January 17, 2012: Dr. Peter Gleick, president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, has joined the National Center for Science Education's board of directors. Dr. Gleick, a world-renowned water expert, will advise NCSE on its new climate change education initiative.

Peter Gleick talks climate change with NCSE in the video interview: Climate Change is Happening.

Dr. Gleick is certainly the right man for the job. A noted hydroclimatologist, he has devoted his life's work to the impact of climate change on water resources. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources. Dr. Gleick has written nine books (including Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water) and hundreds of articles, blog posts, book chapters, reports, and peer-reviewed research papers.

"Climate change is the fundamental environmental challenge of our time," says Peter Gleick. "And how we educate our citizens—and especially our children—about climate change will have repercussions for generations to come."

Climate change isn't just a science issue, says Dr. Gleick. It's a socio-political-economic issue. "I would roll climate change into every relevant class, from physics and biology to economics and political science. We're irreversibly committed to climate change, and we'd better understand how it works and what we can do slow and diminish the now unavoidable impacts."

Why is Peter Gleick backing NCSE's new initiative? Scientists aren't always very good at communicating the importance of science, he says. Communicating science is NCSE's specialty.

"I'm delighted that NCSE is taking on the climate change education component," says Dr. Gleick. "If NCSE can do for climate change what it has done for evolution education, policy makers may finally get in line to do what they should be doing."

Links:

NCSE mission statement: "Why is NCSE now concerned with climate change?"

Video: "Peter Gleick: Climate change is happening"

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization that defends the teaching of evolution and climate change in the public schools. The NCSE provides information, resources, and advice to schools, teachers, parents, and concerned citizens defending science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of these issues at local, state, and national levels. Our 4000 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious affiliations.