Water Leadership Up for Grabs as Deception Fells Gleick - Bloomberg

Gleick was one of the first experts to tackle the water-energy nexus, and his opinion is sought out by industry and public institutions alike, as evidenced by his almost ubiquitous presence on advisory boards of organizations involved in water. Gleick's "Peak water" was the subject of a recent story in a Bloomberg Sustainability report about the global resource crunch. He is a man of Davos, and had shown a rare ability to draw the fractious constituencies of scientists, policymakers and financiers.

His voice often set the tone for policy and legislation in California, where he has been the perennial whistleblower for unsustainable privatized water efforts, such as the Cadiz project to “mine groundwater faster than nature refills it and sell it to urban centers in Southern California for profit.” Sometimes, he offered the sole critique of legislation, such as California’s 2009 $11.1 billion water bond. With decades of scientific expertise, Gleick has been a driver of discussion for pressing water issues that might otherwise be invisible.

Climate Scientist Admits To Lying, Leaking Documents | New Hampshire Public Radio

Peter Gleick is not just any scientist. He got his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley and won a MacArthur "genius" award. He is also an outspoken proponent of scientific evidence that humans are responsible for climate change.

...Bast says one of the documents that Gleick circulated, a two-page "strategy" that casts Heartland in the worst light, is a forgery. He says an internal investigation shows that "that document did not originate in this organization. There's no trace of that document anywhere in a Heartland office computer."

Bast points out that some of the institute's donors specifically ask for anonymity, which has now been breached, not only by Gleick but by websites that have displayed the documents.

And he disagrees with those who say Gleick's behavior is atypical, claiming he's typical of people in the climate community who refuse to engage in debate with Heartland.

"Gleick is not an exception. He's a role model for people on their side," Bast says.

Bast says the institute plans to pursue criminal and civil action against Gleick and possibly others involved in circulating the documents.

[Prepare for less bad weather: Google has one or more "conference bikes"] | Grist

NPR's Marketplace did a story yesterday about how tech companies encourage bike commuting, which: duh. But Google apparently goes a step further and encourages bike conferencing, via a giant pedaled monstrosity with seven inward-facing seats. The "conference bike" is set up so that all participants contribute to making the bike move forwards -- but nobody is looking where they're going. Man, has there ever been a better visual metaphor for work meetings?