The Carbon Quandary: Essential and Detrimental - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 256

Combined with hydrogen, carbon forms hydrocarbons—which can be both
good and bad, depending on their mobility toxicity and other individual charac-
teristics. For example, those released when burning fossil fuels can be toxic and
lead to smog, but hydrocarbons are essential as food. They make nature colorful,
such as the carotenoids (organic pigment in photosynthetic organisms, including
algae), and evoke our sense of smell, such as the terpenes produced by a variety
of pines and other coniferous trees. They are also the primary constituents of
essential oils in plants and flowers used as natural flavor additives in food. Hydro-
carbons also make up medicines and myriad other products that are part of our
daily lives.
Combined with oxygen and hydrogen, carbon forms many biological com-
pounds, including sugars, cellulose, lignin, chitins, alcohols, fats, and esters. Com-
bined with nitrogen, carbon forms alkaloids , naturally occurring amines produced
by plants and animals, which combine to form proteins. Combined with sulfur,
carbon is the source of antibiotics, proteins, and amino acids. Combined with
phosphorus and these other elements, carbon forms ribonucleic acid (RNA)
and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), creating the building blocks and chemi-
cal codes of life. Even new technologies are rooted in carbon. For example,
nanomaterials are often carbon-based, such as carbon 60 ( 60 C). Interestingly,
these spherical structures, consisting of 60 carbon atoms, are called fullerenes or
Buckyballs , after the famous designer Buckminster Fuller, in honor of his inno-
vative geodesic domes and sphreres. When fullerenes combine, they are linked
into nanotubes .

Sidebar: Applying the Synthovation/Regenerative
Model: Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is an example of an emerging technology that can be good
or bad. Research at the very small scale ( 100 nm) is already producing

promising results in medicine, coatings, and sensors. In fact, nanomaterials are
being used to clean up hazardous waste sites. However, like biotechnology
before them, these technologies are met with skepticism by the lay public and
scientists alike. One of the best ways to balance utility with risk is to take an
integrated and systematic view. In particular, the engineering community is
calling on the perspectives of all of the design disciplines, along with those of
ethicists, policymakers, and the public at the early stages of nanotechnological
advancement. We must be intellectually honest about the value, practicality,
and hazards of emerging technologies. It is short-sighted to advocate a ban on
them, but just as ridiculous to accept them as “good” merely on blind faith.
Duke University is currently endeavoring to find ways to teach researchers to
be sensitive to possible misuse and dangers of nanotechnologies, emphasizing

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