The G-7 Environmental Scorecard
By Donella Meadows
–July 19, 1990–
“I’m not too happy with them. I think their grading system is absolutely essentially absurd,” said President Bush at the Houston summit last week. He was speaking of the international coalition of over 150 environmental groups, which had just ranked the Group of Seven governments on their environmental policies.
He was mad because the U.S. flunked.
When he [...]
Letter to a Friend in Africa
By Donella Meadows
–July 12, 1990–
I got a poignant letter the other day from a friend who works in the environment ministry of an East African nation. He was asking for help:
“Of late my government has taken interest in global environmental issues, namely the depletion of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. But when I graduated in environmental studies in [...]
Four Not-So-Easy Things you can do to Save the Planet
By Donella Meadows
–June 14, 1990–
It’s wonderful, the burst of publications with lists of things we can do to save the planet. It’s great to see so much energy behind recycling, energy-efficient lightbulbs, and fundraisers for the rainforest. If we all did 50 simple things to save the planet, that would be a big help.
But it wouldn’t be enough. The planet [...]
State of the Village Report
By Donella Meadows
–May 31, 1990–
If the world were a village of 1000 people:
584 would be Asians
123 would be Africans
95 would be East and West Europeans
84 Latin Americans
55 Soviets (still including for the moment Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, etc.)
52 North Americans
6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would have considerable difficulty communicating:
165 people would speak Mandarin
86 would speak English
83 Hindi/Urdu
64 [...]
Working Toward World Without CFCs
By Donella Meadows
–May 24, 1990–
It is the policy of our nation that by the year 2000 we will cease the use of the chemicals called CFCs. The reason for that policy is that CFCs escape into the stratosphere and destroy the ozone layer. Without that ozone as a shield, damaging ultraviolet light will reach the earth. There it will kill [...]
