From the President

The Pacific Institute was founded a generation ago. My children, not even born at the time, have grown up, along with 1,500 million other children.

In 1987, the Cold War was starting to warm up, but so was the Earth. The Berlin Wall was starting to come down, but nascent political and ideological threats were emerging. Traditional academic disciplines were searching for new language, tools, and answers to interdisciplinary problems. The concept of sustainability was just being introduced, but there was a growing appreciation that problems of the environment, economy, and society were intricately linked.

This idea drove us to create the Pacific Institute. We believed that global problems and effective solutions in the 21st century would require innovative ways of thinking, seeing, and doing.

For two decades the Institute has been providing unbiased, thoughtful, and innovative analysis and solutions.
Through our efforts and commitment, the Pacific Institute has become a place where we work effectively with the
residents of West Oakland one day and the Secretary General of the United Nations the next.

What will the next 20 years bring? New threats to our limited and vital freshwater resources, growing pressures
on the environmental health of our most vulnerable communities, accelerating influence of multinational
corporations for both good and ill, combating and adapting to climate change, and other threats to sustainability
that we have not yet conceived.

A constant in all of these transitions will be the continued dedication of the Pacific Institute to address these
problems and provide a sustainable world for all generations to come.

Peter Gleick, Oaland 2007

From the Board Chair

As the Pacific Institute enters its 20th year of research, advocacy, and policy development, it is my pleasure to invite you to delve into this document to see both what we have accomplished and what we have in store for the next 20 years.

Building on our successes, we have embarked on an initiative to apply a sustainability framework to guide our future work. Too often, policy debates set equity, economy, and environmental quality in opposition to each other. As our years of research have shown, they ought not be. Indeed, our work in water conservation has shown that the State of California can accommodate healthy economic and population growth while reducing its demand for water use through simple and thoughtful water conservation techniques.

Similarly, our analysis of freight transport has shown that the benefits of global trade do not have to come at the
expense of community health. This multi-faceted analytical approach will continue to be a hallmark of who we are
and what we do in the years to come.

What makes the Pacific Institute unique? Our policy olutions are rooted in good science. The Institute’s staff conducts extensive research that meets rigorous investigative standards. We believe policies that spring from good science yield more balanced debate, better decisions, and a better world.

We look forward to your thoughts on our agenda. Do visit our websites at www.pacinst.org and www.worldwater.org.

Gigi Coe, Board Chair