Elizabeth Grossman: Green Chemistry

Andrew Walsh
08/05/2010 at 8:00 p.m.

Imagine living in a world without plastic. It's difficult to do. These days, practically everything is made from some sort of synthetic material, from the computer monitor you're reading right now to the baby bottles we stick in our children's mouths. These products make life easier, arguably better than it was for the generations that came before us. But journalist Elizabeth Grossman says that convenience comes at a very high price.

Elizabeth Grossman is the author of "Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry." She says the chemicals used to produce so many everyday objects are contaminating our environment, our bodies and physically changing us on a molecular level. A self–described scientific muckraker, Grossman argues that we don't have to live without the products that make living in the modern world so convenient, but we do have to look for newer, greener ways of creating them.

Elizabeth Grossman visited Town Hall Seattle on December 2, 2009. Her talk was presented by Island Press through the Town Hall Center for Civic Life, IslandWood and Elliott Bay Book Company.