Peter Gleick


Peter H. Gleick is an American scientist working on issues related to the environment. He works at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, which he co-founded in 1987. In 2003 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water resources. Among the issues he has addressed are conflicts over water resources, water and climate change, development, and human health.
In 2006 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 2011, Gleick was the launch chairman of the "new task force on scientific ethics and integrity" of the American Geophysical Union. Gleick received the International Water Resources Association Ven Te Chow Memorial Award in 2011, and that same year he and the Pacific Institute were awarded the first U.S. Water Prize. In 2014, The Guardian newspaper listed Gleick as one of the world's top 10 "water tweeters." In 2019, Boris Mints Institute of Tel Aviv University awarded Gleick its annual BMI Prize as "an exceptional individual who has devoted his/her research and academic life to the solution of a strategic global challenge."

Career

Gleick received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on hydroclimatology. His dissertation was the first to model the regional impacts of climate change on water resources. Gleick produced some of the earliest work on the links between environmental issues, especially water and climate change, and international security, identifying a long history of conflicts over water resources and the use of water as both a weapon and target of war. He also pioneered the concepts of the soft water path, and peak water.
Gleick worked as the Deputy Assistant for Energy and the Environment to the Governor of California from 1980 to 1982.
In 2003, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water resources, and in 2006 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
His 2010, book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, published by Island Press, won the Nautilus Book Award in the Conscious Media/Journalism/Investigative Reporting category.
In 2011, Gleick received the International Water Resources Association Ven Te Chow Memorial Award. Also in 2011, Dr. Gleick and the Pacific Institute were awarded the first U.S. Water Prize.
In 2012, Oxford University Press published a book written by Gleick and colleagues: "A 21st Century U.S. Water Policy," and he was named one of 25 "Water Heroes" by Xylem. In 2013, Gleick was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Silicon Valley Water Conservation Awards.
In early 2013, Gleick launched a new blog at National Geographic ScienceBlogs entitled "Significant Figures." He is also a regular contributor to Huffington Post Green.
Gleick has also been featured in a wide range of water-related documentary films, including Jim Thebaut's documentary "Running Dry", the 2004 German documentary series "Der durstige Planet," Irena Salina's feature documentary ', accepted for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the ABC News documentary "Earth2100,", Jessica Yu and Elise Pearlstein's 2011 feature documentary Last Call at the Oasis from Participant Media, and Pumped Dry: The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater USA Today ] He served on the scientific advisory boards of Thirst, ' and other water-related films.

Pacific Institute

In 1987, with two colleagues, Gleick started the Pacific Institute, a non-profit policy research center currently located in Oakland, California. The mission of the Institute is "The Pacific Institute creates and advances solutions to the world's most pressing water challenges." Gleick currently serves as the Institute's President Emeritus, having been succeeded as President by Jason Morrison.

Current work

Gleick is the editor of the biennial series on the state of the world's water, called The World's Water, published by Island Press, Washington, D.C., regularly provides testimony to the United States Congress and state legislatures, and has published many scientific articles. The ninth volume of "The World's Water" was released in early February 2018. He serves as a major source of information on water and climate issues for the media, and has been featured on CNBC, CNN, Fox Business, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR, in articles in The New Yorker, and many other outlets.
Gleick lectures dozens of times a year on global water resource challenges and solutions, climate science and policy, and the integrity of science. In 2008, he presented the Abel Wolman Distinguished Lecture at the United States National Academy of Sciences. He was a 2009 Keynote Lecturer at the Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College. In 2014, Gleick published a peer-reviewed article in the American Meteorological Society journal "Weather, Climate, and Society" that addressed the role of drought, climate change, and water management decisions in influencing the civil war in Syria. This article was the "most read" WCAS article for 2014.
In September 2014, Gleick gave a keynote address at the "Global Climate Negotiations: Lessons from California" Symposium, co-hosted by the USC Schwarzenegger Institute with the California Air Resources Board and the R20 Regions of Climate Action in Sacramento, which highlighted the different policies applied by the state of California facing the impact of climate change., In February 2015, Gleick's work on the "Water-Energy Nexus" was highlighted in an invited keynote at the Georgetown University 2015 Annual Symposium of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

Heartland Institute incident

On February 20, 2012, Gleick announced he was responsible for the unauthorized distribution of documents from The Heartland Institute in mid-February. Gleick reported he had received "an anonymous document in the mail describing what appeared to be details of the Heartland Institute's climate program strategy", and in trying to verify the authenticity of the document, had "solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else's name". Responding to the leak, The Heartland Institute said one of the documents released, a two-page 'Strategy Memo', had been forged. Gleick denied forging the document. Gleick described his actions as "a serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics" and said that he "deeply regret own actions in this case" and "offer personal apologies to all those affected". He stated that "My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts – often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated – to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved." On February 24 he wrote to the board of the Pacific Institute requesting a "temporary short-term leave of absence" from the Institute. The Board of Directors stated it was "deeply concerned regarding recent events" involving Gleick and the Heartland documents, and appointed a new Acting Executive Director on February 27. Gleick was reinstated following an investigation, in which the institute found no evidence to support charges of forgery and "supported what Dr. Gleick has stated publicly regarding his interaction with the Heartland Institute."

Honors