Green Chemistry: Helping Create a Safer, More Sustainable Future

Speaker: 
John Warner
 
23 Feb 2015
 
8:00 PM
 
Great Hall, Memorial Union

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A reception and poster session will precede the lecture at 7pm in the South Ballroom.

John Warner is one of the founders of green chemistry, which seeks to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials at the design stage of a materials process. His work has had implications for a variety of products and manufacturing processes, from computer chips to paint and biodegradable plastics to cholesterol medicine. Warner started the world's first green chemistry PhD program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in 2004 and is co-author of the seminal text Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. In 2008, he chaired the Science Advisory Committee of California's Green Chemistry Initiative, which recently released landmark policy recommendations seeking to eliminate or reduce the use of toxic substances in products and manufacturing processes. He is currently president and chief technology officer of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, which he founded with Jim Babcock in 2007. University Symposium on Sustainability Keynote Address

Imagine a world where all segments of society demanded environmentally benign products! Imagine if all consumers, all retailers and all manufacturers insisted on buying and selling only non-toxic materials! The unfortunate reality is that, even if this situation were to occur, our knowledge of materials science and chemistry would allow us to provide only a small fraction of the products and materials that our economy is based upon. The way we learn and teach chemistry and materials science is for the most part void of any information regarding mechanisms of toxicity and environmental harm. Green Chemistry is a philosophy that seeks to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials at the design stage of a materials process. It has been demonstrated that materials and products CAN be designed with negligible impact on human health and the environment while still being economically competitive and successful in the marketplace. This presentation will describe the history and background of Green Chemistry and discuss the opportunities for the next generation of materials designers to create a safer and more sustainable future.