Green chemistry^1–3  aims at promoting environmentally benign patterns, a change that is essential for development to be sustainable. In line with the nature of chemistry as the science of substances, green chemistry is concerned with all the stages of the ‘life’ of a substance or a material: production, utilization and final disposal. For the production stage, green chemistry aims at designing inherently safer substances and less-polluting manufacturing processes. Pursuing these objectives falls within the technical domain of the design of substances and processes and, therefore, it concerns chemistry research and the chemical industry. After the production stages, the rest of the life of substances and materials is in the hands of those who use them. Fostering informed and sustainable ways of handling them relies solely on education. Thus, green chemistry education needs to provide chemistry information in such a way that it may influence people’s behaviour.

The importance of green chemistry education has been recognized since the birth of green chemistry.^4,5  Early recommendations already stressed the need for it to be ‘both inside and outside academia’.⁴  The last decade has witnessed enormous growth in approaches, projects and resource materials aimed at familiarizing pupils and students with the principles of green chemistry and with a variety of new, green industrial approaches. Their number is too high for a meaningful review within the space of a chapter. Several initiatives have also had an impact on behaviour patterns within specific communities (for instance, progressive greening of university campuses in some contexts). However, the extent to which the new messages have reached the general public, or have impacted on large-scale behaviour patterns, is still inadequate. This makes the interface between the provision of information and the actual promotion of sustainable behaviour patterns one of the major challenges currently facing green chemistry education. Meeting this challenge requires novelties in the educational approaches, with the objective of integrating the provision of information with a stimulation of awareness capable of influencing attitudes and behaviour patterns. The fundamental role of the provision of information goes hand in hand with the importance of stressing the meaning and role of chemistry. The main criteria in the design of educational (or dissemination-of-information) approaches may imply diverse aspects such as:

• Stressing the fundamental message that the handling of substances in everyday life is part of the broad domain of chemistry and, therefore, chemistry information is essential for proper handling, and green chemistry criteria apply to it. Recommendations concerning substances and materials (such as those written on their containers) are chemistry-based and, because of this, they need to be taken into account carefully, to ensure appropriate usage and appropriate disposal once they have finished their useful period.

• Efficiently highlighting the interplay between the two conceptual categories of ‘general’ and ‘particular’: the general (global) perspective of the environmental impact of certain actions and the particular perspective of the choices by individual persons or individual communities.

• Enabling sufficiently ample interfaces with ethics education, so as to provide motivations for sustainable behaviour patterns. This is an important pathway for trying to answer the often unspoken question of why an individual should care about what happens globally or what will happen in the future.

• Devoting attention to observable behaviour patterns. This implies observation of what occurs in one’s surroundings, reflections on what is observed, and the design of approaches to foster the replacement of observed non-sustainable aspects with more sustainable ones.

The chapter considers concrete examples within both formal and informal education. The examples for formal education refer to efforts to integrate both industrial and everyday life green chemistry perspectives within chemical education, and are analysed in some detail. They comprise the integration of green chemistry perspectives into a process technology course at the University of Venda (South Africa), and the presentation of the interface between chemistry and ethics to secondary school pupils in Italy. The examples for which informal education needs to play extensive roles focus mostly on aspects for which the outreach to the public appears so far inadequate, and make extensive references to observations that can be made in one’s surroundings. These examples suggest the importance of fostering chemical literacy and integrating green chemistry perspectives into information to the public. Some possible chemistry-oriented outreach options are outlined.

Green chemistry information and perspectives have been introduced for several years into the process technology course taught by the author at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). The context is an underprivileged one (what in South Africa is called a Historically Black University, HBU). Despite recent improvements in several respects, there are still difficulties related to the past (apartheid period) lower status of the university. Furthermore, the university mostly serves a poor rural community, which implies many of the disadvantages common to underprivileged communities. Students experience a variety of difficulties: general underpreparedness, difficulties related to poor language mastery and to the communication challenges typical of second language instruction; and the overall scarcity of learning skills and acquired mastery of essential learning tools, which goes under the comprehensive concept of inadequate epistemological access.^6,7  This ensemble of problems cumulatively results in generalized passive attitudes and a strong tendency to equate learning to passive memorization, both of which are also deeply rooted in the approaches of pre-university instruction.

