Balloon Boy - salvaging sustainable insights from a deflating hoax

October 15, 5:45 PMDenver Sustainable City ExaminerSusanna Speier

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Now that we know the six year old Fort Collins Balloon Kid was hiding in his house during the entire two hour media drama orchestrated by his narcissistic parents, what is there to extract from this, besides the obvious ---time to get a social worker on the scene?

The fact that the public's attention was riveted by a silver flying saucer shaped balloon has got to mean something, hoax or no, doesn't it?  Think of the premium paid by ad campaigns for focus group studies to develop a brand that rivets the public's attention. 

While optimized keyword rich web content certainly has its place on the agendas of ad campaign developers, bring in an old school, iconic, imagination capturing balloon stint and its shades in compare.  For a two-hour stretch, this kid was our Cosimo in the Trees! 

Now that hot air kid's myth is debunked, is there a sustainable innovation, embedded in this technology, that is legitimately worth exploring?  If so, lets hope --for the little Cosimo's sake-- that a scientist comes forth with a focused way of directing the collective curiosity. 

In the meantime, lets also hope, for Little Cosimo's sake, that The State of Colorado appoints a conscientious social worker to assist these creepazoid, balloon building parents through the process of transitioning from reality T.V. star identity to parents who are capable of controlling the urge to morph their kid into the vessel of their next media stunt. 

In the meantime, is there an answer out there?  Here's the question :

Could hot air balloon technology be used to develop a more sustainable form of transportation?