Cut Off From Global Markets, Cuba Invents a New Agriculture
By Donella Meadows
–June 12, 1997–
It’s hard to believe anything we hear about Cuba. Some people, especially those in official positions, want us to believe that Cuba does no right, others that it does no wrong. I’m hearing fascinating stories from folks who have visited there, folks who are biased too in various ways — who isn’t? If even half of [...]
How a Public Health Story Becomes an Industry Legend
By Donella Meadows
–February 7, 1997–
If the name Alar means anything to you, it probably means something related to apples and Meryl Streep and hysterical environmentalists.
Those mental associations have been nurtured in us by industry-funded public relations groups, who repeat over and over the claim that the “Alar scare” was deliberate hype, which alarmed the public unnecessarily and caused irreparable harm [...]
We Walk On Earth With Big Feet
By Donella Meadows
–March 28, 1996–
Picture a city, with skyscrapers, roads, cars, towers, lights all jammed together. Now picture a huge, bare human foot reaching down from the city, stepping on the earth, crushing daisies.
That’s the image William Rees, professor of planning at the University of British Columbia, instills in the minds of his students. He calls it the Ecological Footprint, [...]
Hunger and Surplus Rise and Fall Together
By Donella Meadows
–May 7, 1987–
The simultaneous occurrence of hunger and of mountains of surplus food is obscene. It’s also expensive. And it’s persistent, in spite of hunger-reduction and surplus-reduction policies of many governments the world over.
Last year the United States, Japan, and Europe spent $100 billion to protect their farmers against low prices caused by agricultural overproduction. Half that amount [...]
All the Nations Can’t Feed Themselves, but All the People Can Be Fed
By Donella Meadows
–April 9, 1987–
In the “developing countries” there were 1.7 billion people in 1950. Now there are 3.6 billion. There will be 4.9 billion by the year 2000 and 8.8 billion by 2100, according to U.N. projections.
Can all these people be fed? Are the soils and waters of the earth sufficient to provide for them? Or are overpopulation and [...]
