ACHIEVING GREEN SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING THROUGH SS CHEMISTRY ORGANIC CURRICULUM

1. ACHIEVING GREEN SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING THROUGH SS CHEMISTRY ORGANIC CURRICULUM KunleOkeoloruntegbe, science & technical education, adekunleajasin university, akungba-akoko, ondostate, nigeria

3. The SS Chemistry Curriculum covers three classes, Senior Secondary 1 – 3 and was developed around four themes which are: • CHEMISTRY AND INDUSTRY • THE CHEMICAL WORLD • CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENT • THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

4. Content: Selection, focus and organization • In selecting the contents, three major issues shaping the development of nations worldwide, and influencing the world of knowledge today were identified as globalization, information/communication technology and entrepreneurship. The desire that Nigeria be identified with contemporary development worldwide has called for the organization of the contents of the curriculum around the four themes.

5. Thus, the curriculum is packaged with content that leads to self-actualization by students. In addition, the curriculum content focuses on practical activity with emphasis on locally available materials. This is to imbue the learners with the spirit of enquiry. The curriculum, if effectively implemented, will enable the learner achieve his/her maximum potential in the subject of chemistry and its various applications.

7. Objectives • The revised edition of the Senior Secondary School Chemistry curriculum is expected among other things to enable students to: • Develop interest in the subject of chemistry; • Acquire basic theoretical and practical knowledge and skills. • Develop in science, technology, and mathematics. • Acquire basic STM knowledge and skills; • Develop reasonable level of competence in ICT applications that will engender entrepreneurial skills;

8. Objectives continued • Apply skills to meet societal needs of creating employment and wealth, and maintaining healthy environment; • Be positioned to take advantage of the numerous career opportunities offered by chemistry; • Be adequately prepared for further studies in chemistry; • Produce future generation of chemists possessing skills and knowledge to practice environmentally friendly chemistry .

9. In addition the curriculum: • Will facilitate a smooth transition in the use of scientific concepts and techniques acquired in the new Basic Science and Technology curriculum with chemistry; • Provide students with the basic knowledge in chemical concepts and principles through efficient selection of contents and sequencing;

10. Show chemistry and its inter-relationship with other subjects; • Show chemistry and its links with industry, everyday life activities and hazards; • Provide a course which is complete for students not proceeding to higher education while at the same time provides a reasonable adequate foundation for a post-secondary school chemistry course

11. JUSTIFICATION FOR INTEGRATING GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY INTO THE CURRICULUM • During the approximately two centuries that chemical science has been practiced on an ever-increasing scale, it has enabled the production of a wide variety of goods that are valued by humans. These include such things as pharmaceuticals that have improved health and extended life, fertilizers that have greatly increased food productivity, and semiconductors that have made possible computers and other electronic devices. These benefits are too numerous to mention here. • But there can be no denying that in years past, and even at present, chemistry has been misused in many respects, such as the release of pollutants and toxic substances and the production of nonbiodegradable materials, resulting in harm to the environment and living things, including humans. chemistry.

12. It is now obvious that chemical science must be turned away from emphasis upon the exploitation of limited resources and the production of increasing amounts of products that ultimately end up as waste and toward the application of chemistry in ways that provide for human needs without damaging the Earth support system upon which all living things depend. • Chemical science and industry had to move steadily in the direction of environmental friendliness and resource sustainability • The practice of chemistry in a manner that maximizes its benefits while eliminating or at least greatly reducing its adverse impacts has come to be known as green

13. Further Justification • Four fundamental reasons were advanced in “Science and Engineering Indicators” which are necessity, responsibility, interest, and efficiency. • Necessity • Green chemistry is necessary chemistry. As things currently stand, human consumption is not a sustainable process. This problem will be exacerbated as developing countries industrialize and our fossil fuel resources become depleted. Furthermore, recent discoveries about eco-toxic effects such as endocrine disruption have made it clear that synthetic chemicals released into the environments are disrupting world ecosystems in new and terrifying ways. An approach including the green chemistry principles of sustainability and the use and synthesis of benign substances whenever possible will help mitigate the effects of man-made interference in the natural environment.

