Begging, Whining, and Getting Sensible About Oil
by Donella Meadows
— March 30, 2000 —
What an upset! Oil-burning New Englanders watch their heating bills double. Truck drivers protest higher diesel costs by jamming Washington streets with their rigs. Congress, in its wisdom, offers to combat a sixty cent jump in gasoline price with a four cent tax cut. Our Energy Secretary runs around the Middle East begging for [...]
Dear Folks: January 22, 2000
Dear Folks,
They say it might get up to +5 degrees today. It was -20 last night and will be again tonight. We’ve gone from one of the warmest Decembers ever to a January that is about to break the all-time record for the number of successive days in which the temperature drops below zero.
There is a lot of wind to [...]
Mop-and-Bucket Solutions Keep Us Forever Cleaning Up
By Donella Meadows
— August 31, 1995–
David Orr, professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, likes to tell the story of the entrance exam for the insane asylum.
Candidates are led into a cement-lined room with a row of faucets on one wall, fully open, gushing water. Leaning against the opposite wall are dozens of buckets and mops.
The insane run frantically for [...]
George Washington and I Are Subjects of Groundless Rumors
By Donella Meadows
–June 22, 2012–
I’m using the space of a public column here to right a personal wrong, but bear with me. I also want to illustrate a common human quirk and work up to a vital lesson.
In the preface of his new book A Moment on the Earth, Gregg Easterbrook mentions a book I co-authored more than 20 years [...]
National Energy Policy — Write Now
By Donella Meadows
–September 5, 1991–
“Now, let me get this straight. Energy efficiency — good. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — bad.”
So says President Bush in the men’s room at the end — the very end, as the last credits are rolling — of the movie “Naked Gun 2 1/2.”
I would not have gone to see Naked Gun 2 [...]
