Hope And Ozone
What is the basis for hope – and action – in the face of climatic catastrophe? A “multilogue” among the editors of IN CONTEXT
–Summer 1992–
At the end of 1991, In Context executive editor Alan AtKisson sent out a brief electronic mail message to several contributing editors. The message – about a small news item mailed in by IC readers and computer [...]
Accelerating with a Foggy Window on an Icy Road
By Donella Meadows
–April 16, 1992–
The human population grows by 95 million people a year and degrades its fertile land by 64 million acres a year. Any moderately intelligent Martian could take one look at those numbers and conclude, “That can’t go on very long.”
Each year 40 million acres of tropical forest fall to chainsaws and cattle. Overfishing has reduced the [...]
An Outrageous Proposal in Preparation for UNCED
By Donella Meadows
–June 20, 1991–
Next June fifty thousand people will assemble in Brazil for the biggest environmental conference the world has ever seen. About ten thousand of those people will be heads of state from 160 nations and their entourages, there to make official international policy. The rest will be representatives from nearly every environmental group on the planet. They [...]
Plus or Minus Two Hundred Billion Dollars
By Donella Meadows
–April 4, 1991–
There are two reasons, says our President, why the U.S. need not make an effort to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide:
The models that predict greenhouse warming are imperfect.
Cutting back would cost too much. A 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide output would cost the nation $200 billion a year — about the amount [...]
Anyone Want to Bet the Planet?
By Donella Meadows
–March 28, 1991–
Some of our most controversial scientists have taken up a new pastime — making bets about the environmental future.
One such bet was put forward by James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Hansen is known for dramatic Congressional testimony to the effect that the greenhouse warming is already here. Last summer he offered [...]