The process technology course is a third year course providing the bases of chemical engineering. It has been considered the most apt course for the incorporation of green chemistry perspectives both for its content (directly related to the chemical industry) and because it is apt for explorative or pilot interventions, as it is not a large-enrolment course. The incorporation is realized in such a way as to engage students actively, which is considered essential for the acquired information to have an impact beyond the preparation of tests and exams. The practical approach is conceptually simple. It focuses on the twelve principles of green chemistry.²  Students are invited to choose a principle (a different principle for each student) and to prepare a poster or a Power-Point presentation considering both industrial and everyday life implications of that principle. There are sessions during the semester, in which students can discuss the progress in the preparation of their presentation and ask for suggestions, so that guidance is provided for all the steps preceding the presentation. The posters are prepared individually, but the discussion sessions are common, to favour interchanges not only about practical challenges, but also about the content on which each students is working. The posters are presented at the end of the semester and are objects of assessment.

The overall approach has several advantages. It engages students actively, as they need to search for information, to design how to organize it and how to present it, and to be able to answer questions on it, after presenting. The request that they consider both industry and everyday life broadens the overall perspective and facilitates the recognition of parallelisms between the significance of the green chemistry principles for the industry and for everyday life.

The initiative has been implemented through the last ten years. In the UNIVEN context, it is so far the first occasion in which chemistry students encounter green chemistry. The impact has been different in different years (with different groups of students). In general, it has stimulated reflections on the relationships between chemistry knowledge and everyday handling of substances and materials and on the importance of considering the impacts of our actions on the environment. In some cases, the impact on students’ perceptions and attitudes has gone beyond the recognition of the importance of these aspects, motivating students to search for ways to disseminate information beyond the campus, to the community and to younger (pre-university) pupils. It is interesting to note that this type of interest and commitment beyond the requirements of the course (i.e., beyond doing a certain activity in order to pass the course) is perceived as something pertaining to the fact that they are (or are in the process of becoming) chemists. This is an important and desirable effect, as it links chemistry knowledge to sustainable behaviour and to a perception of a chemist’s individual responsibility not only to comply with sustainable-behaviour criteria, but also to promote this attitude in their community.

An experience at presenting green chemistry to young pupils in the framework of the relationships between chemistry and ethics proved particularly successful. The school concerned was a Scientific Lyceum in Treviso (Italy), and the initiative involved senior pupils (16–19 years age). The overall initiative was a one-day conference on chemistry and ethics, titled Ethics and Chemistry: a Feasible Dialogue. It was organized by the chemistry teacher (Prof. Michele Zanata, assisted by the students themselves), and involved the participation of speakers from different backgrounds and countries, including academics (both chemists and a philosopher), representatives of chemists’ professional associations and representatives from the industry. This enabled the consideration of the relationships between ethics and chemistry from a variety of diverse perspectives.

The author of this chapter contributed with a presentation titled ‘Ethics and chemistry: the choices of research and the choices of citizens’. The title aimed at immediately highlighting the importance of two major conditions to enhance sustainability: chemical research, which can provide better substances and better processes; and citizens’ behaviour, which determines other relevant aspects. The presentation itself aimed at stimulating awareness of the two essential aspects of ethical behaviour—wanting to do what is good and knowing how to do it⁸ —and of the implications with regard to chemistry and to the production and use of substances and materials. These included the importance of chemical (and science) literacy to be able to make informed choices (knowing how to do good), and the importance of individual behaviours for global effects (a reason for wanting to do good). After an extensive introduction on the nature and purposes of green chemistry (including the presentation of its ten principles), the presentation focused on the sources of pollution (something in which pupils were specifically interested) and on the importance of choosing sustainable behaviour patterns. A number of images of environmental pollution were selected and combined with captions aimed at stimulating reflection, by conveying the main message in an expectedly impressive way. The major message was that pollution is not generated only by the industry, but also by the overall effect of the behaviour of a high number of individual persons. The selected images had the following subjects:

