Peter Gleick: The Three Ages of Water in partnership with Wonderfest

June 27th, 2023

7pm

Bookshop West Portal and Wonderfest look forward to hosting Peter Gleick for his timely new title The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future.

A revelatory account of how water has shaped the course of human life and history, and a positive vision of what the future can hold—if we act now.

From the very creation of the planet billions of years ago to the present day, water has always been central to existence on Earth. And since long before the legendary Great Flood, it has been a defining force in the story of humanity. In The Three Ages of Water, Peter Gleick guides us through the long, fraught history of our relationship to this precious resource. Water has shaped civilizations and empires, and driven centuries of advances in science and technology—from agriculture to aqueducts, steam power to space exploration—and progress in health and medicine.

But the achievements that have propelled humanity forward also brought consequences, including unsustainable water use, ecological destruction, and global climate change, that now threaten to send us into a new dark age. We must change our ways, and quickly, to usher in a new age of water for the benefit of everyone. Drawing from the lessons of our past, Gleick charts a visionary path toward a sustainable future for water and the planet.

PETER GLEICK is co-founder and Senior Fellow of the Pacific Institute, Oakland, California. Gleick is a hydrologist and climatologist working on broad issues of freshwater sustainability, the human right to water, and water conflicts. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, a MacArthur Fellow, and the author of the soon-to-be released book The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future.