Taking on the Erosive Cycle of Money and Political Power
by Elizabeth R. Sawin
— February 4, 2002 —
Every day I try to protect my children from problems I didn’t create and cannot solve alone. I spread creams on their skin to shield them from the UV radiation that sneaks in through our thinned ozone layer. I try to feed them food free of pesticides and hormones, but I know their [...]
The Senator, the President, and the Sea Lion
by Donella Meadows
— December 21, 2000 —
The drama of the presidential election, they say, has awakened the interest of the public, and especially of young people, in the democratic process.
So welcome, young people, to the entertainment that never ends. Once the question “who won?” is settled, other questions begin. What are the people who won up to? For whose benefit? [...]
The 2000 Election in the Cool Light of History
by Donella Meadows
— December 7, 2000 —
The crowds demonstrating outside Florida courtrooms and counting rooms have been reminding me of the historical opera “Boris Godounov.” It opens with peasants milling about, waiting to find out who will be their next tsar. Every now and then a handler comes out and whips them up to yell for Boris, who is not [...]
The Power of a Vote
by Donella Meadows
— November 16, 2000 —
What is it we are learning in the aftermath of this crazy election? How powerful a single vote can be?
Or how worthless a single vote can be, when 19,000 of them can be tossed out in one county? When boxes of ballots get lost? When recounts are demanded or stopped depending on their expected [...]
Hard Questions for the Candidates
by Donella Meadows
— October 19, 2000 —
Well, the “debates,” carefully controlled by the major political parties, are over. I guess it was too much to expect that hard or important questions would be asked. But the candidates are still on the road, where they might be queried by an unscripted citizen. Or by a reporter who believes that fitness to [...]
