How Gender Reveal Parties are Destroying our Environment

In 2008, blogger Jenna Karvunidis made a Facebook post of herself cutting into a cake and exposing its pink icing to celebrate being pregnant with her oldest daughter. After suffering several miscarriages previously, the new mother wanted to commemorate the milestone when doctors could determine the baby’s sex [1]. Recently, gender reveals have gained widespread popularity among expecting couples as a means of announcing their unborn child. These parties are known for their mixed blue-and-pink theme, leaving guests wondering whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Then, in a grand finale, the hosts uncover the hidden truth [2]. Large crowds burst into cheer, congratulating the parents on their new son or daughter [3].

Once as simple as dyed cakes and letters pulled out of envelopes, these ‘pre-birth rituals’ have quickly derailed, often going so far as to pose a risk to human and animal life. An emerging reveal party trend involves explosive and pyrotechnic devices like fireworks [3]. For example, in October 2019, an Iowa family’s homemade powder dispenser became a colorful pipe bomb, hurling shrapnel and debris over 150 yards and killing the grandma-to-be [4]. In February 2021, an upstate New York father died after his makeshift device for an upcoming gender reveal exploded [5]. Earlier that month, a Michigan man was killed by shrapnel after a small cannon blew up in a backyard during a gender reveal [6]. These are but a few of the various cases in which careless celebratory behaviors led to injury or death.

Among the most destructive products used in gender reveals are binary explosives, which are made of highly reactive oxidizers like ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and a metal fuel. Families have started using these color bombs because they are easily accessible and unregulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fireworks, and Explosives since their components are sold separately [7]. Unsurprisingly, these makeshift weapons can cause considerable environmental damage. For instance, in 2017, Tannerite (a binary explosive brand that uses powdered aluminum as fuel [8]) used in a gender reveal caused the Sawmill Fire in Arizona’s Coronado National Forest that cost nearly $8.2 million to suppress [9]. Bureau of Land Management public lands within Las Cienegas National conservation area closed to the public, and 412 citizens were rapidly evacuated from the Rain Valley area as wildfires ravaged 46,991 acres of land within 11 days. The Coronado fire was the second-largest fire in the state that year. Although it primarily burned through grass, the fire also reached the chaparrals and oak brush, damaging conifer-oak and piñon-juniper forests [10]. This tragedy greatly resembles the El Dorado Fire, which was caused by fireworks used by a family during a gender reveal igniting dry grasses in Yucaipa, California, on September 5th, 2020 [11]. In the aftermath, 22,982 acres of land and sixteen buildings were damaged, one firefighter died, and over $8 million was spent on the fire’s containment. A Mississippi State University study led by James Kellogg analyzed soil affected by the wildfires and found that, on average, the pH increased by 4.4% compared to unaffected soils. [12]. pH levels above the optimal range can signal nutrient deficiencies and stunted plant growth [13].

While engaging in many of these catastrophic party games may seem relatively avoidable, even more traditional party items, like glitter, can damage the environment in their own ways. Glitter is a three-layered microplastic composed of a plastic core coated in aluminum and another thin plastic layer. Usually, this plastic core is made of a stretched polyester called biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BoPET), and the thin outer coating is styrene acrylate [14]. A 2020 study led by Danielle Senga Green of Anglia Ruskin University compared the measured environmental effects of plastic and biodegradable glitters on an aquatic ecosystem. In both sample groups, the root length of Lemna minor (common duckweed, a freshwater plant) decreased. Chlorophyll content also decreased, indicating a decline in phytoplankton biomass [15]. During photosynthesis, chlorophyll harvests light that excites electrons used in the production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and a form of chemical energy known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Both of these compounds are necessary for the second step of photosynthesis, known as the Calvin-Benson Cycle, to take place [16]. In the scope of the study, the presence of glitter is correlated with a decline in chlorophyll production, which leads to less energy production during photosynthesis. Stunted duckweed growth can harm marine ecosystems because the species is pivotal in preventing eutrophication, which is the oversaturation of aquatic environments with nutrients. Without regulation, eutrophication can lead to oxygen depletion and animal death [17].

