Bringing new meanings to molecules by integrating green chemistry and the social sciences

Abstract

The chemical industry, perhaps more than any other, needs to change if it is to be acceptable and viable in a greener, more sustainable world. Chemists and chemical engineers are taking up this challenge through "green chemistry," and social scientists with backgrounds in economics, politics and law, along with environmental health scholars, are increasingly collaborating with them to produce socially robust knowledge through interdisciplinary scholarship.