• A river polluted by industrial wastes

• A factory emitting huge clouds of black smokes from its chimneys

• An oil spill from an oil tanker

• A traffic jam, with a panoramic of a huge number of cars queuing from different directions at a cross-roads

• A river polluted by detergents

• An ‘island’ of plastic bags in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The captions for the first three images were ‘This is due to industry’; the captions for the last three images were ‘This is due to the choices of many normal citizens’ (fourth image), ‘This is due to the activities of many normal citizens’ (fifth image) and ‘This is due to the carelessness of many normal citizens’ (sixth image). The aim was that of conveying the message that chemistry research can do something (hopefully a lot) to make industry more sustainable; but citizens also need to take responsibility for the ways in which they handle substances and materials.

The pupils’ response was very positive. They showed active interest and asked many questions both in the question time after the presentation and informally later on. Several questions focused on chemical aspects (‘What happens if…?’), showing that the main messages had gone through. Questions asked informally, after the sessions, showed pupils’ remarkable prior exposure to the issue of chemistry and the environment: their chemistry teacher had put considerable efforts in this direction, stimulating curiosity and reflections as part of their overall attitude. The information on green chemistry added the information that it is possible to use chemistry to protect the environment, and also conveyed the message that a lot of research is still needed, and that sustainable behaviour is an ethical issue requiring adequate chemistry literacy to be pursued effectively. The general theme of the conference stressed the importance of cross-discipline and holistic thinking, a key contribution to the pupils’ overall formation. A presentation of green chemistry within such a perspective is particularly suitable because it highlights a variety of cross-discipline aspects and their significance for sustainable behaviour patterns.

Educational approaches need to be designed on the basis of observations and diagnoses, to respond more effectively to the characteristics of the target groups. This is true both for formal instruction (where the target groups are pupils or students) and for informal education (where the target groups may be specific groups of persons, or entire communities). When educational approaches, or approaches aimed at disseminating information, are meant for the general public, it is important to take into account existing attitudes and behaviours as the starting point.

Informal education is not delegated only to persons who are ‘officially’ in charge of it. Each person can make a number of observations/diagnoses by devoting careful attention to the surroundings, considering one’s own choices and the choices of the persons around. Observations lead to reflections. Reflections provide the basis to design approaches, which can be implemented through direct communication (e.g., talking between individual persons), or through inclusion into educational approaches and material development, if one is engaged in education. Two components are particularly important in such processes:

• The consideration that, in most cases, environmentally unfriendly choices are based on inadequate information, or inadequate awareness of the importance of the choices of each person

• The importance of underpinning any recommendation or suggestion on sound scientific information.

Many people still tend to consider that those who talk about the environment have mostly aesthetic and emotional motivations (liking nature as it is, loving trees, forests, and animals, or other similar reasons). These motivations, although important for those who perceive them, do not have a sufficiently significant impact on others, when communicated as such. Only scientific information can stimulate the awareness that environmental issues are important for our health, for the general economy in our society and for the wellbeing of the future generations. The relevant scientific information has mostly a chemical core, although significant interfacing contributions may come from mathematics, biology, medicine, economics, and other disciplines. A number of basic examples important for everyday life will be briefly considered in the next subsections, to highlight how chemistry information can be incorporated as the scientific basis to stimulate changes in behaviour patterns. The selection of the examples, and of the corresponding suggestions, is based on direct experience in different contexts. Therefore, the themes of the examples are not treated in an exhaustive way (what would require much more space than that of a chapter), but as a rather fast overview of possibilities.

The selection of transport is a crucial issue because cars are currently the major source of air pollution. A huge number of cars on the roads implies the generation of huge amounts of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Using alternative transport responds to the criteria of reducing the generation of pollutants and utilising energy efficiently (the efficient use of energy is one of the principles of green chemistry). Public transport (buses, trains) constitutes the optimal choice for long distances. Bicycles are the best choice for sufficiently short distances, on non-rainy days.

