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Chemistry Education 2018
Journal of Organic & Inorganic Chemistry
ISSN: 2472-1123
Page 64
August 27-28, 2018
Zurich, Switzerland
8
th
Edition of International Conference on
Chemistry Education
and Research
A
ccording to the definition of sustainable development of the
World Commission on Environment and Development, we
should meet the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The
definition is ambiguous and provides very little accountability,
as our prediction capabilities have had difficulties correctly
forecasting
scientific
discoveries
and
technological
developments, while our track record is even worse for predicting
economic changes or societal transformations. Large amount of
money was spent across the globe on projects, which have never
addressed the real needs of future generations. More importantly,
sustainability should be independent of economic and social
aspects, as stake holders could have vested or even conflict
of interests in unsustainable developments. An alternative
definition of sustainability was recently proposed, which was
limited to resource replacement and waste remediation and
disconnected from economic and societal issues. Resources,
including energy, should be used at a rate at which they can be
replaced naturally, and the generation of wastes cannot be faster
than their remediation. It was used to evaluate the sustainability
of basic chemicals and technologies. A new evolutionary model
of sustainable chemistry will be also discussed, which provides
a system for the combination of the intrinsic resource and waste
management issues with economic and societal factors.
istvan.t.horvath@cityu.edu.hkEvolutionary model of sustainable chemistry
István T Horváth
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
J Org Inorg Chem 2018, Volume 4
DOI: 10.21767/2472-1123-C5-015