New York, NY - March 6, 2014 - The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is hosting a Green Chemistry Workshop on the principles of green chemistry on March 14, 2014, at Syracuse University, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced today. High school science teachers from central New York are invited to attend this hands-on training.

"By implementing green chemistry practices, teachers and students can take pride in learning about and conducting chemistry in an environmentally responsible way that reduces the amount of hazardous materials in the classroom," Commissioner Martens said. "Using green chemistry encourages teachers and students to consider the life cycle of the chemicals they work with and promotes awareness of chemical toxicology, focusing on sustainability and how actions in the chemistry lab can impact the environment."

Nottingham High School, located in the City of Syracuse, was chosen to be one of DEC's advance green chemistry pilot project candidate schools. This choice was based on a chemical management needs assessment and the science teachers' willingness to embrace and implement green chemistry practices in their classroom laboratories for at least one school year.

This is the sixth Green Chemistry Workshop offered to science teachers as part of DEC's "Advancing Green Chemistry at New York State's High Schools" pilot program, funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

DEC held previous Green Chemistry Workshops in the Capital District, Hudson Valley, New York City, Long Island and Rochester. To date, more than 142 teachers from 100 school districts have attended workshops.

To sign up, and for additional information about DEC's Green Chemistry for New York's High Schools program, see DEC's website. Inquiries about the DEC green chemistry workshop being held at Syracuse University can be directed to: greenchemistryinschools@gw.dec.state.ny.us.