UCD Chemistry Club

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UCD Chemistry Club
Presents.....
EARTH DAY!!
2005
YOU Can Make A Difference!!!
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GREEN CHEMISTRY

• Green Chemistry is being aware of the toxic
  effects chemicals have on humans, animals and the
  environment.
• Green chemistry is reducing the amount of
  resources used in labs and industrial processes.
• Green chemistry is minimizing the amount of
  toxic chemicals and hazardous waste that are used
  or produced in any chemical process.
• The 12 rules of Green Chemistry as designated by
  the American Chemical Society are
• Preventing waste is better than treating it after
  its formation.
• Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize
  the incorporation of all materials used in the
  process into the final product.
• Wherever practicable, synthetic methodologies
  should be designed to use and generate substances
  that possess little or no toxicity to human
  health and the environment.
• Chemical products should be designed to preserve
  efficacy of function while reducing toxicity.
• The use of auxiliary substances (e.g. solvents,
  separation agents, etc.) should be made
  unnecessary whenever possible and innocuous when
  used.
• Energy requirements should be recognized for
  their environmental and economic impacts and
  should be minimized. Synthetic methods should be
  conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
• A raw material feedstock should be renewable
  rather than depleting whenever technically and
  economically practical.
• Unnecessary derivatization (blocking group,
  protection/deprotection, temporary modification
  of physical/chemical processes) should be avoided
  whenever possible.
• Catalytic reagents that are as selective as
  possible are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
• Chemical products should be designed so that at
  the end of their function they do not persist in
  the environment and break down into innocuous
  products.
• Analytical methodologies need to be further
  developed to allow real-time, in-process
  monitoring and control prior to the formation of
  hazardous substances.
• Substances and the form of a substance used in a
  chemical process should be chosen so as to
  minimize the potential for chemical accidents,
  including releases, explosions and fires.

3
Litter

• The Plan of Action
• Set an example by not littering
• Set an example by picking up litter
• Keep a litter bag in your car and bring one with
  on day trips in case no waste bins are available.
• Do not overfill waste bins as litter can be blown
  out by the wind or picked up by scavengers.
• Remove flyers from your door promptly so that
  they will not blow out and become litter
• Always place waste in the most appropriate place
  a trash can. Whether it is convenient or not,
  trash belongs in the trash can!
• Always leave a place looking better than how you
  found it!

• The Facts
• Litter is one of the most recognized
  environmental dangers as 94 of the population
  believe it is a serious problem (yet millions of
  people continue to litter everyday).
• Litter can spread disease as it provides a
  breeding ground for vermin and bacteria, it can
  get into water systems causing contamination, it
  attracts scavenger animals (which also carry
  diseases) and it can harm animals by choking
  them, causing them to get stuck, or destroying
  their digestive tracts.
• Litter is not biodegradable so it will remain
  floating about our planet for years and years to
  come, if no action is taken to stop it.
• Cigarette butts make up the majority of discarded
  items. They require over 5 years to biodegrade
  and contain over 4000 chemicals, many of which
  are harmful to living organisms.
• Plastics and paper constitute about a third of
  little, the remainder consists of glass,
  synthetic materials and aluminum. On average each
  person consumes over 190 pounds of plastic each
  year. Plastic does not biodegrade so it is
  important to recycle this widely used material.

Resources Environmental Protection
Agency http//www.epa.gov Earth Care
http//www.earthsky.org/shows/earthcare/ America
n Chemical Society Earth Day Page http//www.ch
emistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1
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AIR POLLUTION

• The Facts
• The United States, consisting of only 5 of the
  worlds population, produces 25 of the entire
  output of carbon dioxide (CO2) - a green house
  gas, 70 of carbon monoxide (CO), and 50 of the
  CFCs (styrofoam, air conditioning, cleaning
  products) emitted into the atmosphere.
• CO and CO2 react with oxygen to create ground
  level ozone and smog which damage lung and nasal
  tissues causing severe health problems. They also
  rise into the stratosphere and deplete ozone.
• The Ozone is depleting at a rate of 5-10 each
  decade and the rate is increasing over time
  because CFCs emissions are increasing plus,
  CFCs remain in the atmosphere for up to 400
  years.
• The combination of ozone depletion and global
  warming will have catastrophic consequences.
• Algae, forests and many crops such as soy,
  peas, potatoes, beans and melons will die. This
  will lead to a food shortage for many countries
  as well as a huge migration of animals and fish
  (those which survive).
• UV radiation will cause most of the population
  to develop cataracts and increase deaths from
  skin cancer by 60 in 10 years.
• The increase in temperatures will cause many
  people to die of heart stress and heat stroke.

