17007 Redwood Road
Castro Valley, CA 94546
United States of America
Water, Conflict, and Peace
Presentation Summary:
Violence over freshwater resources is on the rise, with water and water systems as triggers, casualties, and weapons of conflict. This talk will address the long history of water from ancient Mesopotamia to the time of Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli to the present violence in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as how we might move from water conflicts to peace and cooperation over our most precious natural resource.
Bio:
Dr. Peter Gleick is a leading scientist and communicator on water, climate, and environmental security issues. He co-founded the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California in 1987, an independent research center creating and advancing solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. His work has focused on the human right to water, the consequences of climate change for the hydrologic cycle, and water, peace, and security issues, including defining, categorizing, and developing solutions for water-related violence and conflict. Gleick is a MacArthur Fellow and an elected member of both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018 he was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. Gleick is the author or editor of many scientific papers and fourteen books, including the Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water; The Three Ages of Water; and his newest book, When the Well is Dry: How Water Fuels Violence and Shapes Peace (The New Press, New York).