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What Does an Environmental Chemist Do?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

An environmental chemist studies interactions between chemicals and the natural environment. This work is highly interdisciplinary and might integrate aspects of environmental science, chemistry, biology and political science. Environmental chemists can work in academia, for private firms and organizations and in government agencies that focus on environmental health and safety. They might also work with legislators and regulators to develop plans for the responsible use of chemicals and protection of the environment. This field can be very diverse and might include lab work, field work and office work.

One aspect of the work of an environmental chemist involves determining how chemicals enter the environment, where they come from and where they travel after they arrive. Pollutants can move through groundwater and rivers and streams, for example, and might be the result of a variety of things, such as leaching waste pits or deliberately dumped waste. Environmental chemists work in the field to collect samples that they can use to trace chemicals as they move through the environment. Employees of government agencies might use these samples to enforce regulations or to sue polluters in court.

An environmental chemist might work for a private firm or government agency.
An environmental chemist might work for a private firm or government agency.

This work also requires the study of what happens to chemicals after they're in the environment. An environmental chemist might study the breakdown of chemicals to learn more about how chemicals disperse and can look at natural phenomena and interactions between chemicals and living organisms. Interplay between chemicals and the environment can be very complex; for example, cities often have a heavy cloud of smog created by the release of chemicals, specific weather conditions and high humidity.

An environmental chemist studies interactions between chemicals and the natural environment.
An environmental chemist studies interactions between chemicals and the natural environment.

Some environmental chemists look at ways to deal with chemicals in the environment. This can include cleanup in situ, the introduction of more chemicals to break down harmful compounds and the use of techniques such as bioremediation and phytoremediation, in which living organisms are used in environmental cleanup. Researchers might use their work in this field to illustrate the costs of environmental cleanup. This data can be important to have when performing a cost-benefit analysis on proposed legislation and regulations.

An environmental chemist may study how chemicals enter the environment.
An environmental chemist may study how chemicals enter the environment.

A person who has an interest in becoming an environmental chemist should plan on obtaining at least a bachelor's degree. Graduate degrees might offer more opportunities in this field, especially for an environmental chemist who is interested in research. It also can help to join a professional organization for networking and continuing education possibilities. Jobs in environmental chemistry are often listed through professional organizations as well as directly in materials released by companies that use environmental chemists.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a PracticalAdultInsights researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a PracticalAdultInsights researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

Fa5t3r

@browncoat - The fact is that these chemical imbalances wouldn't exist if we didn't mess around with chemicals in general. I know it's not going to stop any time soon because we've based our whole survival around it as a species, but there's no point in pretending that it's somehow part of a natural order.

Environmental scientists are well aware of how much we've done to disrupt things.

browncoat

@Mor - It's important to note that chemicals are all around us anyway, so it's not that we're introducing chemicals into the environment, it's that we're disrupting the balance of naturally occurring chemicals.

The birth control hormones, for example, basically act on male fish the same way they would on male humans, by decreasing testosterone production.

Environmental science is definitely a fascinating field but all too often I see people scare mongering about various dangerous chemicals being put into the environment and the rhetoric misses the point. It's not a matter of completely removing all chemicals. That's impossible. It's a matter of figuring out how to live with a balance that takes all the factors into account.

Mor

There are some fairly weird things that can happen when we put chemicals into the environment as well. I read an article a while ago that was about a study showing that birth control hormones being put into the water supply were influencing fish habitats. They were decreasing the numbers of viable male fish for breeding. Fish populations are already under quite a bit of threat without this kind of influence as well. And that's just one type of chemical being leached into the environment. I imagine environmental chemistry is a busy field.

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    • An environmental chemist might work for a private firm or government agency.
      By: yanlev
      An environmental chemist might work for a private firm or government agency.
    • An environmental chemist studies interactions between chemicals and the natural environment.
      By: Kirill Kedrinski
      An environmental chemist studies interactions between chemicals and the natural environment.
    • An environmental chemist may study how chemicals enter the environment.
      By: Radu Razvan
      An environmental chemist may study how chemicals enter the environment.
    • The duties of an environmental chemist may include lab work.
      By: nandyphotos
      The duties of an environmental chemist may include lab work.