Getting Fresh
The world’s freshwater systems are in crisis, beset by everything from global warming to population growth to corruption. Though it doesn’t get the media attention that’s lavished on energy issues, many experts predict that water will be the central resource issue of the coming century. Water, they say, is the new oil.
Few know more about water than Peter Gleick, president and cofounder of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank. The 2003 MacArthur Genius grant recipient edits The World’s Water, a comprehensive biennial report on the state of the world’s freshwater.
William K. Reilly — CEO of Aqua International Partners, a firm that invests in innovative water projects in developing countries — knows a thing or two about water as well. Head of the U.S. EPA under the first President Bush (and credited with many of the positive environmental accomplishments of that administration), he is now chair of the board of the World Wildlife Fund.
I recently had a chance to sit down with Gleick and Reilly when they came through Seattle for a conference on 21st century water issues — and our conversation went swimmingly. (Har har.)