March 21, 2013

Peter Gleick and Pacific Institute Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award for World Water Day 2013

[Photo: Dr. Peter Gleick, left, with presenter Peter Drekmeier]
Dr. Peter Gleick and the Pacific Institute were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Silicon Valley Water Conservation Awards ceremony in San Jose for World Water Day 2013. Peter Gleick is president and co-founder of the Oakland, Calif. organization that has built over 25 years a reputation in California and around the world as one of the most innovative, independent nongovernmental organizations in the fields of sustainable and equitable water management.

“Water is closely connected to each of the vital resource issues of our time – human and ecosystem health, poverty, conflict, energy, food, sustainable communities, and strong economies,” said Dr. Gleick. “The heart of the Pacific Institute’s work is to identify and forge a new path, create new concepts and tools, and educate and change our community’s, California’s, the nation’s, and the world’s thinking about water. We work to both tackle root causes of water problems and to drive fundamental changes in current systems. It is a great honor to be recognized by the Silicon Valley Water conservation Awards for our work on California water.”

Dr. Peter Gleick is considered by many to be the world’s leading expert, innovator, and communicator on freshwater resources. He was named a MacArthur Fellow for his work and dubbed a “visionary on the environment” by the BBC. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, he is author of many scientific papers and eight books, including the biennial water report, The World’s Water, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, and, as coauthor, A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy.

Gleick and the Pacific Institute have done extensive research and education to influence how we use water and how we must move to a sustainable approach – a “soft path for water” that recognizes the realities of a renewable but ultimately limited resource. The Institute drives a vision and strategy of a comprehensive approach to water use and management that takes advantage of remarkable engineering skills and technologies – but also looks to tools like the innovative application of economics; smart incentives for efficient water use; appropriate regulatory approaches for protecting water quality, ecosystems, and local communities; and expanded public education and participation in water decisions through networking.

Pacific Institute research is available free of charge online at www.pacinst.org.

The Silicon Valley Water Conservation Awards, recognizing the primacy of water to the health and economic vitality of the region and to the environment, are presented to organizations, agencies, businesses, and individuals whose programs and leadership have advanced water conservation in Silicon Valley (San Mateo County, Santa Clara County and Alameda County from Hayward south). The coalition of 19 member organizations represents a diverse cross-section of respected parties concerned about water conservation and the need for a strategic response, both to droughts and to a new era of water scarcity. The goal of the Awards is to raise awareness and celebrate outstanding achievements in water conservation through best practices, efficiency, and innovation.