14. Responsibility • Green chemistry is responsible chemistry. Many workers in the chemical field, in either academic or industrial settings, have had accidents with the potential to cause long-term damage to their health and wellbeing. As chemical workers, however, we have knowingly chosen to accept the risks of working in a chemical laboratory and typically have the opportunity to protect ourselves by gathering as much information about the potential risks as possible. The general public, however, has not chosen to accept the same risks, and our contribution to pollution and sustainability problems amounts to an experiment carried out on an entire generation of human beings. The general public’s perception of this helps to explain the staggering fact that ‘trust’ of scientists is at a much lower level than most scientists would like to believe.

15. Interest • Green chemistry is interesting chemistry. Few analogues to traditional chemical practices exist using green alternatives, and the development of these analogues will provide new research areas for young chemists and chemical engineers. Furthermore, green chemistry requires a large amount of cross-disciplinary interaction, which will lead to new developments as researchers in differing disciplines interact with one another.

16. Efficiency • Green chemistry is efficient chemistry. The development of benign, non-wasteful alternatives to traditional chemistry has the potential to save industrial and academic interests large amounts of money due to decreased regulation compliance costs and disposal costs. Furthermore, the basic decrease in process hazards drastically increases both worker and consumer safety. Green chemistry is necessary, responsible, interesting, efficient, and above all, good chemistry.

17. Developed countries • In the developed nations, our relatively high standard of living often means a high resource usage along with the generation of large quantities of waste materials. The amount of waste produced per person is much higher in developed countries, resulting in numerous problems such as abandoned hazardous waste sites. Green chemistry offers strategies to help reduce or eliminate the waste in chemical processes. Industrialized countries also bear the cost of past wars; World War II and the Cold War came with a high cost for many nations, leaving behind a nuclear legacy.

18. The sites that once were involved in weapons grade uranium and plutonium production in the US, such as Hanford and Savannah River, are now contaminated and are facing colossal costs for the evaluation and management of waste. Additionally, pollution has negatively affected or destroyed many natural habitats in the industrialized countries. Knowing the problems created by our actions in the past, it would seem only logical to turn to green chemistry to ensure that we do not go down the same path again.

19. Developing countries • From the perspective of the developing world, green chemistry could and should be regarded as an important tool for development. It can be used to improve the people’s quality of life while avoiding poor choices for progression and depletion of natural resources. In developing countries there is a different and equally difficult situation as their immediate social and economic problems are the priority, which are often believed to be distinct from the rational use of natural resources.

20. Nigeria • Prevalent practices that inimical to human health and sustainability I and necessitate green chemistry Include: Incessant • Bush burning; • Felling of trees for firewood; • Killing of animals for food; • Dumping of refuse all over the place; • Using toxic chemicals to kill fish for food; and • Fouling the environment with burning of tires and the like during protest.

21. These in addition to high ecological footprint of Nigerians at all social economic levels, in cities, towns and villages. The study conducted to determine the ecological footprints of Nigerians and test hypotheses of no significant differences in EF of rural and urban dwellers, respondents of different qualifications, of different ages reveals high EF and rejection of the null hypotheses.

22. Table 1: t-test to determine the significant mean difference in EF of rural and urban dwellers (Lagos and Akoko land) • Table 2: ANOVA to determine significant difference in EF of respondents of different educational qualifications

23. Table 3: ANOVA to determine the significant difference in EF of respondents of different ages

24. The high EF recorded arose because of life styles that do not support environmental sustainability. Such life styles include: • The crave to acquire vehicles for every member of the family that are usually large; • The crave to own a house or houses notwithstanding no matter how low the status in the society; • The crave for imported materials at the expense of locally made ones; • The crave for fast synthetic materials as against natural ones; • The love of canned food and drinks, and fast food.

25. All these practices impacted heavily on the Earth’s biocapacity and thus necessitate the inclusion of green chemistry in SS chemistry curriculum. More so that the respondents of secondary school age bracket also have high HE. They need to be made conscious of the consequences of impacting negatively on their environment. Areas of the curriculum where green chemistry need be integrated will be considered next.

26. 12 Principles of Green Chemistry Paul T. Anastas and John C. Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice (2000) • Prevent waste • Achieve atom economy: maximize incorporation • Use less hazardous synthesis steps • Design safer chemicals • Use safer solvents and auxiliaries • Design for energy efficiency • Use renewable feedstocks • Reduce derivatives (make what you want!) • Catalytic reagents are superior to stoichiometric • Design for degradation • Real-time analysis for pollution prevention • Inherently safer chemistry prevents accidents