Advances in global sustainability technology on parade at ACS meeting

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http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_024354&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=19614da6-8efd-45f9-9481-261ba0ce3982

Advances in global sustainability technology on parade at ACS meeting

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21, 2010 — Chemistry’s often-overlooked role in fostering sustainability goes on parade this week with one of the largest and most comprehensive series of scientific reports on advances toward that goal and the challenges lying ahead. The 1,600 reports and other presentations are part of the theme — “Chemistry for a Sustainable World” — of the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, which opens here today.

“Theme presentations account for more than 10 percent of the 13,000 technical papers scheduled for the meeting,” said Robert Peoples, Ph.D., Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) and organizer of the sustainability plenary symposium. “This unique event is designed to shepherd scientists’ and engineers’ collective knowledge, interests, and passion to address the world’s sustainability challenges. I cannot imagine a more-timely topic. It is abundantly evident that we cannot meet the needs of an expanding global population with traditional technology. We need innovations, enabled by the application of green chemistry, for instance, and other fresh approaches.”

Green chemistry — sustainable chemistry — is the development and application of products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of potentially hazardous substances.

“The sustainability theme highlights one of the most essential, long-term issues the world faces today,” said Laura E. Pence, Ph.D., Thematic Program Chair, and a chemistry professor at the University of Hartford, West Hartford, Conn. “Sustainability often is defined as meeting the needs of people today without depleting natural resources, damaging the environment or otherwise compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The presentations this week document advances toward the goal of developing a sustainable society. They also point out the hurdles and hard work that lie ahead.”

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