The Green History of St. Patrick's Day

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 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Singaporeans (including myself) generally don't celebrate this holiday but regardless, I think it's a nice excuse for me to wear green. Taking a look at other countries, particularly the U.S., St. Paddy's celebrations there are grand and extravagant. I was surprised to learn that in honour of this occasion, Chicago dyes its river green! This has been a long-standing tradition ever since plumbers in the 1960s accidentally turned the river fluorescent green by using dye to detect sources of illegal sewage discharges (Russell, 2010).  This accident was then intentionally incorporated as part of the annual St. Paddy's parades. While photos reveal that it is quite an interesting sight, making the city look like a comic book scene, I also wondered whether there were any toxic environmental impacts on the ecosystems in and around the river. 

Chicago River after it was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day, 2022. 
Source: CNN

Initially, the dye - oil-based fluorescein - used for the celebrations in the 1960s was indeed found to be harmful to the river ecosystem. Studies conducted revealed that trace amounts were fairly lethal to snails and molluscs (Green, 2017).  Luckily, the usage of fluorescein was phased out in 1966, when the parade committee opted for a vegetable-based dye instead. This new powder-based dye used is claimed to be environmentally safe, according to research done by Isaac Green in 2017. From his article, the Environmental Protection Agency stated that "the dye used is a food grade dye" which has been commonly used in medication, and that "the concentration used in the Chicago River [is] completely non-toxic". However, the committee responsible for the dyeing of the Chicago River also refused to reveal the carefully curated recipe of their dyes, thus we cannot confirm whether the dye really is 100% safe as of now. In spite of this, it is good to know that the environmental impacts of river dyeing were taken into consideration early on. 

Unintended Consequences 

Green's article was fascinating to read as it goes in-depth about this issue, and talks about other unintended impacts of this celebration. One of the main points he discussed was the message that this sends to the public about nature. He eloquently stated that dyeing the river, a natural product, fluorescent green creates the illusion that it is an unnatural feature that can hence be treated carelessly. Green mentions that this activity which has been widely approved by the nation, including the president, when the White House fountains were dyed green (Russell, 2010), can 'sustain harmful ecological ideals' wherein people think that we can modify nature to suit our preferences. There were also cases where people were found dumping their own dyes into other parts of the river (Limb, 2022). This can be harmful especially if the dyes used are toxic to aquatic life. Therefore, although environmental safety is ensured by the authorities, there are also many unintended repercussions resulting from large-scale events such as these. Just to end off my post on a lighter note, here is a funny tweet about this: 

Source: Paddy Raff on Twitter



References: 
Green, I. (2021, March 21). Dyeing to be Green: The Chicago River and St. Patrick’s Day. NiCHE. https://niche-canada.org/2017/03/17/dyeing-to-be-green-the-chicago-river-and-st-patricks-day/

Johnson, L. C. M. (2021, March 13). Chicago surprises city with the traditional green river for St. Patrick’s Day after saying the event was canceled. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/13/us/chicago-green-river-trnd/index.html

Limb, L. (2022, March 15). St Patrick’s Day: Is Chicago’s green river dyeing tradition bad for the environment? Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/03/15/st-patrick-s-day-is-chicago-s-green-river-dyeing-tradition-bad-for-the-environment

Raff, P. [PaddyRaffComedy]. (2022, March 14). Fish waking up in the Chicago River on St Patrick’s Day [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/paddyraffcomedy/status/1503129431191269382?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1503129431191269382%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.euronews.com%2Fgreen%2F2022%2F03%2F15%2Fst-patrick-s-day-is-chicago-s-green-river-dyeing-tradition-bad-for-the-environment

Russell, C. (2010, March 17). Greening a River (and the White House) for St. Patrick's Day. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/03/greening-a-river-and-the-white-house-for-st-patricks-day/37602/



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