In some countries, the use of bicycles is common and/or increasing. In other countries, it is viewed as a symbol of poverty and avoided altogether. Paradoxically, it may happen that a person actively involved in green chemistry research (in terms of green processes and syntheses) shows a total lack of understanding of why one would or should choose to move by bicycle, even for short distances, if one owns a car. The status-symbol perceptions in relation to transport overshadow considerations in terms of energy consumption, pollution or even simply personal health (riding a bicycle is surely healthier than driving a car). These perceptions are widely diffuse in countries where emerging economies are currently enabling people to emerge ‘out of poverty’. ‘Poverty’ and what it implies remains the subconscious reference, and the wish to ‘separate oneself’ from the features typical of poverty becomes the dominant subconscious feature motivating choices.

It becomes important to disseminate information about the advantages of bicycles both to reduce the generation of air pollution and for our own health in general. The information needs to be based on scientific data, and to report and explain them in a way accessible to the audience. It may also be important to consider the subconscious motivations, an aspect that could envisage interesting collaborations between chemists, chemical educators and psychologists.

Air conditioning has high energy demands and is not friendly to our health. In some contexts/countries, it is utilized only when temperatures are extreme, and this can be considered reasonable usage. In other contexts, it is utilized throughout the year, including the long periods in which the outdoor temperature is comfortable and opening windows would be the ideal choice. The reasons behind this may be various, from a passive (unquestioned) acceptance of habits acquired since childhood (more frequent in some developed contexts) to the perception that air conditioning is one of the markers of getting ‘out of poverty’ (more frequent in developing contexts). There may be paradoxical situations, like periods in which, in some countries (e.g., in southern Africa, including South Africa) the electricity supply is not adequate for the needs of the community, and yet people prefer to have periods without electricity (the so-called ‘shadings’), with all the inconveniences that they involve, rather than opting for switching off an appliance (air conditioning) that consumes most of the power in normal (non-industrial) buildings.

Education requires dissemination of information, which would ideally target the following issues:

• The high energy demands of air conditioning and the impacts they have on the environment. This requires the explanation of the environmental impacts of energy production.

• The effects of air conditioning on our health. Many persons complain about the negative effects, realize that they are caused by air conditioning, but have not yet reached the stage for which they may decide to switch it off (they would be too different from the other persons in their surroundings), or to request the right to have natural ventilation (there have been cases in which some employees have opted in this way, but they are still rare).⁹ 

• Promoting a rational utilization, limited to when the outdoors temperature is extreme.

• Promoting the awareness of the importance of natural ventilation for the indoor air quality. It is the only way of getting rid of indoor pollutants and replacing the oxygen that is consumed by respiration. It is significant that, for instance, in a big city in Australia, a company is experimenting with an innovative double system: using air-conditioning during the day, because employees have a psychological need for it, and opening the windows during the night, to improve the indoor air quality and, thus, take better care of the employees’ health.

The awareness of both the energy implications (huge consumption) and the health implications (negative impacts) should be the key for which scientific information may gradually change a highly non-sustainable behaviour pattern.

The attitude towards trees varies largely in different contexts and communities. Planting trees is recognized as one of the few effective and realistic ways currently available to fight climate change. However, many persons do not want trees in their neighbourhood, or chop down the existing ones, because of reasons as diverse as considering their leaves as something disorderly or untidy, or fearing that spirits might choose big trees as their residence (Figures 1.1 and 1.2).

The main information to be disseminated concerns the chemical nature of photosynthesis; it produces oxygen, something that many people know. It simultaneously traps carbon dioxide, removing it from the environment. This is something that is not always part of common awareness, and public perception does not always associate it with the prevention of climate change. The chemical equation of photosynthesis, 6CO₂ + 6H₂O → C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂, should become the main tool (even with the role of slogan) to stimulate the awareness of the importance of planting new trees and protecting the existing ones to try and slow down climate change. It has the potential to become a high-impact tool because of being chemistry-based and, simultaneously, referring to nature. The overall objective is a huge increase in the number of trees in all locations, including urban trees and woods.

