PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — We were about 10 feet out the door when the obnoxiousness started. Boom. Boom. Boom. Both dogs flopped to the ground. They wouldn’t budge.

It was 8:45 Saturday night, nearly two months since the Fourth of July and more than 24 hours before Labor Day was to be celebrated. Boom. Boom. Boom.

There was no way I was going to get Sadie and Rosa across the street for their final nighttime bathroom break. I eventually was able to get them back in the house, where they quickly hid until long after the bangs stopped. Sadie shakes uncontrollably and Rosa panics, despite our efforts to comfort them.

These weren’t just some neighborhood kids setting off fireworks. Too loud. Too many booms.

(I was later told by a longtime local resident in the know that the “Empire of Excess,” my phrase and not his, was responsible. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the inconsiderate party. The Empire is a sprawling gated community of mass consumption that is slowly taking over what was once a modest neighborhood. The coastal playground for the easily bored features massive second homes, expensive cars, powerboats, a golf course, equestrian center, swimming pools, tennis courts, and lots of out-of-state license plates.)

I know there were other dogs in the neighborhood in a similar state of fright that night; that local wildlife didn’t have a restful evening; and that noise and air pollution increased, all because humans get a kick out of blowing things up.

There are healthier ways to be entertained in the summer that don’t cause stress and anxiety in others. For instance, enjoy a light show presented by Photinus, Photuris, or Pyractomena — the three main groups of flashing fireflies, also known as lightning bugs.

Of course, that symphony of light comes with some cost: you’ll need to stop spraying pesticides all over the place and your yard will need to have more green than just a lawn.

In Rhode Island, the sale of consumer fireworks — also known as Class C fireworks — was made legal in 2010, to help retailers and to bring in more tax revenue, according to that year’s throng of single-issue lawmakers. Firecrackers, Roman candles, bottle rockets, and other fireworks that contain a maximum of 50 milligrams of explosive material are now sold seasonally in pop-up stores and under parking lot tents.

(We can easily erect parking lot tents to sell fireworks to 18- and 19-year-olds, but solar carports are beyond our sensible abilities.)

Display fireworks, also called Class B fireworks, are the ones used in large community displays run by licensed professionals.

Why do we need any of them? Haven’t casinos, sports betting, and online gambling solved our economic woes?

Fireworks are a fire hazard. They can panic the elderly and war veterans. They frighten infants, pets, and wildlife. Some scared dogs jump through window screens or claw at doors as they seek to escape the noise. Others run off and become lost or hit by cars. Some birds, including bald eagles, abandon their nests.

They cause injury, including some 200 firework-related injuries annually in Rhode Island, to fingers, hands, face, and eyes. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, between 2008 and 2023 the United States saw an average of nearly 10 deaths a year related to fireworks. Since 2019, there have been at least 9,700 fireworks-related injuries annually.

In addition to their physical litter, fireworks, from sparklers to professional displays, leave behind other waste and release noxious gases and heavy metals. Cadmium, lithium, copper, and barium, which give fireworks their colors, have been linked to cancer and respiratory problems. These chemicals also can contaminate water supplies and recreational areas.

Large pyrotechnic displays emit a fog of chemicals and toxins with various levels of health and environmental risks. For example, perchlorate is a widely used rocket propellant with a history of finding its way into groundwater. The toxin has been linked to thyroid irregularities, particularly in women, infants, and children younger than 12.

A 2008 report concluded that fireworks create potent air pollution. “Although firework-related recreational pollution episodes are transient in nature, they are highly concentrated, contribute significantly to total annual metal emissions, and are on average fine enough to be easily inhaled and a health risk to susceptible individuals,” according to the study’s authors.

Health officials say breathing fine particles in firework smoke increases the probability of health problems such as risk of heart attack and stroke, lung inflammation, reduced lung function, and asthma attacks.

Past fireworks displays are the probable cause of elevated concentrations of perchlorate in groundwater and surface water within Mount Rushmore National Memorial, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency awarded Texas Tech University $2,499,583 in research grant funding to study perchlorate contamination from fireworks. This research is expected to provide a better scientific understanding of perchlorate contamination and to “determine whether actions may be needed to reduce exposure via drinking water.”

This is like Rhode Island’s infamous “held for further study,” except at a grander scale and there will actually be some studying. The result, however, will be the same: something about banning perchlorate or fireworks will crash the economy, and those behind the effort to better protect drinking water supplies and the environment will be called unpatriotic communists.

Meanwhile, a Fireworks Cookbook webpage sells potassium perchlorate at a guaranteed lowest price of $7 a pound. “It is essential for creating colorful stars and flash powder in fireworks compositions.”

We already know fireworks stress some people, panic pets and wildlife, contribute to three forms of pollution (noise, air, and water), cause injuries and fires, and rely on fossil fuels.

The need to explode gunpowder composed of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal and filled with an assortment of aluminum, iron, carbonates, chlorides, chlorates, oxalates, nitrates, strontium, copper, barium, titanium, zirconium, and magnesium is done for one reason: we constantly need to be entertained.

Some historians believe fireworks originally were developed in China in the second century B.C. It’s believed these first “firecrackers” were bamboo stalks that when thrown into a fire would explode because of the overheating of the hollow air pockets in the bamboo. These ancient Chinese believed the bang would ward off evil spirits.

Today, thousands of years later, the millions of pounds of fireworks exploded annually in the United States — at gender reveal parties, at the Super Bowl, after major-league home runs, in early July, and along the East Passage of Narragansett Bay on Aug. 31 — are believed to bring economic vitality.

“Fireworks entertainment generates dollars as well as smiles. Thunder Over Louisville is one of the country’s largest fireworks displays and an economic study conducted by the Derby Festival determined that Thunder generates more than $56 million for the local economy,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association.

As is normally the case (see fuels, fossil), other associated impacts that don’t make a profit, such as the health costs borne by the public and the natural world, are conveniently ignored.

Human entertainment now streams 24/7, so let’s blow up our addiction to fireworks. Our four-legged friends and our national bird will appreciate the gesture.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.