• The Plan of Action
• Walk, use a bicycle, or take public
  transportation to reduce car emissions and the
  use of car air-conditioners (in Japan only 1/5000
  of the population owns a motor vehicle).
• Do not use Styrofoam products, CFC cleaning
  agents or air-conditioners.
• Campaign your legislature to stop the production
  of CFCs and support environmentally safe
  products such as hydrogen powered cars.
• Dispose of Styrofoam, old cars, air conditioners
  and refrigerators properly as CFCs can continue
  to leak out of these products for up to 2000
  years.
• Resources
• If You Love Your Planet by Helen Caldicott. The
  EPA Website
• http//www.epa.gov
• Chevron Gasoline Website
• http//www.chevron.com/prodserv/fuels/bulletin/mot
  orgas/motor_gas.pdf
• Safe Disposal of CFCs
• http//www.envocare.co.uk/hazardous_waste.htm

5
Water Conservation

• The Plan of Action
• Fix leaks indoor appliances, water-using
  systems, and outdoor irrigation systems. Indoor
  leaks waste over 10 of the water you use and
  irrigation leaks in older systems can waste
  50-70 water you use.
• Replace old toilet - being the largest source of
  wasted water in your home or old washing machines
  - being the second largest source of wasted water
  in the home.
• Use plants that grow naturally in your climate
  and include a more water efficient landscape
  scheme such as xeriscaping or composting.
• Chill drinking water in a pitcher instead of
  running the faucet until the water is cold.
• Aerate your lawn and use a sprinkler with larger
  drops.
• Clean vegetables in the sink when it is full of
  clean water instead of running water to clean
  them.
• Wash your car with a bucket of soapy water and
  buy a nozzle to turn off water between rinsings.

• The Facts
• The average consumer uses about 150 gallons per
  day per person.
• A leak of one drip per second wastes 3,154
  gallons per year and a trickle of 1/16-inch
  diameter wastes 186,624 gallons of water a year
  at a cost of 531.81
• More than half of the water used over a year is
  used to irrigate the landscape for example,
  healthy bluegrass requires about 2 ½ feet of
  water (18 gallons) per square foot applied per
  year.
• On average, ONLY 17 inches of rain fall on
  Colorado in a year. Drought is an intriguing
  natural hazard because it has a slow onset, has
  no clear beginning or end, and can last from
  months to years.
• Although the Colorado state government has a
  statewide plan to mitigate and prepare for
  drought, the communities have done very little
  drought planning.
• http//cwcb.state.co.us/owc/Drought_Planning/Plann
  ingForDrought.pdf

The picture seen below shows how the water
drought during the dust bowl affected Buca County
in 1936.
Resources Water-Use
it Wisely http//www.wateruseitwisely.com/conserva
tionists/index.asp Westminster Water
Conservation http//www.ci.westminster.co.us/res/e
nv/water/2680_waterwise.htm Water
Conservation http//www.gladstone.mo.us/PublicWork
s/waterconservation.asp Low Water Use Benefits
and Methods http//www.nol.org/home/NEO/neq_online
/dec2002/dec2002.00.htm Water Conservation Ideas
for Restaurants http//www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/sub
ject/hotopics/drought/facts/restnt.htm USGS Water
Conservation Fact Sheet http//water.usgs.gov/watu
se/wufactsheet.html
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Recycling

• The Plan of Action
• Call Denver Recycles at [phone] or visit
  their website http//www.denvergov.org/recycle/si
  gnup.asp.
• and start recycling today!
• Tri-R Recycling accepts all types of cardboard
  and has a bin for plastic bags. 303.399.6351
  x198
• http//www.ewersarchitecture.com/recycle.htm
• Albertsons has recycling bins for plastic bags
• Oxford Recycling can recycle asphalt, concrete,
  tires and wood. 303.762.1160

• The Facts
• On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of
  solid waste each day (http//www.kab.org/trashfact
  s.cfm).
• In a state with over 3 million residents, we
  generate close to 3,000,000 tons of municipal
  solid waste (MSW) each year (see link above).
• Recycling a four-foot stack of
• newspapers saves the equivalent
• of one 40-foot fir tree.
• Every glass bottle recycled saves
• enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for
  4 hours.
• Making cans from recycled aluminum saves 95 of
  the energy required to produce cans from raw
  material.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild
  the entire commercial airline fleet every three
  months.
• Recycling efforts at CU have prevented over
  235,000 fir trees from being cut down and has
  saved 415,000 gallons of gasoline, 98 million
  gallons of water, 843,000 pounds of air
  pollutants, 65 million kilowatt hours of
  electrically, and 67,500 cubic yards of landfill
  waste since 1980!
• http//www.colorado.edu/recycling/get_involved/bul
  letin/10.html

Chem Club Challenge
We challenge the entire campus to recycle from
April 22 May 13 (only 3 weeks!). Email us how
many bags, boxes, trash cans, etc you recycled
at chemclubucd_at_hotmail.com . We will tally the
amount the whole campus recycled and show
everyone what a big difference we can make!!
Results will be posted May 15th at
http//thunder1.cudenver.edu/chemclub/
Resources Cu Recycling http//www.colorado.edu
/cure/ Colorado Recycles http//www.colorado-rec
ycles.org/guide/ Rooney Road Recyling
Center http//www.co.jefferson.co.us/ext/dpt/port
al/hazmat/ Colorado Association for
Recycling http//www.cafr.org/whatsnews.htm Denve
r Recycles http//www.denvergov.org/recycle/signu
p.asp