The Father of Green Chemistry

Bringing Chemistry to Life

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This is a big one. When one of the most influential chemists of a generation gives you a full hour of his time, you can say your chemistry podcast has made it!

This conversation with Paul Anastas (Yale University), the father of Green Chemistry, is an inspiration to think differently. He favors disrupting common rules and to stop accepting the status quo, given that the status quo is not sustainable.

The “green shift” towards sustainable processes in chemistry and engineering is the revolution than we can’t afford to miss. We do not need any more evidence. The silliness in the way we do things is in front of our eyes, we just need to be willing to look and see it.

When we make 1000 kilograms of waste per kilograms or product, there is no future. When we keep producing, using, and discharging in a linear way, there is no future. When governments and private companies don’t embrace environmental responsibility as part of their performance metrics, there is no future.

Paul and his co-author Urvashi Bhatnagar have written The Sustainability Scorecard – How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions to outline the green chemistry principles that show the way to a sustainable future in chemistry. The pursuit of sustainability offers what they call “unexpected solutions;” leaps forwards that make new processes not only more sustainable, but also more efficient, cheaper, and more profitable. There are many great examples, with many more to come.

Disrupt or be disrupted.

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