Acknowledgments

It is said that a book is the longest expression of a human thought. While Paul Anastas and I are the official coauthors of this book, it is really the amalgamation of many creative and thoughtful individuals’ relentless pursuit of elegant science to drive leading industry practices with an intention to design a better future.

Urvashi’s personal acknowledgments: I love books oriented toward presenting research in a manner that is applicable to some of the most pressing problems we face economically or in society. And every time I pick up such a book, I peruse the acknowledgments. The acknowledgments section provides a peek behind the perfectly presented material. It allows you to see the author’s life and journey in creating a momentous work of art.

Thank you to my husband, Mayur Vyas, who has dedicated countless hours to proofreading and editing this work, and supported my dedication to this publication by clearing weekends (and work nights), making me coffee at night, and believing in me even when I didn’t. This book has been a journey. He has often, without any complaint, set aside his own commitments and worked with me to research, source, and organize the chapters of this book and the content within. This book has seen me through my MBA, a few professional roles, one pandemic, the birth of my son, and countless other meaningful moments. The contract for this book with my amazing editor, Neal at Berrett-Koehler, was signed the week I learned I was pregnant. That was also the week I was scheduled to speak at the 75th UN General Assembly. It was a big week, and I had severe nausea and some complications during my pregnancy. Mayur has, at times like this, written sections of my work, edited it, and researched it. I do not deserve him. When I didn’t have the energy to create a chapter outline, he created a skeleton draft for me so as to give me a “jumping-off point,” and when I met with writer’s block, he ordered pizza or planned a fun evening out with friends. Or both. During my pregnancy and maternity leave, I would often work on edits over the weekend, and until the moment I went into labor, I was still thinking of new ideas and examples that would add color to the content in this book and help bring our strategies to life for change agents globally. Mayur has selflessly supported me every step of the way. I can say with confidence that this book would not exist if it were not for his unconditional love and monumental support of all my adventures and interests.

It is said that when women support women, incredible things happen. This has certainly been true in my case. I have been so fortunate for the support of my incredible mom, Kalpana Bhatnagar, and mother-in-law, Ila Vyas, who are trailblazers and entrepreneurs. My first lessons in dedication and grit came from my mother, who raised me and my rambunctious younger brothers to dream. My grandmother was a single working mother in a young, post partition India, who raised my mom and her sister to be strong, independent women. Still, growing up, my mom had limited opportunities to pursue her dreams. She ensured that that was not the case for my brothers and me. Thanks to her, we received every opportunity to pursue our goals and to succeed. My mother-in-law is an inspiring entrepreneur, who moved to Oklahoma from India, raised her kids while pursuing her certification in cosmetology, and learned English without any formal training. She is fierce. They both have taught me to be relentless and to believe that nothing is impossible. I’m grateful to my incredible family for supporting me through this years-long project. Thank you for your humor and love, Varun, Elaine, Devesh, and Radha. Thank you to Maddison Bass for her support.

Most significant, thank you to Drs. Paul Anastas and Julie Zimmerman for your mentorship and your thought leadership. There are no words to express my gratitude, and I aim to lead by example, in the same manner that you always have.

Paul’s personal acknowledgments: For whatever reason, the universe has given me the gift of wonderful family, friends, and mentors who have enabled me to endure the darkness and adore the light. The source of all my daily inspiration comes from the three most precious people in my life, Julie, Kennedy, and Aquinnah. I can never express the joy you have brought into my life. I owe a debt of gratitude that I can never repay to my parents for their love.

There are a few individuals who are very import ant to this book’s creation, and I am so grateful for their support. Our publisher, Neal, is not only a thoughtful and brilliant editor but also very passionate about sustainability. During our journey in completing this very important work, he has understood and accommodated for life events. He has facilitated impactful conversations to provide us additional perspective on this work, and provided key guidance in the evolution of the manuscript to one that speaks to the magic of green chemistry and articulates its impact in business operations. In the process of creating this work, Neal has become a close friend, and we are so grateful for his impact in the publication process. Jeevan Sivasubramaniam is an incredible editorial managing director at Berrett-Koehler; he collated actionable feedback from our reviewers, who helped us refine our message and hone each chapter so that we ultimately ended up with the book we dreamed of writing. Rob Jolles, our advisor who introduced us to Berrett-Koehler, originally made this book a reality. Thank you, Rob—you were right. One of the most significant efforts in bringing this book to life has been through the talent and rigor of our incredible developmental editor, Danielle Goodman. Danielle excels in sharpening the message of complex, highly integrated, and interdisciplinary work and expresses big ideas with ease and sophistication. She is the Olympic athlete of communication.

