Green Chemistry

I never realized how environmental unfriendly Chemistry could be until I started taking lab courses in college and when we learned about Green Chemistry in my Organic Chemistry lab classes. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry are listed below. My source is the American Chemical Society Website.

Many chemicals used in laboratories can be very harmful to people and the environment. Green Chemistry tries to find other solvents and chemicals with similar properties to the dangerous chemicals but that are less harmful. Green Chemistry also works to use less chemicals in order to produce the same yields and focuses on the use of chemicals that can be reused many times. The principles of Green Chemistry have the main goals of reducing waste and harm through changing techniques and chemicals used.

I think improving Green Chemistry is very important. We are not going to stop producing things chemically anytime soon so focusing on improving the safety and lowering the waste produced during chemical processes is a very important goal in the scientific world if we are going to keep our planet as healthy as we can for as long as we can.

Veggie Theatre -- Roots & Wisdom

I will be working with Roots & Wisdom again this summer as the Events and Outreach Coordinator and I am starting to get excited for this opportunity. Most of my blog posts during the summer will pertain to my experiences in this position. I would like to give you a little taste of what those posts might be like. Veggie Theatre has been a part of Roots & Wisdom's open house and used for participation in Be Vocal, Eat Local Week. Veggie Theatre is comprised of skits, songs, poems, etc. performed and/or created by the youth workers and the crew leaders. Veggie Theatre is designed to be educate people about the sustainability and health of organic agriculture through entertainment. Below are two videos from last year's program.

The video above is a Harry Potter spoof about organic gardening written by Shannon Turnbull and myself. This skit had mainly crew leader involvement.

Above is video featuring Shannon, Catherine, Mike from the events crew, and Sarah, a volunteer. All four of them worked for Roots & Wisdom together in 2008. This video is a brief taste of the veggie rap. A full version can be found on the Roots & Wisdom YouTube page, along with other inspirational or informational videos.