Four Not-So-Easy Things You Can Do To Save The Planet
By Donella H. Meadows
–Summer 1990–
It’s wonderful, the Earth Day burst of publications with lists of things we can do to save the planet. It’s great to see so much energy behind recycling, energy-efficient light-bulbs, and fundraisers for the rainforest .
Most of these efforts are easy. Some even pay off. It takes no more trouble to throw an aluminum can into [...]
Four Not-So-Easy Things you can do to Save the Planet
By Donella Meadows
–June 14, 1990–
It’s wonderful, the burst of publications with lists of things we can do to save the planet. It’s great to see so much energy behind recycling, energy-efficient lightbulbs, and fundraisers for the rainforest. If we all did 50 simple things to save the planet, that would be a big help.
But it wouldn’t be enough. The planet [...]
State of the Village Report
By Donella Meadows
–May 31, 1990–
If the world were a village of 1000 people:
584 would be Asians
123 would be Africans
95 would be East and West Europeans
84 Latin Americans
55 Soviets (still including for the moment Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, etc.)
52 North Americans
6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would have considerable difficulty communicating:
165 people would speak Mandarin
86 would speak English
83 Hindi/Urdu
64 [...]
Ceausescu’s Longest-Lasting Legacy — The Cohort of ’67
By Donella Meadows
–January 26, 1990–
In his wisdom dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided in the mid-1960s that Romania ought to have 25 million people. At the time the population was 19 million. He designated the title “Heroine Mother” for any woman who bore and brought up ten or more children. For seven to nine children a woman won the order of “Maternal [...]
Harvesting One Hundredfold
On the whole, human beings are not managing this precious and productive planet very well. Many of the resources that sustain life and wealth are being overuses and abused. The basic needs of all people are not being met. The costs of the mismanagement in economic loss, environmental impoverishment, and human suffering are enormous. Yet the earth has more than enough [...]
