A Lament from the Countryside
By Donella Meadows
–July 7, 1988–
As I write, the sun, low in the west, is just shining out from beneath storm clouds. This is the third bank of clouds to come over this month, drop ten minutes of soft rain, and pass on. A few minutes ago I went out and scratched in the garden with a hoe. Under the damp [...]
The Greenhouse Effect Meets the Press
By Donella Meadows
–June 30, 1988–
Thanks to the Midwest drought, reporters have caught on to the greenhouse effect. The phones of climatologists and environmentalists have been ringing off the hook. Experts on long-term climate change are quoted on the front page of the paper, asked to testify before Congress, interviewed on the “Today” show. Is the drought the first sign of [...]
Who Needs Florida, Anyway?
By Donella Meadows
–January 14, 1988–
“The accelerating overheating of the earth has already begun,” says a Toles cartoon showing a semi-alert Ordinary Guy in his armchair watching the TV news.
The announcer continues, “Leading scientists warn that the pollution-caused runaway greenhouse effect is happening faster than previously believed.”
“The earth will bake, our farmlands turn to desert, our forests die, and our coasts [...]
Chicken Little, Casandra, and the Boy Who Cried Wolf
By Donella Meadows
–December 31, 1998–
My Y2K friends — the people who obsess about the disasters that will happen a year from now, when our computers fail to turn over properly to the year 2000 — are mad at me. They want me to be a lot more worried than I am. (I’m medium-worried.)
I understand how they feel. I want people [...]
