What Really Needs to be Said About our Last Lamented Election
By Donella Meadows
–February 1, 2001–
Like you, I have been drowning in the gush of reaction to our recent election (or selection) — an election that will never quite be over, that will continue to prick like a thorn, that was clearly never intended, as our new president is already demonstrating, to unite instead of divide us.
I have heard no one, [...]
Three Companies Say ‘Oops’ In Different Ways
by Donella Meadows
— June 8, 2000 —
Three stories have hit the news lately concerning three corporations that have done — or may have done — serious environmental harm. They are coping with the situation in very different ways. Taken together, the stories suggest an odd combination of hope and cynicism. There are signs of honesty, good will, real learning. But [...]
Kalle Lasn is Mad As Heck and Isn’t Going To Take It Anymore
by Donella Meadows
— May 11, 2000 —
Maybe you’ve seen Adbusters magazine or the Adbusters website with their take-offs on common ads. “Joe Chemo,” the popular Joe Camel, sits sad, sick, and bald in a hospital bed. A sports utility vehicle surges through the wilderness under the slogan: NATURE — IT’LL GROW BACK. A slumped over vodka bottle proclaims ABSOLUTE IMPOTENCE.
It [...]
The Globalization of Ben and Jerry’s
by Donella Meadows
— April 13, 2000 —
So Unilever has gobbled up Ben & Jerry’s. The $45 billion megacompany that rose from the British and Dutch colonial empires (turning palm and coconut oil into soap and margarine) has acquired Vermont’s outrageous little ice cream maker for $326 million. The American dream at work. A couple of hippies invent wild new ice [...]
Genetic Engineering Is Not Just More of the Same
by Donella Meadows
— March 25, 1999 —
Genetic engineering is nothing new. People have been messing with genes since the first farmers selected the biggest wild grass seeds and began to breed what we now call grain.
So say many widely respected scientists. It’s no big deal, they say, to snip out code from a flounder and paste it into a tomato. [...]
