Our Michael Dorris
By Donella Meadows
–April 24, 1997–
On the Sunday after Michael Dorris committed suicide, the news was announced, gently and sadly, in a church here in the valley where he lived.
A bit of the story came out that Sunday morning. Our neighbor, teacher, favorite writer was separated from the woman we knew as the love of his life, the even more celebrated [...]
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 [...]
How Environmentalists Ought to Talk
By Donella Meadows
–February 29, 1996–
Environmentalists are too gloomy. They invent catastrophes to attract attention and money. Bugs and trees are what they care about, not people. They want to lock up resources. They use long words, like “biodiversity” and “endocrine disrupters.” They’re elitist city folk who care about nature only as a place to go backpacking.
Accusations like these used to [...]
What Should Be Privatized and What Should Not?
By Donella Meadows
–January 4, 1996–
The other day I saw a cartoon in which a puzzled housewife, ready to plug in her vacuum cleaner, is confronted with a dozen plugs on the wall. Each has a company logo — “Captain Jolt,” “Flower Power,” “Zapco,” “Super Dude Electric.” Behind the woman an ad blats from the TV. “Hi! Crazy Pete here with [...]
On This Day We Examine the Failed Environmental Movement
By Donella Meadows
–April 20, 1995–
The journalistic attention cycle has arrived at the point where we talk about the environment only on one obligatory day per year — Earth Day — and then we declare it a defunct issue.
The cycle will turn, of course. The environment will be hot again, This is the way of the media. First they discover something [...]
