Movement Blocks - The road the Hell; a bridge of good intentions

During my biochemical studies I followed a course in Environmental Chemistry instructed by lector Søren Toxsværd (Copenhagen University, Department of Chemistry). During his lectures he often shared his vast knowledge of chemical history. This story he told us when explaining the chemical properties of cement.

As most people now know, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), also known as Freon, are bad for the environment but a good refrigerant. It is a odorless, nontoxic, colorless and nonflammable gas that makes it very safe to be around. But in 1972 F. Sherwood Rowland and Mary Jose discovered that once the released CFCs reached the stratosphere the ultraviolet light could release chlorine. The chlorine has a long term effect on the atmoshperic chemistry in breaking down ozone. But what we probably remember before the bans of CFCs was that freon is bad!

But once the bans were in place, a lot of existing equipment were left with CFCs and nobody knew where to put them. Releasing them would mean destroying the ozone. Clever engineers came up with a solution. The CFCs could be chemically bound in common cement, would chemically be altered and not released as harmful CFCs again. Easy solution to a big problem. But the inventors were too ambitious. They wanted to make the factory that would inactivate the CFCs and produce cement in Africa - giving the country an unique technological advantage. Unfortunately, the intention was misunderstood as exploiting a third world country with a western country chemical waste problem. Media had been pounding the message that Freon is bad into our heads - so the activists saw the initiative as exposing the Africans to a directly harmful chemical to humans (which is untrue).

The movement succeeded in closing the African factory initiative before it was completed, moving the solving of the problem back to square one. A paradox; a brilliant solution to pollution was smothered by the most people who most passionately wanted a solution.

I love this story because it shows how good intentions can turn against ourselves if we do not keep an open mind.