22 Apr 2009 A History Lesson In Green Disinfection
From Volume 99, Issue 4 – April 2009
Sustainability
Author visits the past to lay the foundation for the future.
By: Lee Nesbitt
Although environmentalism and conservatism can be traced back over a century, the modern green movement, as we know it today, truly took rise in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Rachel Carson’s bestselling book, Silent Spring , with its exposé on toxic chemicals in consumer products, set off a domino effect that saw, amongst other things, the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970. In the decades since, the green movement has picked up p ace, reaching fever pitch in recent years, highlighted by the success of An Inconvenient Truth . The result: Nearly no industry has been left untouched or unaffected, including that of chemical disinfectants. An industry and its products — which by their very nature were thought impossible to be made environmentally preferable — are forging ahead with new technologies and asking policymakers to follow suit.