With contributions by leading demographers, environmentalists, and reproductive health advocates, A Pivotal Moment offers a new perspective on the complex connection between population dynamics and environmental quality. It presents the latest research on the relationship between population growth and climate change, ecosystem health, and other environmental issues. It surveys the new demographic landscape--in which population growth rates have fallen, but human numbers continue to increase. It looks back at the lessons of the last half century while looking forward to population policies that are sustainable and just. A Pivotal Moment embraces the concept of "population justice," which holds that inequality is a root cause of both rapid population growth and environmental degradation. By addressing inequality--both gender and economic--we can reduce growth rates and build a sustainable future.
Beyond the Numbers: A Reader on Population, Consumption, and the Environment (Island Press, 1994) and co-author of
Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society (Westview, 1995).
Sandra Postel directs the independent Global Water Policy Project and lectures, writes, and consults on global water issues. In 2010 she was appointed Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. Sandra is co-creator of Change the Course, the national water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 US Water Prize for restoring billions of gallons of water to depleted rivers and wetlands.
During 2000-2008, Sandra was a visiting senior lecturer in Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College, and, late in that term, directed the college's Center for the Environment. From 1988 until 1994, she was vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute. Sandra is a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment and has been named one of the Scientific American 50, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology.
A leading authority and prolific author on international water issues, Sandra has been hailed for her "inspiring, innovative and practical approach" to promoting the preservation and sustainable use of freshwater. She is the author of
Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity (Island Press, 2017),
Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and
Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, chosen by
Choice magazine as a 1993 Outstanding Academic Book.
Last Oasis appears in eight languages and was the basis for a 1997 PBS documentary. Sandra's article "Troubled Waters" was selected for inclusion in the 2001 edition of
Best American Science and Nature Writing. She is also the co-author, with Brian Richter, of
Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature (Island Press 2003). Sandra co-founded and regularly contributes to National Geographic's freshwater blog,
Water Currents.
Sandra has authored more than 100 articles for popular and scholarly publications, including
Science,
Natural History,
Scientific American,
Foreign Policy,
Ecological Applications,
Technology Review,
Environmental Science and Technology,
International Wildlife, and
Water Alternatives. She has written some 20 op-ed features that have appeared in more than 30 newspapers in the United States and abroad, including the
New York Times, the
L.A. Times, and the
Washington Post. A frequent conference speaker and lecturer, she has also served as a commentator on CNN's Futurewatch, addressed the European Parliament on environmental issues, and appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, ABC's Nightline, and NPR's Science Friday. She also appears in the BBC's Planet Earth, Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour, and the National Geographic Channel's Breakthrough series.
Sandra is Water Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, and has served as advisor to the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the U.S. National Research Council, as well as to American Rivers. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Water Resources Association and on the editorial boards of Ecosystems, Water Policy, and Green Futures. She received a B.A. (summa cum laude) in geology and political science at Wittenberg University and an M.E.M. with emphasis on resource economics and policy at Duke University. Sandra has been awarded several honorary Doctor of Science degrees, as well as the Duke University School of Environment's Distinguished Alumni Award.
