Students in the College of Law today can take classes in environmental torts, land-use planning or international environmental law. Murphy first taught conservation law during a summer course in 1962 at Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. It wasn't until the late 1960s, when Murphy arrived at Ohio State, that he first taught natural resource law and environmental law on a regular basis. The creation of Earth Day as a day for celebration helped the cause increase in significance. When the Industrial Revolution changed the nature of life in America for the better, it also brought with it environmental pollution.
Heavy metals tainting ground-water supplies are part of that legacy.
Now, an Ohio State plant biologist is devising ways to stop that contamination before it reaches the ground water. Richard T. Sayre, chair of the Department of Plant Biology, is working with a species of metal-grabbing algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, that acts like a sponge to soak up and bind a variety of heavy metals, including copper, in the soil before it gets to the ground water. Sayre's research offers the promise of safer, more effective and relatively inexpensive cleanup of these heavy metals. While small amounts of some heavy metals, including zinc, copper and nickel, are necessary for human health, others, like cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead and uranium, are not, Sayre said. Prolonged exposure, even at a low dosage, or a more concentrated short-term exposure, is cause for concern.