Below are a few thought-starter questions around the material in the module. You may want to talk through these questions with friends, colleagues and your lecturers:
At the start of his lecture, Alistair Boxall introduced four chemicals: naphthalene, diclofenac, fluoxetine and a PCB. What are the key physico-chemical and fate properties of these chemicals and how do you think they might differ in terms of their behaviour in the environment?
Will degradation processes completely remove a chemical from the environment?
Would the chemical industry and society be more or less sustainable if all chemicals were readily or rapidly biodegradable?
What parameters would you adjust in a chemical fate model to estimate chemical exposure 50 years from now?
How would you define a non-toxic environment and how would you know whether it had been achieved?