I totally want to take this class at the University of Oregon.
The EPA defines green chemistry as:
"...the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances."
The 12 Principle of Green Chemistry.
I have often thought about how to make labs more eco-friendly. In a lab, throwing away gloves, metal, glass and gallons of chemicals is a daily habit. You forget that the lab isn't a sealed environment. Whenever you leave you wash your hands and take off your lab coat, you're clean. But what all the trash the university or company has to deal with?
Part of the problem is that if you are working on a basic science problem or in a clinical situation you feel like your work will be doing some good down the road, so the waste will be justified in the end.
Green chemistry focuses on ensuring chemical processes are efficient in their use of material, make things that are better for the environment and preserve energy. The focus is twofold: invent chemicals and processes that are cleaner than what we have now and do the inventing in an environmentally-friendly way.I looked around MSU's Web site for some clues as to what's going on here. I found one lab that mentions green chem but no overreaching campus initiative to make things better.
Reading this makes me want to make my lab safer.
