• Question: Is your work green and not harmful to the planet? Also does it harm animals?

    Asked by juliana to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 16 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      My work doesn’t harm animals – which is important to me.
      The biological samples i use are donated by people who have had surgery, a process which is strictly controlled and regulated and all volunteers are made aware of what they are doing.

      Is my work green is a harder question. My work uses x-rays which are produced by equipment needing electricity. In fact all the stuff in my lab requires electricity to work so in that sense no, it is not really green. However it doesn’t directly produce any poisonous waste or radioactive material so it is not directly harmful. Does that answer your question?

    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      My work is green, I am mostly on the computer so there is not so much opportunity for me to pollute – although it does use electricity. I definitely don’t use animals in my research either. Infact, companies such as Astra Zeneca and and Unilever are interested in work on computerized versions of cells so they can change some of their testing procedures from animals into computer based studies. So hopefully work like mine will help to reduce the need for some animal testing.

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      None of the work I do involves animals – just computers.

      As for your other point – I am going to risk being serious for a second Juliana because your question is important!

      I have been involved in arguments about green issues, and sustainability, and ecology ever since I was your age. I am not sure that ANY science is totally green.

      We all use high technology, which means mining for rare resources and lots of energy to make it. We all use planes to fly to work or to conferences which puts pollution in to the atmosphere. We all use the internet which encourages us to order things from a long way away which we could get locally.

      Do you have a mobile phone? Do you wear some clothes made from artificial fibres?

      I am not arguing against any of these things. But I have listened to clever people over the years argue that NONE of these things, that you do and that we do, are “green”, and thousands of others everyday things as well.

      So I don’t know if I am green or not – this is because I know too much about the subject and it is not a “black and white issue”.

      Wish I could give you a simple answer but you must decide for yourself – tell me what you think. And sorry for being boring and serious!

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      it is not spoecifically green but doesn’t harm the planet. The one time I tried to work on an environmental issue my work was not funded. I wanted to work on dimethyl sulphide – the smell of the seaside – which is a global cooling gas.

      As for animals I use animal blood and hearts from slaughterhouse material. So this depends how much you think the cow industry is harmful to animals. My researcher at the time on the project was a vegetarian, so she clearly thought science was a more justifiable use for an animal than eating it. Which I tend to agree with (though I am not vegetarian myself).

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