The ABCs of the S&Ls
By Donella Meadows
–August 2, 1990–
If five hundred billion dollars had been robbed from us Jesse James style, we would have understood what happened. We would have risen up in outrage. We would have put the criminals in jail and learned some lessons so it couldn’t happen again.
But the heist of the savings and loans associations took place without guns, without [...]
The Grass Doesn’t Pay the Clouds for the Rain
By Donella Meadows
–March 22, 1990–
“In the current vocabulary of condemnation there are few words as final and conclusive as the word ‘uneconomic’,” wrote E.F. Schumacher in Small is Beautiful. “Call a thing immoral or ugly, soul-destroying or a degradation of man, a peril to the peace of the world or to the well-being of future generations; as long as you [...]
Millions, Billions, Trillions, and the Peace Dividend
By Donella Meadows
–January 12, 1990–
Ever since the Cold War ended a month or so ago, politicians and columnists have been having fun figuring out what to do with the money we will save — the so-called “peace dividend.”
You would think ordinary citizens would be playing this game too. After all, we are the source of the money. But the public [...]
The Environment, the Capital Gains Tax and the Burden of Proof
By Donella Meadows
–September 21, 1989–
Whenever a large profit-making enterprise in this great nation is told that its activities might not be good for the environment, it calls for proof.
Whenever the government doesn’t want to deal with a problem, environmental or otherwise, it can delay almost indefinitely by demanding proof.
The Reagan administration held up action on acid rain for eight years, [...]
Have We Finally Come to the Limits of Growth?
By Donella Meadows
–September 9, 1988–
In 1972 I co-authored a book called The Limits to Growth, which raised what was to me a surprising ruckus. The book was based on a computer model of global population and economic growth. It said, in essence, that the kinds and rates of growth we’re accustomed to cannot go on forever, or even very much [...]
