“Debating” All The Way From L To P
by Donella Meadows
— October 5, 2000 —
I wish everyone would stop calling them “debates.”
Even back when the League of Women Voters first televised confrontations between presidential candidates, they weren’t debates. At best they were stiff, unnatural political discussions. Now that the two major political parties run them, they are carefully controlled soundbite gotcha matches. Like most everything about our campaign [...]
Rhetoric About Taxes, Facts About Taxes
by Donella Meadows
— April 27, 2000 —
I’m not sure how or when our political arena became so infested with dubious “facts.” However it happened, we ordinary citizens don’t have time to separate the truth from the barrage of falsehoods. So I am grateful for public-interest research groups that watch the numbers for us.
One of the best is Citizens for Tax [...]
Begging, Whining, and Getting Sensible About Oil
by Donella Meadows
— March 30, 2000 —
What an upset! Oil-burning New Englanders watch their heating bills double. Truck drivers protest higher diesel costs by jamming Washington streets with their rigs. Congress, in its wisdom, offers to combat a sixty cent jump in gasoline price with a four cent tax cut. Our Energy Secretary runs around the Middle East begging for [...]
Trying to Measure Which Nations Are Sustainable
by Donella Meadows
— February 17, 2000 —
Every year at the peak of the Alpine ski season the world’s movers and shakers, the heads of the largest corporations and wealthiest governments, head for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This year an event occurred there that was largely unreported but possibly historic. The attendees were presented with a ranking of [...]
The World’s Top Five Consumers in Many Categories
by Donella Meadows
— August 5, 1999 —
Singapore, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, United States, Norway. Those are the world’s five top nations, in descending order, in — well, what category would you guess?
If you say income per capita, you’re close, but no cigar. Since the 1985 oil price crash, the Middle East no longer dominates the list of the world’s richest [...]