From both of us: Craig Venter states, “Moving forward in science is as much unwinding the distorted thinking of the past as it is putting a clearer idea on the table.” This book draws on the lifetime work and achievements of my coauthor, Paul, Dr. Julie Zimmerman, and the incredible scholars and associates who have dedicated their careers to pathbreaking science with an aim to design a new reality. Scholars at the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering are working to create and commercialize entirely new and disruptive scientific solutions to some of the most pressing problems faced by humanity. This book leverages and cites their insights throughout. This publication would not be possible without their relentless pursuit of perfection in science and for the planet. We are grateful to the sponsors, donors, clients, collaborators, partners, and associates of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University for collaborating and creatively embedding leading science into existing processes to change the economic reality for future generations.

We are so deeply honored for the time and effort of the inspiring industry professionals working every day on disruptive solutions. We thank the following individuals for sharing their stories of transformation, challenge, and achievement. Even when we were unable to include their story in whole or in part, we were enriched by their perspective, and their lessons learned deepened our understanding of this subject matter. We are moved by their trust in us to convey the depth of their action and their hard-won success stories and lessons learned: We are grateful for the incredible generosity and support of Martin Lundstedt, CEO Volvo Group. We cannot thank Mark Tarpenning enough for his support of this project from inception to the finish line. Philips N.V.: Trent Gross—thank you for leading by example and action; Harald Tepper, Bob Carelli, Simon Braaksma, and Robert Metzke, your input and example for other organizations are important; thank you for incredibly important leadership in addressing the global challenge of e-waste, even as the science is still evolving. P2Science: Dr. Patrick Foley and Neil Burns; Roger McFadden, Dr. Robert Sheehan, Dr. Thomas Kwan, Dr. Jeff Thompson, Dr. Erika Schillinger, Jill Swenson, Tammie Stark, Thomas Kruse, Dr. Jodi Sherman, Dr. Robert Dubrow, Dr. Melissa Bilec, Dr. Bob Lagassee, Dr. Andrea MacNeill, Dr. Scott Sussman, Dr. Ann Kurth, Dr. Bernard Robaire, Anthony Costello, Dr. David Penchon, Dr. Harriet Hopf, Dr. Matthew Eckelman, Dr. Cassandra Thiel, Dr. Lars Thording, Dan Vulkevich, Dr. Walter Schindler, Rob Bettigole, Stephanie Benedetto, Alexander Verbeek, Dorian Baroni, Laura Calendrella, Tammy Anderson, Charlene Lake, Joyce M. Roche, Antoinette Klotsky, Christine Bader, Tim Mohin, Jessica Leung, Arthy Hartwell, Cherie Wilson, Janet Salazar, Kristina Wyatt Schillinger, Joel Tickner, and Bob Willard. We cannot thank the visionary André Thierstein Heinz enough for his leadership and impact.

In addition, we appreciate the support of the following institutions and associations for supporting our work over the years: Elm Street Ventures, Pegasus Capital Ventures, Sail Capital, EES Ventures, the US Green Building Council, the Green Electronics Council board of directors, Chemical and Engineering board of directors, the American Chemical Society, and the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council.

We thank the leadership of the Yale School of Management’s fulltime and executive MBA for executives program for their support of this publication. While there are several individuals to thank, we are especially grateful to Dr. David Bach, Dolores Grillo, Vani Nadarajah, Maria Stutsman y Marquez, Courtney Lightfoot, and Joel Getz for their unyielding support; Yale SOM’s alumni relations department and its global alumni chapters with a special mention to Javier Arguello, the NY chapter and other global chapters that continue to foster meaningful engagement between Yale and our inspiring alumni; Yale School of the Environment; Yale School of Public Health; the Center for Business and Environment at Yale; Yale Climate Communications, Yale Insights, Yale Sustainability; the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale; Yale Divinity; and the undergraduate colleges at Yale University. In particular, the thought leadership and work of professors Andrew Leiserowitz, Robert Schiller, Julie Zimmerman, Jeff Sonnenfeld, Zoe Chance, Teresa Chahine, Nicholas Christakis, David Bach, Daniel Esty, and Todd Cort have informed our publication. Further, we thank the leadership of Brandeis University, University of Massachusetts, and Boston University.

Many friends and family members have helped improve our drafts, provided opinions, support and encouragement, and constructive feedback. We owe a debt of gratitude to them, and it would be impossible to list everyone by name. We are so very grateful.