Chasing Molecules : Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry

Each Day, Headlines Warn That Baby Bottles Are Leaching Dangerous Chemicals, Nonstick Pans Are Causing Infertility, And Plastic Containers Are Making Us Fat. What If Green Chemistry Could Change All That? What If Rather Than Toxics, Our Economy Ran On Harmless, Environmentally-friendly Materials? Elizabeth Grossman, An Acclaimed Journalist Who Brought National Attention To The Contaminants Hidden In Computers And Other High Tech Electronics, Now Tackles The Hazards Of Ordinary Consumer Products. She Shows That For The Sake Of Convenience, Efficiency, And Short-term Safety, We Have Created Synthetic Chemicals That Fundamentally Change, At A Molecular Level, The Way Our Bodies Work. The Consequences Range From Diabetes To Cancer, Reproductive And Neurological Disorders. Yet It’s Hard To Imagine Life Without The Creature Comforts Current Materials Provide—and Grossman Argues We Do Not Have To. A Scientific Revolution Is Introducing Products That Are “benign By Design,” Developing Manufacturing Processes That Consider Health Impacts At Every Stage, And Is Creating New Compounds That Mimic Rather Than Disrupt Natural Systems. Through Interviews With Leading Researchers, Grossman Gives Us A First Look At This Radical Transformation. Green Chemistry Is Just Getting Underway, But It Offers Hope That We Can Indeed Create Products That Benefit Health, The Environment, And Industry. Preface -- Prologue -- Chapter 1. There’s Something In The Air -- Chapter 2. Swimmers, Hoppers, And Fliers -- Chapter 3. Laboratory Curiosities And Chemical Unknowns -- Chapter 4. The Polycarbonate Problem -- Chapter 5. Plasticizers -- Health Risks Or Fifty Years Of Denial Of Data? Chapter 6. The Persistent And Pernicious -- Chapter 7. Out Of The Frying Pan -- Chapter 8. Nanotechnology -- Perils And Promise Of The Infinitesimal Chapter 9. Material Consequences -- Toward A Greening Of Chemistry. Epilogue: Redesigning The Future. Acknowledgments -- Appendix: Principles Of Green Chemistry And Molecular Design Pyramid Questions -- Notes -- Select Bibliography -- Index. By Elizabeth Grossman. Annotation Public transit is a powerful tool for addressing a huge range of urban problems, including traffic congestion and economic development as well as climate change. But while many people support transit in the abstract, it's often hard to channel that support into good transit investments. Part of the problem is that transit debates attract many kinds of experts, who often talk past each other. Ordinary people listen to a little of this and decide that transit is impossible to figure out. Jarrett Walker believes that transit can be simple, if we focus first on the underlying geometry that all transit technologies share. In Human Transit, Walker supplies the basic tools, the critical questions, and the means to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing transit services. Human Transit explains the fundamental geometry of transit that shapes successful systems; the process for fitting technology to a particular community; and the local choices that lead to transit-friendly development. Whether you are in the field or simply a concerned citizen, here is an accessible guide to achieving successful public transit that will enrich any community In Chasing Molecules, investigative journalist Elizabeth Grossman opens the door on a new world of chemistry-green chemistry - and the scientists who are unearthing the field's potential to transform manufacturing with unprecedented benefits to the corporate bottom line and our health. She finds that a revolution is brewing, and its rallying call is "benign by design." These scientists are creating new, non-toxic materials that work with natural systems instead of disrupting them. Traveling the world to see this cutting-edge science at work, Grossman gives us a first look at the next "big idea" in industrial technology, along with the passion, excitement, and hope on the front lines of innovation