remarkably accurate count by any measure), more than 130,000 were made of synthetic materials, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Loy Krathong Day will be celebrated Sunday, the full moon of the 12th lunar month, The Nation reported.
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