KNOXVILLE — Peter Gleick, an internationally recognized water expert and co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, will discuss how water resources are connected to human health, energy and food production in the context of peak water.
Gleick will speak on “Peak Water Constraints and Soft Water Path Futures: Freshwater in the 21st Century” at 7 p.m. on March 9 in the Toyota Auditorium at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The Baker Center is located at 1640 Cumberland Ave.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
He also will discuss how increased awareness of peak water — the tipping point between enough and not enough good water to support human and animal life, agriculture and industry — drives us to policy decisions that lead to more sustainable practices. Part of the talk will include a discussion of the impact of climate change on water resources.
Gleick’s 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.
In 2003, Gleick was named a MacArthur Fellow for his work. In 2001, he was dubbed a “visionary on the environment” by the British Broadcasting Corp. In 1999, Gleick was elected an academician of the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway, and in 2006, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
A graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, Gleick serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations. He is the author of many scientific papers and seven books, including the twice-yearly water report, “The World’s Water,” and the new “Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.”
The event will also be webcast at http://tinyurl.com/69h96yg.
C O N T A C T :
Amy Gibson, Baker Center, (865-974-3816, agibson1@utk.edu)