ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First off, we thank the Society of Environmental Journalists for a travel grant to China, and Michael and Annie Cacciotti for arranging meetings there that provided us insight into the nation’s environmental crisis, as well as its culture, grassroots attitudes and policies. Among the many others deserving our gratitude are: Steven Q. Andrews, Sam Atwood, Jim Birakos, Barbara Briggs, Christie Baxter, Ben Beachy, Justin Chapman, Steven Cliff, David Coates, Steven Davis, Lifeng Fang, Barbara Finamore, Barbara Freese, David Fridley, Paul Goldberg, Usha Haley, Aaron Heifetz, Lauren Jacobs, Dan Jaffe, Bruce Jin, Barry Jones, Ma Jun, Mickey Kantor, Sue Tip-Lam, Haiquan Liu, Jing Jing Liu, Dan Mabe, J.R. McNeill, Karen Magliano, Asher Miller, David Petit, Deng Ping, Li Ping, Cecily Qu, Chen Quiliang, Enghebatu Togochog, Peter Ueberroth, Kevin Ummel, Zen Vuong, Morey Wolfson, Chi-Jen Yang, Fuqiang Yang, Chong Yu, Junfeng (“Jim”) Zhang, and Zhu Zhiping. Our everlasting gratitude also extends closer to home, specifically to the gifted, hard-working folks at Rare Bird Books—the wondrous Tyson Cornell, Alice Marsh-Elmer, and Julia Callahan. Through thick and thin, their faith in us was our literary epoxy. Conceptual editor Seth Fischer, who continually reminded us to knit human struggle into the chemical narrative, was a Godsend unto himself.