A randomized trial in Surat, India established a pollution market for industrial plants. Contrary to assumptions that such systems are too complex for developing countries, the program reduced emissions by 20-30% while also lowering compliance costs for firms, providing a successful proof of concept.

Instead of tackling multiple downstream symptoms, identify and solve the single upstream "lead domino" problem. For example, making energy abundant and cheap through nuclear power makes complex challenges like recycling and carbon capture economically and technically feasible, rather than performative, inefficient gestures.

Standard metrics like the Air Quality Index (AQI) are abstract and fail to motivate change. Economist Michael Greenstone created the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), which translates pollution into a tangible, personal metric—years of life expectancy lost—making the data hard to ignore and spurring action.

While controversial, the boom in inexpensive natural gas from fracking has been a key driver of US emissions reduction. Natural gas has half the carbon content of coal, and its price advantage has systematically pushed coal out of the electricity generation market, yielding significant climate benefits.

The book draws a parallel between the behavior of serial killers and the Asarco corporation, which deliberately concealed research, lied to the public, and performed cost-benefit analyses on lead-poisoned children. This frames corporate malfeasance not just as unethical, but as a form of institutional psychopathy.

Regulating technology based on anticipating *potential* future harms, rather than known ones, is a dangerous path. This 'precautionary principle,' common in Europe, stifles breakthrough innovation. If applied historically, it would have blocked transformative technologies like the automobile or even nuclear power, which has a better safety record than oil.

A government GIS map showing the pollution plume from a smelter was a pivotal discovery for the author. This data visualization tool transformed an abstract hazard into a concrete, localized threat, allowing residents to see their specific exposure level and inspiring the book's core investigation.

A study on a Chinese policy providing free coal heating north of the Huai River, but not south, created a natural experiment. This revealed that the resulting increase in particulate pollution caused residents in the north to live, on average, five years less than their southern counterparts.

The author uses the high-interest genre of true crime to tell a more complex and urgent story about environmental pollution. By embedding environmental history within a serial killer narrative, she engages a broader audience that might otherwise ignore the underlying message about public health and industrial toxins.