The attitude towards saving varies widely in different contexts. Saving resources is a sound economic principle (besides being a fundamental green chemistry criterion). However, it is not always adhered to. Attitudes are more negative in contexts currently coming out of poverty, because, then, saving is perceived as a necessity associated with poverty, of which to get rid as poverty decreases. For instance, the lack of attempts to save energy, even in contexts where power failures are frequent because of inadequate electricity supply, can be related to the general attitude towards saving. The dissemination of information needs to focus on the economic soundness of saving resources, on the limitedness of global resources, and on the overall impact of the sum of many individual actions, although each of them may have an individually tiny impact.

Besides this attitude problem, there may also be a lack of awareness for specific cases. Recalling the importance of saving specific resources on specific occasions may then have considerable impacts. For instance, from direct experience, the notice that ‘One piece of tissue should be enough to dry your hands’, in an airport in Brazil stimulated the wish to check whether that was true. It proved true (the size of the pieces was adequate) and it prompted the habit not to use more tissue than needed.

The attitude towards garbage disposal also varies widely in different contexts. Separate collection and recycling is practised only in some contexts, mostly highly ‘developed’ ones. Sometimes, at the moment when it is initiated, it may be viewed as an unnecessary imposition or nuisance; soon after, the awareness grows and nobody would turn back to different, less rational ways of disposal. It is important to promote separate collection and recycling everywhere; to convince citizens of the importance of this practice; to find economic incentives (for their high convincing role); and to relate it to science-based motivations.

Recycling is one of the green chemistry principles. Thus, chemistry and everyday life may use the same perspective to work for sustainability.

The handling of substances and materials has enormous impacts on the environment. We handle a lot of substances and materials: household products; products for the garden; pesticides, fertilizers and weed-killers in agriculture; medicines; and many others. Too often, substances are not handled or disposed of according to recommendations, or the main utilisation criterion seems to be ‘the more, the better’. Some chemistry literacy is necessary to understand:

• The reasons why ‘the more, the better’ is not true, and how appropriate usage combines saving with best results, decreases environmental impacts and simultaneously lowers costs

• The reasons and importance of the usage recommendations usually given on the containers.

Safety is a key issue in the utilization of substances and materials. Using more than needed may decrease safety, e.g., by increasing the risks of side effects from handling. But also utilizations contradicting recommendations may become a safety issue. For instance, it is not safe to mix even common household materials, if we are not in a position to predict the outcomes. Some kids enjoy making small explosions by mixing common household products; this should by itself be a warning symptom about the importance of being cautious when mixing products. However, some persons mix household materials in the hope of improving the overall action (e.g., the disinfection action), without being in a position to predict which substances may form from the mixing, and openly contradicting the recommendations written on the containers. Being cautious is an outcome of basic chemical literacy, for which people become aware that adequate chemical knowledge would be needed to perform operations like mixing different products safely.

Promoting the awareness of the overall outcomes resulting from the sum of a high numbers of individual behaviours is a crucial issue. It is not easy to foster this awareness, because of the immediately perceivable disproportion between the massiveness of the global outcome and the tiny-ness of the impact of the individual action. Some persons say it straightforwardly: ‘If I waste one A4 page, it is only few grams, it is negligible’, or ‘If I do not save one litre of water now, it is negligible’. It is true. The problem is that the sum of a very high number of negligible amounts results in a huge overall amount.

How to educate in this regard? Mathematics may help, for instance by calculating the sum of the effects of individual actions by multiplying the effect of one action by the number of citizens in a country. One A4 page is probably 5 g of paper. If, in a country of 50 million citizens, each person saves one A4 page in a day, it amounts to (5 g) × (50 000 000) = 250 000 000 g = 250 000 kg of paper. This is a huge amount to save. If, on the other hand, all those 50 million citizens decide that their contribution is not relevant, that amount cannot be saved.

Visualization may also contribute to stimulate awareness. For instance, the previously mentioned image of the ‘island’ of plastic bags in the middle of the ocean may have a strong visual impact, as it shows what can be the final outcome when familiar objects like plastic bags are not disposed of correctly by millions of persons.

