The ‘Global Greening’ campaign, which sees famous international landmarks lit up green for St. Patrick’s Day, has been canceled this year, it has been confirmed.
and markers around the world, from the Eiffel Tower to the Colosseum, have been bathed in greenery for Ireland’s National Day for more than a decade.
The initiative was first interrupted last year and instead 41 monuments around the world were lit up in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colors as a sign of solidarity after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Now the state tourism promotion body, Tourism Ireland, has confirmed that it has paused this year’s initiative, again for geopolitical reasons, and more specifically due to the energy crisis.
“For 2023, given the current energy crisis, Tourism Ireland has taken the decision not to promote the Global Greening initiative around St Patrick’s Day,” said Tourism Ireland.
“Despite not promoting Global Greening this year, Tourism Ireland teams around the world are launching a major program of trade, media and consumer activities this week to showcase the island of Ireland as a premier holiday destination.
“St Patrick’s Day is a hugely important date in our calendar and traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us. It’s a unique opportunity for Irish tourism and Tourism Ireland is rolling out a huge promotional program this week to take advantage of that opportunity ..”
Events promoting Ireland in Britain, Europe, America, Australia and other regions, including the Middle East, include a “Fill your heart with Ireland” TV ad that will be seen by millions in France; a pop-up publicity stunt on the green dance floor on London’s South Bank with professional Irish dancers and passers-by invited to join in and ‘power’ the dance floor with their steps; a live stream feed of the parade in Dublin – with commentary from hotelier Francis Brennan and PBS TV host Mickela Malozzi, as well as TV coverage in the US; and a 15-hour showcase of Irish crafts from Slane Castle on US retail channel QVC.
The Global Greening initiative has grown annually since its inception in 2010, when only the Sydney Opera House and Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand went green.
Locations included the London Eye, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Christ the Redeemer statue and the Pyramids of Giza, with 425 illuminated locations in 53 countries in 2019.
This year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin will be led by members of the Ireland women’s national football team, who made history last year by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time ever.
Manager Vera Pauw, defender Diane Caldwell and former international Paula Gorham will represent the team and lead the national parade with a record 4,000 participants.
Irish politicians and government officials are traveling to 44 countries as part of this year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
This year’s greening pause may be largely symbolic, and one environmentalist has said the country should go ahead with it anyway.
Video of the day
Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show’s Green Scene segment, Dr Ruth Freeman, science director of the Science Foundation Ireland, said the pause amounted to symbolism and would have little impact.
“An LED bulb uses very, very little power,” she said. “You’re talking about 0.01 kilowatts per hour, so it won’t be a huge energy consumption – and those things are probably going to burn anyway.
“What I would really like is if we could aim to really get the gold star for our own environment in 15 or 20 years and let’s go out as the really green island.
“Let’s be at the top of the list for our own environment.”