The Lessons of Exxon Valdez
By Donella Meadows
–April 5, 1990–
A year after the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez, the nation is busy Drawing Lessons. What can we conclude from this worst-ever-yet accident of the petroleum industry in the United States? What, if anything, ought to be done so that no such disaster ever happens again?
The oil industry seems to have taken for its lesson [...]
A Mixed Message from Bush on Energy
By Donella Meadows
–February 2, 1989–
Environmentalists, waiting hopefully to see whether George Bush is indeed one of them, got a puzzling mixed message this week.
Bush’s Secretary of State James Baker, in a rousing speech to delegates from 40 nations, said that the world cannot wait for solid evidence before acting on the greenhouse problem. The U.S. and the world must focus [...]
New Year’s Resolutions for the Environment
By Donella Meadows
–December 29, 1988–
“What can I do?” It’s been twenty years since I’ve been asked that question so insistently. A new generation is discovering the environmental problems of our troubled planet, and I’m hearing from students, from readers, from people everywhere. “I’m really scared about acid rain, the ozone hole, the greenhouse effect. What can I DO?”
There may be [...]
Alaska Oil vs. Alaska Wildlife: Many Voices
By Donella Meadows
–May 19, 1988–
“The North Slope is a flat, crummy place. Only for oil would anyone want to go there,” says an official of the Arco Oil & Gas Company.
The May issue of Audubon shows picture after glorious picture from that “flat, crummy place” — muskox, tundra swan, Arctic fox, snowy owl, brilliant wildflowers, braided rivers, and magnificent mountains, [...]
Information on Energy America Can’t Count On
By Donella Meadows
–June 11, 1987–
You’ve seen the ad. An elongated cartoon man in green holds a candle and faces imposing stacks of OPEC oil barrels. The headline reads, “Nuclear energy helps keep us from reliving a nightmare.”
Ads like this show up regularly in major publications and on television. They come from the U.S. Committee for Energy Awareness (USCEA) — “Information [...]