Many practices end up acquiring the role of protocols that are passively followed as routines, without evaluating when they are reasonable and when they become unreasonable. The previously mentioned use of air conditioning whatever the outdoor temperature can be viewed as a telling example. Many others can be identified simply by ‘looking around us’.

For instance, cutting the grass with weekly or two-week frequency during the rainy season in a garden in a tropical area has a meaning. Doing the same thing during the dry season becomes unfriendly both to the environment and to people’s health. Figure 1.3 shows a case of this type: the gardener, instructed to follow the same protocol all year round, is performing the grass-cutting operation in the dry season, when the soil is mostly barren and exposed; there is no grass worth considering, and the grass-cutting tool lifts huge amounts of soil-dust for several metres into the air, often higher than the nearby houses. The unsustainability of the option is self-evident: unnecessary consumption of fuel and increase in the particulate level in the air.

The design of interventions aimed at stimulating environmentally sustainable behaviours in the young generation and in the general public needs to emphasize the interface between scientific information and behaviour patterns, so that the former motivates the latter. Issues like the appropriate handling of substances and materials, or the importance of saving materials and energy, are viewed as the most urgent focuses of such initiatives. The next paragraphs consider the design of possible approaches through the analysis of concrete examples.

Indirect invitations to environmentally friendly behaviours may take place in a variety of situations. The responses may be largely different in different contexts. For instance, at a meeting, referring to some material sent electronically, a person may say: ‘Let us not print all this, so we save some trees’. If the other persons have already been sensitized to the need to save resources, they will agree immediately, because they are aware of the motivations. If the other persons have not yet been sensitized to the need to save resources, they will perceive the invitation as unnecessary and awkward. On the other hand, making environmentally friendly invitations and statements is a way to slowly convey important messages. The efficacy increases if the number of persons making such invitations and statements in a certain context increases with time.

One of the first analyses of the ethical connotations of the objectives of green chemistry was carried out by a professor of philosophy,¹⁰  who showed how those objectives have an intrinsic ethical value. Very recently, the entire issue of climate change is viewed as an urgent ethical question of our times.

Within educational perspectives (whether formal or informal), ethics becomes the reference for questions relating to our behaviour. An answer to questions such as why an individual should be concerned about global effects, or about the wellbeing of future generations, can be provided only by ethics. Integrating the perspectives of chemical literacy and ethics may play key roles in prompting shifts to more sustainable behaviours. Chemistry and chemical literacy can indicate practical ways for pursuing the objectives related to sustainability, and motivate these objectives in terms of scientific information; in other words, they can provide the knowledge for a person to be in a position to pursue something that is good in an effective way. The choice of pursuing these objectives pertains to each individual, and can be motivated by ethical considerations (choosing to do good).

The design of interventions aimed at stimulating environmentally sustainable behaviours in the young generation and in the general public needs:

• To be based on diagnoses about diffuse attitudes and about responses to already-attempted interventions

• To emphasize the interface between scientific information and behaviour patterns, so that the former motivates the latter.

To this purpose, green chemistry education links with other educational domains: chemical education in general, education aimed at fostering science literacy, and ethics education.

The most urgent focuses of interventions to foster sustainable behaviour patterns concern the appropriate handling of substances and materials, the importance of saving material resources and the importance of saving energy. All these components benefit the environment. The appropriate handling of substances and materials benefits also human health directly; so does pollution prevention. Saving resources and energy has fundamental economic value. Saving energy is one of the measures to try and decrease the rate at which climate change progresses.

Interfaces and integration with ethical considerations and ethics education are fundamental to link the dissemination/acquisition of information and knowledge with the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviour patterns.

Experience shows that changes are possible. Like for a new commercial product, the concept of pioneers who start a new type of behaviour, and whose example will eventually modify the behaviour of the others, is a key concept in the stimulation of environmentally benign behaviour patterns. For this specific purpose, the pioneers need not only to provide examples through their behaviour, but also to be able to explain the motivations of their choices, thus becoming educators who communicate science information and its implications. Therefore, pioneers wishing to foster sustainable behaviour patterns need to have basic scientific literacy, including basic knowledge of green chemistry and its principles.