It Will Be A Great Adventure
by Elizabeth Sawin
— 1 May, 2002 —
Just now despair lives close to the surface in many of the people I know. It leaps out at surprising times.
Walking up a hill with my neighbor Phil, a bottle of milk in his arms, my daughter on my back, I’m thinking how warm the spring day feels when he stops suddenly and speaks. [...]
How Long Can We Fool Ourselves?
by Hal Hamilton
— May 1, 2002 —
Why do people consistently believe what isn’t true? I’m reading a stream of news about the farm bill just passed by Congress: one more attempt to export and subsidize the farm economy to prosperity after decades of evidence that these dollars flow right on through farmers’ pockets.
I’m also reading data from a survey of [...]
What Does It Take To Say, “Better Safe Than Sorry”?
by Elizabeth Sawin
— August, 2001 —
We were exploring an unfamiliar pond. My four-year-old daughter was out in the water, up to her knees, when I called her back to shore.
“It’s so muddy I can’t see if the pond gets deep quickly, and I couldn’t reach you if you fell in. Better safe than sorry.”
Parents try to give their kids room [...]
The Arctic’s on Thin Ice, and we Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
By Donella Meadows
–February 1, 2001–
The place to watch for global warming — the canary in the coal mine — is the poles. If the planet as a whole warms by one degree, the poles will warm by three degrees or so. Which is precisely what is now happening.
The Arctic Ocean has 15 percent less ice cover than it did 20 [...]
The Brothers Foley Develop a Sense of Humus
by Donella Meadows
— October 26, 2000 —
Awhile ago I wrote about Dr. Jonathan Foley, a climate researcher at the University of Wisconsin, who is so worried about global warming that he has reorganized his life so he and his family don’t contribute to it. No net carbon dioxide emissions. That means no burning gas, oil, or coal. Or, if there [...]
