From green to clean: a promising and sustainable approach towards environmental remediation and human health for the 21st century
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: In addition to their traditional role for food, feed, fuel and fibres production, green plants can be used to accumulate toxic metals and organic pollutants from contaminated soils and water for cleanup purposes, to prevent further degradation of our environment and to remediate the damage caused by the increasingly industrialized society. The use of plants specifically chosen or tailored for the rehabilitation of polluted land and brownfields, water purification, and even removal of indoor or outdoor air contaminants, is becoming essential to achieve sustainable development (Conesa et al., 2008). Plants represent a more environmentally compatible and less expensive method to site restoration compared to physico-chemical approaches, even if the time scale required to reach the target end-points is often a limiting factor. Plants are already cleaning our environment constantly, everywhere, acting as "green livers", even if we do not recognize or know it.
Language: English
Subfield: Water Science and Technology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2163320350