‘Love Locks’ Are Being Taken Down Off Of The World’s Iconic Bridges

About ten years ago, tourists in love started putting their names on padlocks, and locking them on a bridge over the River Seine in Paris. They would then throw the key in the river as a sign of being 'locked in love'. Fast forward to last year when a portion of that bridge collapsed under the weight of the locks. Paris officials say the locks are ugly, and are telling tourists to figure out some other way to show that they are locked in love. My suggestion is to eat some croissants in bed, but that's just me.

The 'locks of love' problem has now made it across the Atlantic ocean to the Brooklyn Bridge. On Monday, officials there cut down 450 padlocks, about 75 pounds worth, because they say the weight of the locks causes problems for the 200 year old bridge. An online petition has even started to stop the 'locks of love' tradition all over the world.

Maybe cities with this problem could sell ribbons for a dollar and let people tie those on the bridge. The money could be used to pay for the ribbons, and if they were made of cotton, they would eventually biodegrade. Or maybe people could start realizing the problem they are causing and stop doing it.