Biography

IN THE NEWS

Sandra Postel, one of The 11th Hour experts, contributed an essay to the recently released book edited by Mike Wallace ( of 60 Minutes) and entitled, The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today: Sixty of the World's Greatest Minds Share their Vision of the Next Half Century." Sandra's essay is entitled, "In Harmony with Earth's Water Cycle,". Click here to read the essay.

ABOUT SANDRA POSTEL

Sandra Postel is Director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Visiting Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College. From 1988 until 1994, she served as Vice President for Research at the Worldwatch Institute, a non-profit research organization with which she remains affiliated as Senior Fellow. In 2002, she was named one of the "Scientific American 50," by Scientific American magazine, a new award recognizing contributions to science and technology.

Postel's work is dedicated to the preservation and sustainable use of Earth's fresh water ecosystems. A leading authority on international water issues, Postel is author of Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and of Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, which was chosen by Choice magazine as a 1993 Outstanding Academic Book. Last Oasis appears in eight languages and was the basis for a PBS documentary that aired in 1997. Postel's article "Troubled Waters," was selected for inclusion in the 2001 edition of Best American Science and Nature Writing. She is also co-author (with Brian Richter) of Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature (Island Press 2003), which calls for new approaches to harmonizing human and ecosystem needs for fresh water.

Postel has authored more than 100 articles for popular and scholarly publications, including Science, Natural History, Scientific American, Foreign Policy, BioScience, Ecological Applications, Technology Review, Environmental Science and Technology, International Wildlife, and Water International. 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 and The Washington Post. A frequent conference speaker and lecturer, she also has served as commentator on CNN's "Futurewatch," addressed the European Parliament on environmental issues, and appeared periodically on radio and television, including spots in recent years on CBS "Sunday Morning," ABC's "Nightline," and NPR's "Science Friday."

Postel is an advisor to the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the U.S. National Research Council, and 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. She has also received two honorary Doctor of Science degrees. She has been awarded the Duke University School of Environment's Distinguished Alumni Award, a Pew Scholars Award in Conservation and the Environment, and a lifetime chair with the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway.