Hongyan He Oliver holds a Ph.D. from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Stanford University, a Master's degree in environmental economics and policy and a Bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from Beijing University. A research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, Ms. Oliver currently focuses on sustainable transportation in China, in particular technologies and policies concerning vehicle pollution control, fuel efficiency improvement and fuel quality.  Michael P. Walsh is a mechanical engineer who has spent his entire career working on motor vehicle pollution control issues at the local, national and international level. For the first half of his career, he was in government service, initially with the City of New York and subsequently with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Since leaving government, he has been an independent consultant advising governments and industries around the world. In addition he currently co-chairs the U.S. EPAâs Mobile Sources Technical Advisory Subcommittee and is actively involved in projects in Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico, Viet Nam, and China. He is also a member of the National Academy of Scienceâs Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United States.  John MacKinnon, who works on the EU-China Biodiversity Programme, based in Beijing, has had a long career working on biodiversity issues. In 1965, he started working with Jane Goodall and the famous chimpanzees of Gombe and moved to South East Asia in 1968 to make field studies of orangutans for his PhD work under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Niko Tinbergen. He has worked since in many parts of China and written bird guides for the country. He has worked as a co-chair and member of the Biodiversity Working Group and Protected Areas Task Force of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.  Dai Qing, who lives in Beijing, is a writer who has been an outspoken critic of the Three Gorges Dam since the 1980s. Imprisoned in Beijing in 1989 and 1990, she has received international awards for advocating freedom of the press and for her work on Chinaâs environmental problems.  Peter Bradford advises and teaches on utility regulation, restructuring, nuclear power and energy policy in the U.S. and abroad. He has been a visiting lecturer in energy policy and environmental protection at Yale University and currently teaches Nuclear Power and Public Policy at Vermont Law School. He served on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1977 until 1982. During his term, the NRC undertook major upgradings of its regulatory and enforcement processes in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident. Mr. Bradford will post answers on Tuesday, November 20.  Nick Young was the Founding Editor of China Development Brief, a newsletter reporting on civil society, the environment and social development in China, which was published in Beijing from 1996 until July 2007, when it was ordered to cease publication by the authorities. China Development Brief, which was published in both English and Chinese editions, was "devoted to strengthening constructive engagement between China and other countries" and can still be read online. Mr. Young is a British citizen, born in Zambia, who has lived and worked throughout the developing world and has written for The Economist, The Guardian and The Financial Times. Mr. Young will post answers on Monday, October 15.  Zheng Chunmiao is the Founding Director of the Center for Water Research at Peking University. Mr. Zheng, an internationally recognized expert in groundwater hydrology, is also a professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Alabama and has published widely on water resource issues, including a popular textbook on computer modeling of contaminant transport processes in the subsurface. He is currently conducting research aimed at an improved understanding of hydrologic processes and more effective management of water resources in the North China Plain and the Ordos basin in western China.  Lu Zhi is a well-known scientist and environmentalist in China who currently heads the China office of Conservation International and has written for Nature, Science and National Geographic. Currently a professor of conservation biology at Peking University in Beijing, she spent more than seven years conducting research on the giant panda and is one of Chinaâs most prominent experts on biodiversity. Ms. Lu posted answers on Friday, August 31.  Zhang Jingjing is the director of litigation at Chinaâs preeminent (and only) source for environmental legal aid, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. Ms. Zhang became known as the âErin Brockovich of Chinaâ after winning compensation for over 1,700 villagers in a class-action lawsuit against a heavily-polluting chemical plant. Strengthened by international experience at Columbia University Law School in New York and the Public Interest Law Institute in Hungary, Ms. Zhang strives to resolve environmental problems through the court system. Ms. Zhang posted answers on Thursday, August 30.  Elizabeth Economy, an expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and global environmental issues, is the director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. She is the author, most recently, of âThe River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to Chinaâs Future.â Her most recent article on the subject of Chinaâs pollution crisis, in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, is âThe Great Leap Backward?â Ms. Economy posted answers on Monday, August 27.  Yang Fuqiang is the chief representative of the Beijing office of the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organization that promotes energy efficiency. Mr. Yang began his career working in Chinese energy research and has spent three decades working on energy and environmental issues. His office is now focused on finding ways to help China use energy more efficiently, which, in turn, can help reduce pollution. Mr. Yang posted answers on Tuesday, August 28.  Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, has devoted his professional life to reporting on and writing about Asia. He is the author of nine books about China â including "Virtual Tibet," "Mandate of Heaven," "Discos and Democracy" and "To Get Rich Is Glorious" â and has written widely about Asia and other topics for publications including Foreign Affairs, Wired, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, Harper's, Salon, The China Quarterly and The New York Times. Earlier this month, Mr. Schell traveled to China and met with Chinese experts and officials to discuss global warming. Mr. Schell posted answers on Wednesday, August 29.
Chinaâs pollution problem, like the speed and scale of its rise as an economic power, has shattered all precedents.