Pick-Your-Own Land Use Planning
By Donella Meadows
–June 27, 1991–
This morning about 100 neighbors and I swarmed like bright-colored locusts over a strawberry field, gleaning fat red berries. Babies snoozed in the shade of their carriages. Bigger kids had strawberry juice from ear to ear. There was a low murmur of lazy chatter. “How many do we need for shortcake? It’s getting hot. Mommy, is [...]
The Family Farm and Sustainable Agriculture Act of 1995
By Donella Meadows
–June 7, 1990–
BOONE, IOWA, SEPTEMBER 15, 1995: In Dick Thompson’s farmyard, big red barn on one side, classic white farmhouse on the other, President Barbara Bush signed into law today the most revolutionary Farm Bill in U.S. history. “For sixty years this nation’s agricultural policy has been getting more expensive, more complex, and more unjust. At the same [...]
There’s Only so Much Room in the Rumen
By Donella Meadows
–March 29, 1990–
In Wisconsin dairy farmers are picketing and lobbyists are circling, while the governor decides whether to sign a temporary ban on bovine growth hormone (BGH).
Monsanto executives have descended into Vermont in corporate jets to contest the decision that milk produced with BGH shall not be allowed in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
In New Hampshire a moratorium [...]
System Dynamics Meets The Press: A few good concepts can make a big difference
By Donella H. Meadows
–Fall 1989–
Donella H. (Dana) Meadows, co-author of The Limits to Growth, now writes a self-syndicated newspaper column called “The Global Citizen” that appears in 20 papers and occasionally gets national syndication through the Los Angeles Times. With this, her fifth consecutive contribution to IN CONTEXT, she takes on a title – Contributing Editor – that describes what [...]
Consumer Pressure Speeds up a Farming Revolution
By Donella Meadows
–June 1, 1989–
They say money doesn’t make the world go round, but sometimes it changes the behavior of human beings wonderfully.
I have been trying for years to get farmers in many countries to see the wisdom of using fewer fertilizers and pesticides. I’ve been working especially hard in Hungary, where groundwaters are badly polluted with agricultural chemicals. I [...]
