Green Chemistry

Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. While environmental chemistry focuses on the effects of polluting chemicals on nature, green chemistry focuses on the environmental impact of chemistry, including lowering consumption of nonrenewable resources and technological approaches for preventing pollution. The overarching goals of green chemistry¿namely, more resource-efficient and inherently safer design of molecules, materials, products, and processes¿can be pursued in a wide range of contexts.The concept of greening chemistry developed in the business and regulatory communities as a natural evolution of pollution prevention initiatives. In our efforts to improve crop protection, commercial products and medicines, we also caused unintended harm to our planet and humans. By the mid-20th century, some of the long-term negative effects of these advancements could not be ignored. Pollution choked many of the world's waterways and acid rain deteriorated forest health.