St. Patrick’s Day is less than a week away, and as someone with Celtic roots who is also married to someone with Celtic roots, this is a big deal to me. Connecting with our Irish heritage is a major part of the celebration of this holiday in the U.S. It’s an even bigger deal for me because St. Patrick’s Day is also my mother’s birthday (and you guessed it—her name is Patricia).
Whenever a holiday approaches, I like to consider how pollution prevention applies. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and my sainted mother, I’ll be taking some time over the next few days to ponder a different shade of “green” than the one you’ll find on “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” t-shirts. Happy Birthday, Ma! [Note that my mother will likely never read this; she doesn’t own a computer and is as non-technical as a person can be. Try as I might, I can’t get her to understand what it is I do for a living. She knows it involves “environmental stuff” and computers, and that it is somehow tied to the University of Illinois. Still, she’s the greatest, and without her I could never have grown up into a person who cares about the environment and concepts such as pollution prevention (P2).]
If you’re interested in finding out more about St. Patrick’s Day in general, check out Wikipedia and the History Channel. Also, the name for this series of posts (“P2 Go Bragh”) comes from the incorrectly spelled, Anglicized phrase “Erin go Bragh,” which is intended to mean “Ireland forever” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Go_Bragh). Thus, this series of posts is in the spirit of “pollution prevention forever” and sustainability.