A Thousand Miles Per Gallon
By Donella Meadows
–September 29, 1994–
A year ago, with considerable fanfare, President Clinton entered into an agreement with the Big Three U.S. automakers to develop within ten years cars that can double or triple the 30 miles per gallon that the average new American car gets now. In fact many auto companies have had for years demonstration models that get 60-100 [...]
Tools for the Transition to Sustainability
Chapter 8 of Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004)
By Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows
We must be careful not to succumb to despair, for there is still the odd glimmer of hope.
-Edouard Saouma, 1993
Can we move nations and people in the direction of sustainability? Such a move would be a modification of society comparable in scale [...]
Dear Folks: September 25, 1994
August 30, 1994
Logan Airport
Dear Folks,
It’s early to start a letter to you — I just finished sending out the last one. But I know what happens in September. There’s the Balaton meeting. Then there’s the accelerating pace of fall on the farm, and when it comes time to write your monthly letter, I get overwhelmed. So I’ll get ahead this [...]
What Use Is It to Be A Superpower?
By Donella Meadows
–September 22, 1994–
Were you as dismayed as I was by the public debate about whether, and under what conditions, this nation should invade Haiti? The discussion revealed us in all our nakedness, the world’s one remaining superpower, with no idea, or at least no agreement, about what to use that power for.
Some people said that whatever we do, [...]
Three Population Goals, One Achieved, One Achievable, One Not Discussible
By Donella Meadows
–September 15, 1994–
The population conference just ended in Cairo was not, despite all appearances, about the Pope. At stake were three goals vastly more important than the Holy See’s approval of a world population agreement. The first was to establish that population is a women’s issue. The second was to rally support to help women deal with it. [...]
