LaRoche College near Pittsburgh recently sponsored the "Global Problems, Global Solutions" conference, with a focus on the need to reduce toxics in the environment. PennFuture's Sharon Pillar attended and captured a portion of the event for this podcast.

We hear from Dr. Terry Collins, Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry and director of the Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Collins is an internationally-recognized leader in the field of green chemistry. There is a clear relationship between sustainability and chemistry, in that the more than 80,000 chemical compounds that are today in commercial use have not, for the most part, been adequately assessed for their toxic effects on humans or the environment. Obviously chemicals can and do cause many serious problems. For the first time in nearly 150 years, chemists are beginning to think very carefully about how to solve those problems in advance, by creating chemical products and using chemical processes that remove hazards before chemicals get to the marketplace.

The consequences of this new approach to chemistry are extraordinary. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that already, green chemistry is eliminating 1.2 billion pounds of hazardous chemicals from the environment each year; saving 16 billion gallons of water annually; and preventing 57 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released (the equivalent of taking 37,000 automobiles off the road).

Listen in as Dr. Collins explains how new technologies and approaches to chemistry can be part of the range of powerful solutions we need to attain a sustainable future.

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