People employed by the environmental industry are divided into two groups. The first group focuses on preventing environmental deterioration and the second group is involved in environmental clean-up, or remediation. They work with industrial processes to insure that targets for environmental emissions and discharge are achieved. Individuals employed in remediation, the second group, use mechanical, chemical or biological methods to detoxify land or water that has become contaminated. A third group of people, not employed by the environmental industry, but playing a significant role in defining environmental issues, are the scientists who do basic research.
Environmental chemistry is the discipline that studies the chemical aspects of the environment.
Environmental chemistry is a unique sub-discipline of chemistry just like organic, physical or biochemistry. This fact was recognized in 1995 by the American Chemical Society when they approved an ACS Certified Bachelor's degree in Environmental Chemistry, and by the Nobel Prize selection committee when the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for work on stratospheric ozone depletion by chlorofluorocarbons. The problems that environmental chemists study are often health related, and the driving force in much of this research is to provide a healthier environment. Discoveries from basic research are used to identify and define issues, which over time, result in legislation. The purpose of environmental legislation is to modify human behavior so as to reduce or eliminate the environmental threats identified through basic research.