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Gleick
to Congress: Water Efficiency is the Way
Water
conservation and efficiency are the greatest untapped
sources of water in the United States; and improving
efficiency of use is cheaper, cleaner, and easier
than building big, centralized water projects. That
was the key message of testimony given by Dr. Peter
H. Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, to
the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 4.
The Subcommittee was holding a hearing entitled
"Water: Is it the Oil of the 21st Century?"
To
read or download Dr. Gleick's June 4 presentation
and other recent testimony to Congress please visit
our new testimony
web page.
Richmond Training Extends Community Organizing
West
Oakland's success in shutting down a major source
of toxic air pollution shows that environmental
research can make a difference. Building on this
campaign, the Pacific Institute conducted a training
in North Richmond, California focusing on how to
create and use environmental research to achieve
community goals like protecting open space and reducing
air pollution
The
workshop, organized for the Neighborhood House of
North Richmond, took place over two days in May.
The first day of trainings introduced the West Oakland
model and demonstrated several planning and advocacy
tools. Over the week and a half practicum, students
worked with Pacific Institute staff to answer a
set of research questions and to build a case for
protecting Breuner Marsh, a threatened wetland on
the edge of the San Francisco Bay. On the second
day, students turned their research into outreach
materials and participated in a media training session.
The trainings were extremely well received by participants
and the Pacific Institute has been invited back
to do another series of trainings around "refinery
flares" -- bursts of flame from area refineries
that create toxic air pollution.
More
information on our work in West Oakland is available
online.
Sustainability Researcher Wins Another Award
Jason
Morrison, director of the Pacific Institute's Environmental
Globalization and the Environment program, won this
year's MSWG Outstanding Service Award. The Multi-State
Working Group on Environmental Management Creates
opportunities for interested organizations to develop
and test innovative environmental management tools.
The award, presented to Mr. Morrison at the MSWG's
annual conference, recognizes him for being the
group's leading NGO proponent, and for helping to
create a safe place for cross-sector dialogue within
the group.
Online: Water and Climate Bibliography
Updated
A
new update to the Water and Climate Bibliography
was released in May, bringing the total reference
database to around 3,500 citations. The bibliography
can be found at http://www.pacinst.org/biblio/.
Staff Updates
6/5,
Global Freshwater Issues | Michael Cohen gave a
presentation on global freshwater issues to the
Environmental Field Program of Antioch College located
in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
5/30,
MSWG | Jason Morrison attended the first meeting
of the National Biosolids Partnership's EMS Registration
Appeals Board in Alexandria, Virginia. While at
the MSWG conference, Jason also presented the findings
that emerged from the Pacific Institute- and Cal-EPA-organized
workshop, "Tools to Improve Environmental Performance:
Expectations and Obstacles," held in Sacramento,
California at the end of 2002.
5/29,
Diesel Pollution Reduction Project | Meena Palaniappan
met with representatives from US-EPA, the Bay Area
Air Quality Management District, and the Port of
Oakland to discuss how agencies and the community
can use Pacific Institute's diesel emissions reduction
study to reduce pollution in West Oakland.
5/22,
Environmental Indicators | Meena Palaniappan made
a presentation on the importance of community-based
environmental research and the barriers to obtaining
the needed data before the Expert Working Group
for the California Environmental Health Tracking
Network (SB 702) convened by the California Department
of Health Services.
5/19,
Water Policy | Peter H. Gleick presented the closing
talk in the Water Policy Seminar at Stanford University.
5/17,
Water Privatization | Peter H. Gleick spoke on the
risks and benefits of water privatization at the
League of Women Voters conference, Oakland.
5/7,
Water Policy | Peter H. Gleick gave the opening
keynote at the Local Water, Global Water conference
at Denison University in Ohio.
5/6,
Water Transfers | Dana Haasz made a presentation
to the Conference on Water Transfers held in Brussels,
Belgium. The session was organized by the Green
Party of Europe to discuss the proposed Spanish
National Water Plan. The expert panel included this
year's Goldman prizewinner from Spain. |
