astronomy

Peter Gleick

Peter Gleick is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Gleick rather than just read about it. In short: Peter H. Gleick (; born 1956) is an American scientist working on issues related to the environment.

Key takeaways

Peter Gleick belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Gleick to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Gleick from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter H. Gleick (; born 1956) is an American scientist working on issues related to the environment. He works at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, which he co-founded in 1987. In 2003 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water resources. Among the issues he has addressed are conflicts over water resources, water and climate change, development, and human health. In 2006 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Gleick received the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) Ven Te Chow Memorial Award in 2011, and that same year he and the Pacific Institute were awarded the first U.S. Water Prize. In 2014, The Guardian newspaper listed Gleick as one of the world's top 10 "water tweeters." In 2018, Gleick received the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. In 2019, Boris Mints Institute of Tel Aviv University awarded Gleick its annual BMI Prize as "an exceptional individual who has devoted his/her research and academic life to the solution of a strategic global challenge." In 2023, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Career Gleick received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on hydroclimatology. His dissertation was the first to model the regional impact of climate change on water resources. Gleick produced some of the earliest work on the links between environmental issues, especially water and climate change, and international security, identifying a long history of conflicts over water resources and the use of water as both a weapon and target of war. He also pioneered the concepts of the soft water path, and peak water. Gleick worked as the deputy assistant for energy and the environment to the governor of California from 1980 to 1982. In 2003, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water resources, and in 2006 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. His 2010, book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, published by Island Press, won the Nautilus Book Award in the Conscious Media/Journalism/Investigative Reporting category. In 2011, Gleick received the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) Ven Te Chow Memorial Award. Also in 2011, Dr. Gleick and the Pacific Institute were awarded the first U.S. Water Prize. In 2012, Oxford University Press published a book written by Gleick and colleagues: "A 21st Century U.S. Water Policy," and he was named one of 25 "Water Heroes" by Xylem. In 2013, Gleick was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Silicon Valley Water Conservation Awards. In early 2013, Gleick launched a new blog at National Geographic ScienceBlogs entitled "Significant Figures." He was also a regular contributor to Huffington Post Green, and now most of these essays can be found at his personal website. Gleick has also been featured in a wide range of water-related documentary films, including River's End: California's Latest Water War, Jim Thebaut's documentary "Running Dry", the 2004 German documentary series "Der durstige Planet," Irena Salina's feature documentary Flow: For Love of Water, accepted for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the ABC News documentary "Earth2100". Jessica Yu and Elise Pearlstein's 2011 feature documentary Last Call at the Oasis from Participant Media, and Pumped Dry: The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater (A USA Today Network Production) USA Today. He served on the scientific advisory boards of Thirst, Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk, and other water-related films.

Pacific Institute

Peter Gleick's research addresses the cross-disciplinary connections among global environmental issues, with a focus on freshwater and climate change. In 1987, with two colleagues, Gleick started the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, an independent non-profit policy research center currently located in Oakland, California. The mission of the Institute is "The Pacific Institute creates and advances solutions to the world's most pressing water challenges." Gleick currently serves as the Institute's President Emeritus, having been succeeded as president by Jason Morrison.

Climate change and water Gleick’s Ph.D dissertation from the University of California, Berkeley, and his early research, focused on the impacts of human-caused climate change for freshwater resources. He was the first to link the output of large-scale general circulation models of the climate with a detailed regional hydrologic model to evaluate how changes in temperature and precipitation would alter streamflow, snowpack, and soil moisture, with a focus on the Sacramento River basin in California. Among other results, this work was the first to call attention to the risks that rising temperatures would lead to accelerated snowmelt and a shift to earlier runoff in mountainous areas, leading to increased winter flood risk and reduced spring and summer runoff. Many of the impacts anticipated by this early work have now been observed. Gleick also served as co-lead author of the Water Sector Report of the first National Climate Assessment, published in 2000. The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a United States government interagency ongoing effort on climate change science conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The NCA is a major product of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) which coordinates a team of experts and receives input from a Federal Advisory Committee.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Gleick

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Gleick claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Gleick before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Gleick ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Gleick

In research: Peter Gleick appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Gleick in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Gleick is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, 20th-century American earth scientists, 21st-century American scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Gleick outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter Gleick in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Gleick means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Gleick out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Gleick in simple terms?

Peter H. Gleick (; born 1956) is an American scientist working on issues related to the environment.

Why does Peter Gleick matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Gleick?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Gleick.