Green Versus Green

As a chemical engineering major, I had previously assumed that members of my prospective profession just create things without having to worry about environmental consequences. Surprisingly, and perhaps disturbingly, this assumption was somewhat correct up until recently. It seems that when chemistry first became a large trade, in which many products were produced more cheaply and efficiently than ever before, environmental concerns were next to none. However, starting in the nineties, some scientists began conducting their chemical analyses and experiments with green motivations. Rather than creating things at any cost, be it mercury tainted water supplies, smoggy atmospheric conditions, or some other pollution, chemists are more and more beginning to go green.

This “green revolution” in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering makes me wonder what exactly we are sacrificing when we concentrate on one green over the other. Some companies are typically green in the sense that they operate for pure profit and disregard the environment as much as possible; that is, they meet industry requirements, and that’s it. However, the trending thing is to be green in the environmental sense of the word, to take responsibility for their emissions, effluents, and wastes as they are dangerous to the fragile ecosystems in which they are released.

If we were to focus purely on efficiency and profit and completely ignore environmental concerns, would the extra quality of products warrant this decision? Would the products we produced under this mindset even be better than those manufactured under different conditions? These are the questions that will have to be answered in the near future by those of us who make things, and as far as I can tell, every one of us Franklins will have to deal with this dilemma once we reach the workforce in 4 or 5 years. I personally am looking forward to being on the crest of a wave of green. Where that wave eventually breaks I am eager to find out.