Loyola joins Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment program
| By Stephanie Weaver
Loyola’s department of chemistry has joined Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment program, which supports faculty and students in implementing green chemistry into the curriculum.
The University was challenged to join the program by John Warner, Ph.D., founder of Beyond Benign, when he spoke at Loyola's 2017 Grand Seminar. Beyond Benign is an organization that helps colleges and universities, as well as K-12 schools, teach green chemistry. Their goal is to empower educators and students to practice sustainability in their labs.
Sam Kolb, a senior Spanish major with natural science and chemistry minors, has been working in organic professor, Courtney Hastings’s research lab on green chemistry. Their project aims to reduce the amount of waste produced in chemical reactions.
“If anything we do on a daily basis can be made more sustainable and environmentally friendly, then it is important that steps be taken to optimize that sustainability,” Kolb said. “Loyola signing the green chemistry initiative reflects the chemistry department's, as well as the University's, overarching value of avoiding harmful or invasive practices of any kind.”
By joining the program, the department commits to incorporating green chemistry into the curriculum, Hastings said. Green chemistry is a practical discipline, and Hastings’s research lab on green chemistry has been popular among students.