Pay Me Not to Pollute
By Donella Meadows
–March 9, 1995–
I’m going to turn my farm into a gold mine.
Old rumors about gold circulate around this town. Maybe some of it is under my farm. I plan to blast out the bedrock, grind the rubble, and run cyanide through the grindings to dissolve out the gold. I think I can find as much as $6 million [...]
How to Talk About Badness Without Using Strong Words?
By Donella Meadows
–March 2, 1995–
Governor Howard Dean of Vermont is not your normal bombastic politician. He’s a medical doctor, a measured, rational man. So I couldn’t believe his reaction on the radio last week to the Congressional move to cut the school lunch program.
“This Congress is out of control,” said the governor. “They’re literally attacking children. This is the worst [...]
Dear Folks: February 24, 1995
Dear Folks,
It’s only February, but the first lambs are in the barn!
They were born yesterday. I found them out in the barnyard, wet and wobbly when I came out to do the morning chores. We had barely started watching for them. They’re the result of an accident. A kindly neighbor mistakenly let the errant ewes into the pasture with Wally [...]
Definition of Sustainability
By Donella Meadows~
For some months I have owed an answer to one of you, who asked for a definition of the word I probably use more often here than any other — sustainability. It has become an international jargon word, with about as many meanings as there are people who use it. Those of us who have talked about sustainability [...]
A Really Outrageous Contract With America
By Donella Meadows
–February 23, 1995–
The good news about the Contract With America is that the Newtniks are kicking at a lot of moss-covered government rocks, asking good questions, shaking things up. The bad news is that they aren’t doing it nearly hard enough.
For example, Congress has finally passed and the president has signed into law what Newt Gingrich calls the [...]
