The Institute for Green Science

We have a problem. Over the past 150 years, our civilization has been releasing industrial chemicals that interact with the planet's natural chemical systems on an unprecedented scale. Modern technologies have distributed these compounds far and wide and now we are learning that some can disrupt the underlying processes that make life possible. Lead, cadmium and mercury, for example, are toxic metals that we have introduced into the food chain. And newly developed and commercialized compounds like PCBs, some pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol-A and some pharmaceuticals have also found their way into the air we breath and/or the water we drink. Even at ultra-low concentrations, a battery of studies have shown that some synthetic chemicals can disrupt critical cellular systems.

Traditionally, our approach has been to try to repair the damage after it's been inflicted, but that simply addresses the symptoms. To treat the disease, we have to change the old processes that drive chemical, scientific, business and technological innovations so that they are designed to be sustainable from the beginning.

The biggest thinkers in the field of green science are dealing with that fundamental challenge. Their insights and research represent the first steps in tackling the problems we face at their source. Their thinking can help map a strategy for creating a sustainable future. Spend some time with them. You'll find it rewarding. Maybe you will be the next source of inspiration.

	Paul Anastas is a chemist who saw an ineffective chemical regulatory system when he was chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch at the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s. He wondered how we could practice a better, safer and more sustainable brand of chemistry. Those questions, and their solutions, were laid out in the seminal text "Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice," authored along with John C. Warner. Dr. Anastas is the father of green chemistry. He coined and defined the term "green chemistry" and has been deeply involved in the field's development. He is currently the director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University.
	Theo Colborn is a scientist and environmental health advocate who wondered why wildlife around the Great Lakes was being born deformed and exhibiting mysterious symptoms. She went on to make a general connection between chemical pollutants and disruption of the endocrine system's control over cellular development. Her work led to the landmark 1996 book on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) "Our Stolen Future" that she coauthored with Pete Myers and Diane Dumanowski. Dr. Colborn currently serves as the President of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, Inc. (TEDX) and holds the academic rank of Professor Emeritus, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
	Terry Collins is the inventor of TAML activators, small-molecule mimics of the peroxidase enzymes that activate hydrogen peroxide to rapidly destroy numerous oxidizable pollutants in water under ambient conditions. He created the technology by following a unique design protocol over many years. Dr. Collins, who is the Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry and founder of the Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University, was the first chemist to introduce a green chemistry course to college students. Like Dr. Colborn and so many EDC researchers, he believes that our civilization must quickly learn how to cope with EDCs or it will pay a very steep price.
	Louis Guillette, Jr. is an expert on the ways that pollutants affect the reproductive systems of vertebrates. He has conducted long-running research on a population of Florida alligators, chronicling changes in their physiology along with increases in chemical effluvia like pesticides and detergents. Dr. Guillette is a Distinguished Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida.
	Teresa Heinz is the chairwoman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies and The Heinz Endowments. She is also the creator of the prestigious Heinz Awards, an annual program recognizing outstanding vision and achievement in the arts; public policy; the environment; the human condition; and technology, the economy and employment. The New York Times has called her one of the nation's leading philanthropists. Named by Utne Reader magazine as one of 100 American visionaries, she is recognized as one of our premier environmental leaders and she has been a long-time and tireless educator and advocate on behalf of women's health and economic security.
	James Hutchinson is the co-author of a laboratory guide of green chemistry for undergraduate students, and the inventor of a green (and faster and cheaper) method for producing gold nanoparticles used in the semiconductor industry. His laboratory also focuses on molecular-level design and synthesis of functional surface coatings and nanomaterials that draw heavily on the principles of sustainable chemistry. He is the founder and director of the Materials Science Institute at the University of Oregon, where he and his team have pioneered the development of green chemistry practices in the laboratory.
	John Peterson Myers is a co-author of "Our Stolen Future" with Theo Colborn and Dianne Dumanoski. Meyers also is the founder of Environmental Health News, an information service which aims to increase understanding of environmental health issues that is syndicated to more than 300 other websites worldwide. In addition, Myers is a world authority on the impacts of endocrine disruption on human health and the environment and is the creator of ourstolenfuture.org, a website where the significance of major publications on EDCs are explained.