With all of this in mind, the intent of this article is not to discourage you from hosting gender reveal parties. Having a child is an extremely significant milestone, but before inviting friends and family to a big reveal, consider how it might contribute to environmental degradation. Instead of buying balloons and glitter that will end up in our landfills and oceans, consider alternatives, like leaf confetti and paper chains, so as to aid in the restoration of our planet. If gender reveal parties are to continue, maybe it’s time to return to tradition: simple cakes filled with dyed icing.

References

[1] Gardner, A. (2019). The woman behind the first viral gender reveal is having second thoughts. Glamour. https://www.glamour.com/story/woman-behind-gender-reveal-party-second-thoughts

[2] Lopez, Q. (2020). Everything you need to know about gender reveal parties, how they started, and how they got out of hand. Insider. https://www.insider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gender-reveal-parties-2020-9

[3] Drenten, J. (2020). Why gender reveals have spiraled out of Control. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-gender-reveals-have-spiraled-out-of-control-145909

[4] Clarke, S. (2019). Woman killed in explosion at gender reveal party, Iowa police say. UWIRE Text, 1. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A604106296/AONE?u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=d223b42f

[5] CBS Interactive. (2021). Man killed by exploding device for his child’s gender-reveal party in New York. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gender-reveal-explosion-death-new-york/

[6] CBS Interactive. (2021). Michigan man killed when cannon used at Baby Shower explodes. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michigan-man-killed-by-cannon-baby-shower/

[7] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. (2022). Binary Explosives. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. https://www.atf.gov/explosives/binary-explosives

[8] Lemonick, S. (2022). The science of Tannerite, the explosive possibly used in the Chelsea bombs. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/samlemonick/2016/09/19/the-science-of-tannerite-the-explosive-possibly-used-in-the-chelsea-bombs/

[9] District of Arizona Press Releases. (2018). Off-Duty Border Patrol Agent Pleads Guilty To Starting 2017 Sawmill Fire and Agrees To Pay More Than $8 Million in Restitution. United States Attorney’s Office District of Arizona. https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/duty-border-patrol-agent-pleads-guilty-starting-2017-sawmill-fire-and-ordered-pay-more-8

[10] Lynch, M., & Evans, A. (2018). 2017 Wildfire Season: An Overview, Southwestern U.S. Special Report. Ecological Restoration Institute and Southwest Fire Science Consortium, Northern Arizona University. https://foreststewardsguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2017_Wildfire_Overview.pdf

[11] NPR. (2021). A couple is charged in a deadly fire sparked by their gender reveal. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/07/20/1018622165/a-couple-is-charged-in-a-deadly-fire-sparked-by-their-gender-reveal

[12] Kellogg, J., & Vahedifard, F. (2021). Impacts of the El Dorado Ranch Park Fire on Geotechnical Properties of Soil. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Farshid-Vahedifard/publication/355915204_Impacts_of_the_El_Dorado_Ranch_Park_Fire_on_Geotechnical_Properties_of_Soil/links/6189e9b3d7d1af224bc92d8d/Impacts-of-the-El-Dorado-Ranch-Park-Fire-on-Geotechnical-Properties-of-Soil.pdf

[13] Kluepfel, M., Lippert, B., & Williamson, J. (2012). Changing the pH of your soil. Home & Garden Information Center | Clemson University, South Carolina. https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/changing-the-ph-of-your-soil/

[14] Yurtsever, M. (2019). Glitters as a source of primary microplastics: an approach to environmental responsibility and ethics. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-019-09785-0

[15] Green, D. S., Jefferson, M., Boots, B., & Stone, L. (2020). All that glitters is litter? Ecological impacts of conventional versus biodegradable glitter in a freshwater habitat. Journal of Hazardous Materials. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389420320604

[16] Croft, H., Chen, J. M., Luo, X., Bartlett, P., Chen, B., & Staebler, R. M. (2016). Leaf chlorophyll content as a proxy for leaf photosynthetic capacity. eScholarship. https://escholarship.org/content/qt79h2v3r2/qt79h2v3r2.pdf

[17] Liu, Y., Xu, H., Yu, C., & Zhou, G. (2020). Multifaceted roles of duckweed in aquatic phytoremediation and bioproducts synthesis. ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/openview/f47ffb39ebc926fdd206a20098d0841a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=866396