Forget Camp David, Forget Survivor, Watch Capitol Hill
by Donella Meadows
— July 20, 2000 —
I don’t get it. Why are the 24-hour news media, always desperate for gripping stories, reporting every hour on the Camp David summit, where, as I write this column, they have no access to what’s really going on? Why don’t some of those eager reporters move over to Capitol Hill to cover the constantly [...]
The Good is the Enemy of the Perfect
by Donella Meadows
— June 15, 2000 —
Wow! Did I ever infuriate my liberal friends when I said I would vote for Ralph Nader!
They’ve been hammering me with earnest lectures about how every vote for Nader will help get Bush elected, and how an elected Bush will devastate the environment, enrich the rich, hand the country to the oil companies, appoint [...]
If the Government Says It’s Safe, It’s Safe. Right?
by Donella Meadows
— September 16, 1999 —
The folks who bring us gene-spliced soybeans, corn, potatoes, and other foods like to make a point of the U.S. government’s approval of their products. The feds OK’d it. That must mean biotech foods are safe, right?
Right. Sure. This is the government that declared DDT safe and thalidomide and DES and dozens of other [...]
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 [...]
A Tale of Two Fisheries
by Donella Meadows
— May 13, 1999 —
At the beginning of this millennium the Norse began to fish what is now called the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland. In 1501 the Company of Adventurers to the New Found Lands was chartered in England to make summer expeditions to that rich fishing ground. For the next 500 years, the Grand [...]
