Why Does Farm Income Keep Disappearing?
by Hal Hamilton and Elizabeth Sawin
— January 1, 2002 —
Year after year we invest billions trying to support farmers without ever creating the conditions for farms to thrive without subsidies.
Here at Sustainability Institute, we develop computer simulation models to investigate such issues. Over the past couple of years we’ve worked with economists and farm leaders to model the corn economy. [...]
Systems Thinking Primer for Natural Capitalism: The Four Basic Shifts
By Peter Senge, Don Seville, Amory Lovins, and Chris Lotspeich~
Overview and Goal of Primer
The aim of this primer is to develop a common “systems language” for thinking, communicating, and building shared knowledge for building environmentally sustainable enterprises and industries. As societies and organizations around the world gradually shift to seeing environmental sustainability as a strategic imperative, there is a growing [...]
A Climate-Protection Technology But Not a Magic Bullet
by Donella Meadows
— February 24, 2000 —
The February issue of Scientific American tells of a new technology that makes me both rejoice and worry. It looks so great, so likely to relieve a massive environmental problem that there’s no way I could oppose it. But on second, third, and fourth thought, I have some doubts.
The technology is called carbon sequestration. [...]
What’s the President Worth? For Doing What?
by Donella Meadows
— May 27, 1999 —
Driving home last night I heard a snatch of radio discussion about whether we’re paying the president enough.
If I understood the argument while dodging traffic, it seems that corporate executive salaries have soared so high that the president’s salary is puny by comparison. Company CEOs earn millions. Michael Eisner of Disney earns in the [...]
The Dow Passes Ten Thousand – Hooray?
by Donella Meadows
— April 15, 1999 —
Wow! The Dow-Jones average is over ten thousand! And still, as of this writing, rising. Judging from the media celebration, here is proof positive that America is thriving.
But who or what is actually thriving?
There are two ways to answer that question. One is to travel around America — all of it, the inner cities [...]
