Keeping Ireland Green on St. Patrick's Day

J. Cucchiara, MA

Saint Patrick's day. It's practically synonymous with Ireland, and in turn with all things green. Green has also been the operative buzz word (color?) for all things environmental. Sure, Saint Patrick is not the patron saint of the environment; however, Ireland and environment health are more closely related than one may immediately imagine.

Allow me to introduce Richard Bruton TD, Irish Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Since October of 2018, Bruton has applied his extensive political career and current ambitions toward the environment of Ireland. According to Bruton’s website, he has made it his priority to 1) Address climate disruption by implementing rapid and far-reaching changes to decouple progress from carbon and meet commitments, 2) Harness the communications revolution so that every citizen has equal opportunity to enjoy its benefits and is protected from its risks, 3) Use resources with care and responsibility: minimizing the generation of waste; achieving a leadership position in renewable energy and enhancing our environment, 4) Ensure public policy and sectoral regulation is alert and effective, is exercised without fear or favor in the interest of all citizens; and is based on best international practice and research on future needs, and 5) Position Ireland to develop thriving enterprise opportunities in a de-carbonizing world supporting an ambitious transition program.
                                                          
In short, Richard Bruton is a man in the unique position of attempting to make Ireland more green. What’s more is that he’s not stopping there! This past Wednesday, March 13th, Bruton announced a partnership between Northeastern University, Boston and AMBER, the SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) Research Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering, at Trinity College Dublin. The goal is “to address scientific, societal and clinical challenges in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to advance resilience in the face of 21st century risks.”

The more I read about Burton, the more impressed I became with the announcements, recognition, and awards he has been a part of in the past week alone. Then, in a moment of clarity it occurred to me that the remarkable thing in all of this was not just one person - in fact, Richard Bruton is only doing his job. The Irish Department of Communications, Climate Action, and Environment is the source of a greener, more science-focused Ireland. They are a bridge between those who live in the environment (i.e. everyone) and those who have power to change the environment (not everyone...hint: it’s politicians and people with money).

My mind works in reverse sometimes, and as a result, I found myself asking a question that I should have had when I started writing this article: What do communications, climate action, and the environment have to do with one another? The latter two are obviously connected. To me, the connection between communications and environmental health seemed as obvious as the connection between nutrition and fast food. It was there, but it was pretty loose... until it wasn’t.

The answer is something that I haven’t seen very much of here in the United States: personal responsibility towards the environment. The reason that communications, climate action, and the environment are all connected is that someone realized that all research is worth something only if it is accessible, so Ireland chooses to educate its people in these matters by explaining the issues, what is being done about these issues, and what everyone needs to do to be more sustainable in the future… If more world leaders followed this example, maybe it would make a difference in the coming decades.

I didn’t start out writing this as a political editorial - I wanted to make a connection between St. Patrick's day and environmental health. I know it can be dangerous to mix religion and science - just like I know that it’s highly improbable for someone to have driven all of the snakes off of an island that never had snakes to begin with. Instead, I like to believe that St. Patrick made people care so much about keeping Ireland green, that they took responsibility upon themselves. If that’s the case, I’ll exchange the former miracle for the latter.

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J. Cucchiara received his MA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Central Florida. He has instructed Anthropology courses at the University of Central Florida and Valencia College. He has traveled to many European countries in search of the perfect pint of beer. His master's thesis is entitled, Pubs, Punters, and Pints: Anthropological Reflections on Pub Life in Ireland.” Yes, really.