Book1962
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson
Documents how persistent pesticides such as DDT accumulate up the food chain instead of breaking down, arguing that chemical pest control had become a form of long-term environmental poisoning.
Environmental & Green Chemistry
Chemistry judged by what it leaves behind — pollutant fate in air, water and soil, and the synthesis routes that avoid them.
9 topics · 9 curated works
Topics
- 01Foundations & Overviews1
- 02Atmospheric Chemistry1
- 03Water Chemistry1
- 04Soil Chemistry1
- 05Pollutant Fate & Transport1
- 06Atom Economy1
- 07Catalysis for Sustainability1
- 08Biodegradable Materials1
- 09Carbon Capture Chemistry1
Reading in Environmental & Green Chemistry
9A way in
Start here
No prior grounding assumed.
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson · 1962
Documents how persistent pesticides such as DDT accumulate up the food chain instead of breaking down, arguing that chemical pest control had become…
Then
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice
Paul T. Anastas & John C. Warner · 1998
Sets out twelve principles — atom economy, safer solvents, catalysis over stoichiometric reagents — for designing chemical processes that avoid…
+3 more at this level
Go deeper
Primary sources and full treatments.
Occurrence, Metabolism, Metabolic Role, and Industrial Uses of Bacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates
A. J. Anderson & E. A. Dawes · 1990
Argues that bacteria which store carbon and energy as polyhydroxyalkanoate granules offer a route to plastics that are both biosynthesised and fully…
+3 more at this level
9 works
Book1998
Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice
Paul T. Anastas & John C. Warner
Sets out twelve principles — atom economy, safer solvents, catalysis over stoichiometric reagents — for designing chemical processes that avoid generating hazardous waste in the first place.
PaidIntermediate
Report2005
IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Assesses the chemistry and engineering of capturing carbon dioxide from large point sources and storing it underground, concluding it could plausibly contribute a substantial share of emissions cuts.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Report2011
Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality
World Health Organization
Sets health-based guideline values for chemical and microbial contaminants in drinking water, and argues that a preventive systems approach protects health more reliably than end-point testing alone.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Report2014
World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014
FAO & IUSS Working Group WRB
Classifies the world's soils by the chemical and physical processes that formed them, giving a common reference system for soil chemistry across countries.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Paper1990
Occurrence, Metabolism, Metabolic Role, and Industrial Uses of Bacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates
A. J. Anderson & E. A. Dawes
Argues that bacteria which store carbon and energy as polyhydroxyalkanoate granules offer a route to plastics that are both biosynthesised and fully biodegradable, rather than petroleum-derived polymers merely blended with a degradable additive.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeAdvanced
Paper1991
The Atom Economy — A Search for Synthetic Efficiency
Barry M. Trost
Proposes judging a synthesis by what fraction of the atoms in its starting materials end up in the final product, rather than by yield alone.
PaidAdvanced
Lecture1995
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion by Chlorofluorocarbons
F. Sherwood Rowland
Argues that chlorofluorocarbons, inert enough to survive to the stratosphere, are broken apart by ultraviolet light there and go on to destroy ozone catalytically, one chlorine atom at a time.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeAdvanced
Lecture2005
Olefin Metathesis Catalysts for the Preparation of Molecules and Materials
Robert H. Grubbs
Reports well-defined, functional-group-tolerant ruthenium catalysts that swap the ends of two alkenes, replacing multi-step routes to complex molecules with a single catalytic step.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeAdvanced
In order written
1962 – 2014- 1962Silent SpringRachel Carson
- 1990Occurrence, Metabolism, Metabolic Role, and Industrial Uses of Bacterial PolyhydroxyalkanoatesA. J. Anderson & E. A. Dawes
- 1991The Atom Economy — A Search for Synthetic EfficiencyBarry M. Trost
- 1995Stratospheric Ozone Depletion by ChlorofluorocarbonsF. Sherwood Rowland
- 1998Green Chemistry: Theory and PracticePaul T. Anastas & John C. Warner
- 2005IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and StorageIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- 2005Olefin Metathesis Catalysts for the Preparation of Molecules and MaterialsRobert H. Grubbs
- 2011Guidelines for Drinking-water QualityWorld Health Organization
- 2014World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014FAO & IUSS Working Group WRB