Being environmentally conscious isn’t something you switch off because the moment feels inconvenient — and this employee sure didn’t.

When her close-knit office suggested a balloon release to honor a recently lost coworker, she raised a concern that was both reasonable and rooted in genuine care for the world around her.

But instead of being appreciative, her boss shut her down publicly, the room went cold, and now she’s carrying guilt for a comment that was never meant to hurt anyone.

Read on for the full dilemma.

AITAH for telling my boss balloon releases are environmentally unfriendly?

So about a week ago, one of our coworkers passed away in a pretty tragic way.

I only work with about 8 people, so I consider them all family.

So they all had the idea to honor their fallen coworker.

Yesterday we were talking to my coworker’s mother, and they came up with the idea to do a balloon release to honor our coworker.

But one employee couldn’t hold back her objections.

The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Balloon releases are terrible for the environment and wildlife, I don’t think people in this city would be very happy if they saw us do that.”

We work in a very green, progressive city.

Her boss didn’t take too kindly to being corrected.

Everyone just stopped and stared at me, then my boss said, “We aren’t asking for permission.”

I felt awkward, but I’m super big on keeping the environment clean and protecting wildlife.

Now my boss is annoyed with me and I feel bad.

AITA?

It’s always a hard line to tow between your livelihood and your morals.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who thwarted an attorney’s request by faxing him the same pages all day long.

Redditors are sure to have some strong opinions.

To put harmful practices to an end, it takes someone being brave enough to speak up.

Surely there are better ways to honor the coworker.

If this commenter were the one who passed, they wouldn’t want someone causing harm.

Planting a tree would be a much better idea.

She spoke up because she cares, not just about her fallen coworker, but about the environment, about wildlife, and about the kind of impact this rash decision would have.

The timing might not have been great, but at the end of the day, she valued her conscience over making everyone else around her perfectly comfortable.

Speaking up for what’s right, especially in front of your boss, takes some real courage — and this employee definitely has it.

She surely made her coworker proud.