This is a directory of all the summary and review material for the course "Introduction to Green Chemistry." Think about the questions. If you can answer them thoughtfully, you have probably mastered the material.

Lesson One: The Essentials of Green Chemistry

Module One: Changing Course

• The need for a "green" approach to chemistry is becoming increasingly obvious. Why is that?
• What would some of the results be if we continue to practice chemistry the way we always have?
• Why do chemists practice chemistry the way they do? What, generally, is the primary goal of "good" chemistry.
• If chemistry must change the way it does the work that it does, how would it go about accomplishing that work?
• The challenges we face and the transformations the field must undergo reveal that we face three grand challenges. Think about those challenges. Why these and not others? Could there be others?
• What role does ethics play in the practice of sustainable chemistry?
• What are some of the obstacles to tackling the problems we face with anew approach to chemistry? How does this relate to the "Ecospherical responsibility" of chemists?
• Think through some examples of green solutions to the kind of chemistry we practice today. Are there any you can imagine inventing?
• Some scientists believe that by 2050 solar power could supply the United States with nearly 70% of its electricity and 35% of its total energy. How?
• Can you review some of the details of this solar power plan? Could you articulate them?
• What is THE central idea behind the practice of green chemistry?
• Creative Thinking Challenge: What are the various ways you can imagine that a technology is identified and understood to be unsustainable?

Module Two: Green Chemistry and Sustainability

• What is the relationship between green chemistry and the development of a sustainable civilization?
• Think of an example of a civilization that collapsed because its natural determinants were misappropriated, exhausted or damaged.
• What are the fundamental differences between natural and human determinants? Provide some examples.
• Why should we care about determinants?
• How do determinants affect the course of the future? Write down some examples.
• What role does ethics play in the practice of sustainable chemistry?
• How could green chemistry become a positive example of a human determinant?

Creative Thinking Challenges:

• Imagine some human determinants that act positively on natural determinants (other than green chemistry) to favor sustainability, and some that act negatively. What makes their actions negative or positive? Pick one and imagine how it could positively or negatively affect the future.
• What hazard classes do you think green chemists need to reduce and eliminate first? Prioritize your list in your notebook. As the course goes on, modify your list as you learn more.
• Consider the following energy sources: solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, wind, biofuels, oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear. Based on what you know, rank them in order from the most sustainable to the least sustainable. As the course goes on, modify your list as you think appropriate.

Module Three: Green Chemistry Defined

• What are the key underlying ideas that drive "green" chemistry as opposed to any other kind of chemistry?
• What would be the advantages of a more sustainable approach to chemistry?
• What are the barriers to adopting green chemistry in your country?
• Can you imagine an industry that could benefit from green chemistry? Why would it benefit and how?
• What will be the real world effects of green chemistry when it is widely practiced? What upsides and downsides can you imagine? What might be the real world ramifications for jobs, the economy, and human health and the environment?
• Which three of the Anastas and Warner principles of green chemistry do you consider to be the most important?

Creative Thinking Challenges:

• Identify specific problems in the world that require the attention of green chemistry. What drives the need for green chemistry?
• List other ways you can think of that would help us reduce hazardous chemicals in the products and processes of our civilization.

Module Four: Green Chemistry Tackles the Grand Challenges

• Consider what other fields of study chemists today should become familiar with, or at least aware of, to better understand how hazardous substances affect health and the environment.
• Think of an example of a hazardous substance that is distributed in the environment, where the releases could have been avoided if its source product or process had been designed differently using available information. How would this have involved different training or knowledge of other fields?
• Why do we need to rethink the way we test for hazardous substances?
• What have we learned about endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that is causing us to rethink the way their toxic effects should be tested?
• Why can very small doses of a chemical have adverse effects on living things?
• If you were a working chemist, what steps would you take to change the way we test EDCs? How would you enact those steps in the real world?
• Choose one of the six steps outlined in this module and think about how you would go about making it a reality. Would you network with scientists in other fields? Lobby for changes in the law? Do experiments that prove a point? Write articles and scientific papers?

Creative Thinking Challenges:

• Have other societies found ways to reduce hazardous substances in their products and processes? How have they accomplished this?
• Think of a concrete example of a product you might develop that could reduce endocrine disruptor exposures for people and the environment.