Children, Pesticides, and Long Delays
By Donella Meadows
–July 15, 1993–
Remember Alar? It was a chemical used on apples to make them redder and to hold them on the tree longer. Alar was suspected of causing cancer, but the government did nothing about it until 1989, when the National Resources Defense Council and Meryl Streep stirred up a fuss. There was a scary segment about Alar [...]
East Europe’s Agriculture in Ferment
By Donella Meadows
–September 6, 1990–
Seven hundred people are crowded into the central hall of the Budapest University of Economics (called until a few months ago the Karl Marx University of Economics). Just outside flows the Danube, brown and slightly toxic. The hall throbs with human energy, though it’s hard for anyone to take a breath. The air is hot, heavy, [...]
The Cave-Man Approach to Cancer, Pests, and Noriega
By Donella Meadows
–January 18, 1990–
When modern doctors want to eliminate rogue cells that have formed a cancer, they bombard them with lethal radiation. They use linear accelerators, marvelous instruments that provide steady, reproducible streams of radiation from any angle at any dose.
Inevitably most of the radiation does not hit cancer cells. It hits healthy cells, killing them, deranging normal body [...]
The Dilemna of Dursban and Dartmouth’s Elms
By Donella Meadows
–August 10, 1989–
Skeletons of elm trees still stand in the valley where I live. They have succumbed to Dutch elm disease so recently that they haven’t yet been cut down. The dead branches hold their curving V shapes, like huge elegant vases, reminders of a beauty that is now only a memory.
Only a memory, except on the Dartmouth [...]
Consumer Pressure Speeds up a Farming Revolution
By Donella Meadows
–June 1, 1989–
They say money doesn’t make the world go round, but sometimes it changes the behavior of human beings wonderfully.
I have been trying for years to get farmers in many countries to see the wisdom of using fewer fertilizers and pesticides. I’ve been working especially hard in Hungary, where groundwaters are badly polluted with agricultural chemicals. I [...]
