Green Chemistry in 2030

2018 Winter Lecture Series: Aotearoa in 2030

The chemical enterprise is a pillar of our high technology civilization. Yet chemicals that deliver great benefits today too often come with deadly downsides for tomorrow. Unlike in ages past, as chemical contamination makes societies progressively unliveable, we have nowhere to escape to. It follows that the pioneering stage of building new societies to escape unacceptable conditions has to shift from the historical pattern of moving somewhere else to set up something new and free from the objectionable encumbrances of the old, to recreating our world from within. Looking from afar, I am proud to see the University of Auckland in the beautiful land of my birth, “Freedom’s ramparts on the sea”, embracing green science to move the chemicals sector from current practices to alternatives that prioritize the welfare of the future. I will describe the systematic approach my team and its many magnificent collaborators are building to tackle these problems head-on and to develop sustainability solutions through chemistry-centred, multidisciplinary education, research and development. Our biggest challenges are cultural more than technical and present perhaps the greatest opportunity humanity has ever had to reinvent itself as a more realistic and competent steward of the ecosphere. When people commit themselves to learning how to love the future, they embrace inspirational and transformative powers offering the comforts of personal centeredness and competence that are critical building blocks of global peace and harmony.

Terry Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Green Chemistry and Director, Institute for Green Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA: Learning how to love the future through green science

Professor Terrence J Collins is also an Honorary Professor and Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Auckland. Professor Collins earned his doctorate from the University of Auckland and then conducted postdoctoral studies at Stanford University. He taught first at Caltech and joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in 1987. He started teaching green chemistry in 1992, creating the first course of this type anywhere. His pioneering research, which has helped to develop the interface between chemistry and sustainability, began before green chemistry was a recognized discipline. His achievements have been acknowledged by many awards including: the US Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (1999), the Pittsburgh Award of the American Chemical Society (2004), Award of the New York Metropolitan Catalysis Society (2007), Charles E. Kaufman Award of the Pittsburgh Foundation (2008), Heinz Award for the Environment (2010) and Fellowship of the American Chemical Society (2013). Recognized internationally for his research on TAML activators, his green chemistry education, and public speaking on the chemical dimension of sustainability, Professor Collins continues to champion the sustainability cause.