Plus or Minus Two Hundred Billion Dollars
By Donella Meadows
–April 4, 1991–
There are two reasons, says our President, why the U.S. need not make an effort to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide:
The models that predict greenhouse warming are imperfect.
Cutting back would cost too much. A 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide output would cost the nation $200 billion a year — about the amount [...]
Anyone Want to Bet the Planet?
By Donella Meadows
–March 28, 1991–
Some of our most controversial scientists have taken up a new pastime — making bets about the environmental future.
One such bet was put forward by James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Hansen is known for dramatic Congressional testimony to the effect that the greenhouse warming is already here. Last summer he offered [...]
What, More on Global Warming?
By Donella Meadows
–February 7, 1991–
“Don’t write any more about the greenhouse effect,” some of my editors are saying. “It’s an old, boring story.”
Sorry, but I think there’s no story more new or exciting. We’re living through climate events of tantalizing uncertainty, which could challenge our ingenuity far more than any war. There are political angles: will George Bush maintain his [...]
Letter to a Friend in Africa
By Donella Meadows
–July 12, 1990–
I got a poignant letter the other day from a friend who works in the environment ministry of an East African nation. He was asking for help:
“Of late my government has taken interest in global environmental issues, namely the depletion of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. But when I graduated in environmental studies in [...]
So is the Earth Warming or Isn’t it?
By Donella Meadows
–April 26, 1990–
With an aha! gotcha! flourish a skeptical reader sent me a recent news release about global warming. “Scientists who analyzed 10 years of weather satellite data found no evidence that the earth has warmed from the so-called greenhouse effect,” it said. “The northern hemisphere goes up slightly during those 10 years and the southern hemisphere goes [...]
