Look up at the sky—it’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Snoopy, Pikachu, and Sonic the Hedgehog! Seeing these characters floating overhead can mean just one thing—it’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! The annual New York City event rings in the holiday season with floats, performers, and giant balloons.
To pull off the parade, it takes hundreds of people, plus one special substance: helium. Helium
But helium is a nonrenewable resource. That means there is a limited amount of it on Earth. Helium is found in cracks in rocks underground. Mining it is difficult and expensive. At times in recent years, there hasn’t been enough helium available to meet the world’s demand. That has some people worried: Is the world running out of this very special gas?