Web Extra

Dr. Peter H. Gleick, president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, delivered the 2009 Young Environmental Symposium on March 24.

Gleick's discussion of global and regional 21st century water challenges explored questions such as: Are we reaching a "peak" in the availability of freshwater for human use? Is the water "crisis" a crisis of availability, management or imagination? How do we account for scarcity, contamination, ecosystem destruction, the failure of economic markets, and political conflict over water? What are some new ways of thinking about sustainable water futures, and how can we learn from what we're seeing in China, the Middle East, the western United States, and elsewhere.

Listen to the lecture.