Green Chemistry and Sustainable Development

1 Measuring Toxicity Review Questions Further Reading 

1 Transition Metal Catalysts with Phosphine Ligands 109 

3 Some Other Chemicals from Natural Resources 200 

Emerging Greener Technologies and Alternative Energy Sources 210 

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Sustainable development and Green Chemistry have now become a strategic industrial and societal focus [24—27], the former is our ultimate goal and the latter is a means to achieve it. 

If we now consider prototypical chemistry-related issues from the debate about sustainable development and green chemistry many of them meet these criteria. Chemistry-related issues of sustainable development, like a more intense production and use of alternative fuels or bioplastics, are discussed in mass media. Regulations on their use will potentially have an impact on the students consumer choices. The use of alternative fuels or bioplastics is still controversial pro and con arguments are given in societal debate and can be used in students open debate. And, finally, these issues are definitely questions of chemistry and technology corresponding arguments are used in public debate. 

In order to achieve success in sustainable education, there is an urgent need for education programmes based on sustainable development curriculum for use in teacher training. Such training will allow teachers to use interdisciplinary approaches to integrate sustainable development and green chemistry principles into the different subjects of the formal school curriculum. 

Bilks, I., Rauch, F. (2012). Special Issue Education for Sustainable Development and Green Chemistry in chemistry education. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13(2), 53-153. Theoretical and practical papers examine the state of the art in BSD driven chemistry education. 

A discussion of biocatalysis and green chemistry covers the principles of green chemistry. The concepts of sustainable development and green chemistry are introduced and defined. Green chemistry metrics, such as E factors and the atom economy, together with environmental impact and sustainability metrics, are discussed. The many attractive features of biocatalysis in the context of green chemistry are also discussed. 

The welfare of the people who work with chemical products and processes is at least as important as the welfare of the environment. Green chemistry is anthropocentric (as is sustainable development). Several green chemistry principles reflect this anthropocentrism. Principles 3 (less-hazardous chemical synthesis), 4 (design of safer chemicals), 5 (safer solvents and auxiliaries), and 12 (inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention) express concern for the health of the people who handle materials or attend to processes (Anastas and Warner, 1998). While many of these safety benefits also accrue to nonhuman organisms, the focus of the principles is on the people who are exposed to these materials and methods. Inasmuch as we cannot know all of the environmental needs of nonhuman things, it is hard to imagine how the focus could be on anything else. 

Preservation and improvement of the environment is a contemporary necessity that involves all the humanity. Terms like sustainable development or green chemistry have become something more than a literary topic and are currently converted into widely claimed social demands. Destruction of environmental pollutants is one of the aspects dealing with environmental management, a term where concepts such as environmental preservation, environmental remediation, etc., are included. Here, the attention will be focused in the electrodegradation of pollutants. 

The Workshop on Science Education and Green Chemistry (see Fig. 4) discussed the need for workshops and other educational programs to foster development of alternative energy sustainability and Green Chemistry disposal of chemical waste discussion of scientific method and ethics of science in the Middle East strategic plans to attract students to scientific careers and to educate scientists from multiple disciplines in the fields of pharmacology, toxicology, pharmacy, and clinical chemistry. 

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