A courageous defence of the environment: our environment

Mark Hewitt.

Architect, writer, teacher and preservationist,  Mark Hewitt, has written on his blog about Peter Gleick’s courageous defence of the environment.

Here is his post: Peter Gleick’s courageous defense of the environment -

I have been following, with more than partisan interest, the controversy surrounding Peter Gleick’s supposed pilfering of confidential files from the conservative Heartland Institute. Peter is a fellow Yalie and a comrade among Yale Russian Chorus alumni. His case has been taken up by our group, among many.

Peter Gleick.

Though I can’t explain the complex story behind what Peter did, the fact that he had the courage to stand up to rich, powerful and increasingly belligerent nay sayers on climate change is an inspiration to all who care about the breakdown of discourse in America.

More important, here was a renowned scientist standing up to bullying by right-wing ideologues who are intent on helping self-serving corporations destroy our environment. What he did was unorthodox and clearly beyond the bounds of journalistic transparency, but the people he was fighting have done much worse without any criticism or scrutiny.

Those of us who conserve buildings and hope for enlightened policy on environmental conservation should take heart, and take heed, of this controversy. It may be on our own doorstep before long.

February 28, 2012

Hewitt was born in Illinois in 1953, he grew up in Seattle and graduated from Yale College in 1975, going on to graduate school in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (M. Arch. 1978).

He has taught architecture at Rice, Columbia, Penn and the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark.