What is Green Chemistry?

What is Green Chemistry?

            Chemistry has benefited people today. It has produced new medicine which increases life span, has made food safer to eat; and has helped the computer industry by the use of semiconductors.  Chemistry has certainly made life easier to live. Chemical waste and other dangerous byproducts have been released in years past. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s pollution was a problem. People were dumping waste products in waterways or releasing chemicals through chimneys. People were becoming sick, such as the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York.  People are becoming more aware of the danger it causes to the human body and to the earth.

             Now, people are trying to reverse the negative side effects that have affected the planet and the human population. The relationship between the environment and humans is what green chemistry is all about. In green chemistry, people want to be safe, want to use less toxins, and eventually want to eliminate them all together. Green chemistry would not only benefit the environment but the economy as well. By recycling, and reducing the use of fossil fuels, people are making green chemistry sustainable. 

             Green chemistry and environmental chemistry go hand in hand. What people do to the environment affects everything on earth for good or for bad. That is why green chemistry is so important. When chemicals are released through chimneys it is absorbed into the air, then those dangerous chemicals are released in the atmosphere, there it affects plants which then in turns affects humans. Also, some of those dangerous chemicals are still left in the air in the form of smog making it hard to see and breathe, especially for people with respiratory problems, such as asthma or COPD.

            There are guidelines to follow in green chemistry that make it easy to understand; they are called the twelve principles of green chemistry.  One of the basic principles is to not let something happen. Better to deal with a minor problem than a major clean up. The public should be aware of products that are less dangerous when available to use or avoid the use of dangerous products all together. Another key principle is chemicals that break down into the environment after use. People should try to use renewable resources, and not rely on other products.

             Chemistry has benefited the world today. In the past, chemistry has not always been safe and environmentally friendly. Green chemistry is way that chemists are trying to save the environment by reducing waste and using new ideas of renewable resources. Everybody can follow one of the major principles of green chemistry, by simply recycling. Green chemistry will help the planet and make it a safer place for people  to live.

Susanna Magdziarz

September 2011