Ten Reasons to Wonder About the Cost of Saving Species
By Donella Meadows
–January 11, 1996–
How much would it cost to save all the endangered species in America? Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) the chairman of the House Committee on Resources recently assigned the General Accounting Office (GAO) to answer that question, not because he cares about species, but because he wants to rub out the Endangered Species Act. He expected the [...]
The Song of June in the Country (With a Lesson in Ecology)
By Donella Meadows
–June 15, 1995–
The slugs ate the sprouting zinnias right down to the ground.
So we put nine ducklings into the garden to eat the slugs.
The ducklings ate the slugs and then they ate the spinach and trampled the peas. So we moved six ducklings down to the pond and left just three to patrol slugs.
The raccoon circled the garden [...]
Bar Codes for the Biosphere
By Donella Meadows
–November 24, 1994–
There is static in the United States about our new National Biological Survey — a systematic compilation of information about the biological wealth of the nation. We’ve had a useful National Geological Survey for over a hundred years. But the idea of knowing as much about our biological resources as about our mineral resources is causing [...]
Turtles, Eagles, Whales, Love, and Power
By Donella Meadows
–March 10, 1994–
“Why I Am An Environmentalist,” was the title of a paper handed in by one of my students — the kind of title that makes my heart sink. There may not be a whole lot of folks out there waiting breathlessly to hear why you’re an environmentalist, I told him. That’s true, he said, but you [...]
Why Charlton, Rush, and I Like Jurassic Park
By Donella Meadows
–June 24, 1993–
You wouldn’t think Charlton Heston, Rush Limbaugh, and I would have anything in common, especially since Limbaugh likes to call people like me “long-hair, maggot-infested, FM-type environmentalist wackos.” But strangely enough, we all liked Jurassic Park — the book, which is better than the movie.
In fact all three of us picked out the same favorite passage [...]
