Green Chemistry Avant La Lettre (NCN Sonata 2020-2024)
Summary of the Research Project “Green Chemistry avant la lettre: Historical and Epistemological Foundations of Sustainable Development Practices in Industrial Chemistry” (NCN Sonata), by dr hab. Marcin Krasnodębski, Prof. PAN.
The research project „Green Chemistry avant la lettre”, funded by the National Science Centre under a Sonata grant and conducted at the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences from 2020 to 2024, sought to systematically examine the eclectic field of green chemistry from the perspectives of the history and philosophy of science. Through this research, two significant interrelated goals were achieved. On the empirical level, the project reconstructed the history of the term „green chemistry” and the ideas behind it. Theoretically, it offered a critical analysis of the concept of green chemistry itself.
Perhaps the project’s most important outcome was its challenge to the genealogy of green chemistry commonly reiterated in the chemical sciences literature. Green chemistry is often portrayed as a concept developed within the walls of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the mid-1990s and formalized by two researchers, Paul Anastas and John Warner, in their seminal 1998 book Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. This book introduced the so-called twelve principles of green chemistry, which have come to serve as a kind of “decalogue” for chemists aspiring to conduct environmentally friendly chemistry. Over the next 25 years, green chemistry, defined by these twelve principles, achieved phenomenal success, as evidenced by the rapidly growing number of articles, books, and academic programs that invoke the Anastas and Warner framework.
In reality, however, neither the term „green chemistry” nor its underlying philosophical and practical assumptions originated at the EPA. The term had been used informally before in Italy, France, and among various other American and international scientists from smaller research centers. In practice, research in the spirit of green chemistry dates back to the 1970s, and across the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, numerous alternative conceptualizations emerged. Although less popular, these approaches were based on similar premises.
Moreover—and herein lies the second major outcome of this research project—these alternative, often European, conceptualizations were frequently more comprehensive and mature than the American „green chemistry” model. The publications resulting from this project even suggest that the foundations of mainstream green chemistry may be counterproductive, and its „greenness” is a matter of debate. This project aimed to outline a broad spectrum of issues with mainstream green chemistry, highlighting potential but often overlooked alternatives.
Peer-reviewed publications:
- Krasnodębski, “Old Wine in New Bottles: The Technological Promise of Biorefinery in Historical Perspective,” Technology and Culture, 2024, 65, p. 1279-1302.
- Krasnodębski, “The Bumpy Road to Sustainability: Reassessing the History of the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2024, 103, p. 85-94.
- Krasnodębski, Beyond green chemistry: “Radical environmental transformation through Sanfte Chemie (1985–1995),” History of Science, 2024, 62(2), p. 280-304.
- Krasnodębski, “Technokrytyka a religia: chrześcijaństwo, ekologia a postęp naukowo-techniczny w drugiej połowie XX wieku,” [Technocriticism and Religion: Christianity, Ecology and Techno-Scientific Progress in the Second Half of the 20th Century] Orbis Idearum, 2023, 11(2), p. 149-177.
- Krasnodębski, “An unlikely bifurcation: history of sustainable (but not Green) chemistry,” Foundations of Chemistry, 2023, 25 (3), p. 463-484.
- Krasnodębski, “Ideologiczne, polityczne i filozoficzne podstawy polityki naukowej i przemysłowej niemieckiej partii Zielonych w latach 80. i 90.: przypadek „miękkiej chemii” (sanfte Chemie),” [Ideological, Political, and Philosophical Foundations of Science and Industrial Policy of the German Green Party in the 1980 and 1990: the Case of “Soft Chemistry” (Sanfte Chemie)] Studia Historiae Scientiarum, 2023, 22, p. 543-583.
- Krasnodębski, “Reinventing the wheel: A critical look at one-world and circular chemistries,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2022, 96, p. 112–120.
- Krasnodębski, “Lost Green Chemistries: History of Forgotten Environmental Trajectories,” Centaurus, 2022, 64(2), s. 509–536.
- Krasnodębski, “Krótka historia kodyfikacji na rzecz chemii przyjaznej środowisku naturalnemu” [A Brief History of Codification for Eco-Friendly Chemistry], Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki, 2022, 67(2), s. 33–64.
Books:
- Krasnodębski, Green Chemistry Avant La Lettre: The Pine Institute and Resin Chemistry in Aquitaine (1900–1970), Singapore: World Scientific, 2024.
- Krasnodębski, Green Chemistry: A Brief Historical Critique, Berlin: Peter Lang, 2022.
Popularization artices:
- Rachel Carson: pionierka walki z kryzysem ekologicznym, „TVP Nauka”, 22 November 2023
- Jacques Ellul – prorok anty-technologicznego pesymizmu, „TVP Nauka”, 9 November 2023
- Chemiurgia: zapomniana nauka o odnawialności, „TVP Nauka”, 13 September 2023.
- Choroba z Minamaty: kulisy japońskiej katastrofy ekologicznej z lat 50. i 60., „TVP Nauka”, 7 June 2023.
- Niezauważona rewolucja: Urodziny zielonej chemii, „TVP Nauka”, 29 March 2023.
- Pożar na rzece Cuyahoga. Początki ruchów na rzecz ochrony środowiska, „TVP Nauka”, 20 December 2022.
Major international conferences:
- „Mandating Greenness: History and Epistemology of Green and Sustainable Chemistry Codifications”, 10thConference of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS), Barcelona, 4–7 September 2024.
- „Les horizons perdus : une histoire de l’appauvrissement des discours « verts » en chimie. Le cas de la chimie douce (1983-1995) et de la chimie circulaire (2019-2023)”, Congrès de la Société Française d’Histoire des Sciences et Techniques, Bordeaux, 19–21 April 2023.
- „From Goethe to Sustainability: Politics and Ideology of Sanfte Chemie”, 10thConference of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS), Brussels, 7–10 September 2022.