My dad was a chemical engineer. In spite of that, I have a befuddled relationship with chemistry.

Its not love/hate, because I dont know enough about the elements to love or hate them. I took only one class as a senior in high school, but had been forewarned by my companions at my all-girls academy that the class was boring. Furthermore, it was taught by a quiet-spoken nun who was beyond retirement. I passed, barely.

I skirted chemistry in college by favoring liberal arts over science and was well into my gardening years before I realized that a little more knowledge of the periodic table would be helpful in knowing the connection between phosphorus and nitrogen, and whether potash and potassium (also in the NPK of garden fertilizer nomenclature) are the same. I regretted not understanding more.

Back in the 1970s, I discovered Monsantos Round-up was a powerful weed killer. I also learned it was a target of the organic homesteaders movement that I espoused. I quickly championed the harm that such chemicals can do to health. Reading Rachel Carsons discovery of the near-demise of the Bald Eagle because of DDT, I realized we have lived for thousands of years without plastic, flame retardant pajamas and Teflon non-stick pans. Why bother with such harmful chemicals now? I was a fervent anti-chemical activist.

I first learned the term from a teacher friend at Marian University when they established a green chemistry program. The EPA defines the practice of green chemistry as designing chemical products that are fully effective with little or no toxicity to either humans or the environment. Extraordinary! I wished I could have learned that kind of science. Its a win-win.

To that end, I have been trying to make up for my lack of basic knowledge about chemicals and their effects on humans and the earth. A three-part webinar starts this week that I am excited to see. Perhaps I will be enlightened on some of the classes of chemicals that have remained so foreign to me.

The three part series, called Six Classes, has a goal of helping consumers reduce the use of harmful chemicals by teaching us what these common chemicals are and how they affect our everyday life. It is offered free by the Green Science Policy Institute whose mission is to educate and build partnerships among scientists, regulators, businesses and public interest groups to develop innovative solutions for reducing harmful chemicals in products.

The webinars are based on what the Institute has established as six classes of harmful chemicals: highly fluorinated chemicals, antimicrobials, flame-retardants, bisphenols and phthalates, solvents and certain metals. The hour-long webinars will feature a short video on each class of chemicals (two per webinar) along with discussions with scientists and thought leaders. The webinars will share info about the toxicity of these chemicals, where they are used in our daily lives, why they are harmful and how we can avoid them.

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, June 22, and continuing the following two Thursdays, the webinars will be available three times each day. For more info and to register visit t.co/uAL2I5sb8t, or contact the Institute at 510-898-1704 or Laura@GreenSciencePolicy.org. I plan to learn a lot about toxic chemicals and green chemistry.

My dad, the chemical engineer, would be so proud of me.

Lynn Jenkins lives in rural Zionsville, where she is learning to live green. Email her at LJenks@tds.net.

Visit link:
What the heck is 'green chemistry?' - timessentinel.com