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 [...]
The New Forest Plan – An Uncontrolled Experiment
By Donella Meadows
–July 8, 1993–
The press conference announcing the government’s plan for the National Forests of the Pacific Northwest was a classic example of the art of David Gergen, Clinton’s new image-maker. Seven high officials, including the vice president and the president, spoke for 45 minutes. No one explained the plan. They did explain, over and over, what a wonderful [...]
Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Pepsi Ad
By Donella Meadows
–July 1, 1993–
A company called Space Marketing, Inc. of Roswell, Georgia, has figured out how to send into orbit a reflecting mylar sheet that can create a billboard in the sky. The image, the size of the full moon, would be visible at dusk and dawn. Right there in the middle of the fading sunset an advertiser could [...]
Why Charlton, Rush, and I Like Jurassic Park
By Donella Meadows
–June 24, 1993–
You wouldn’t think Charlton Heston, Rush Limbaugh, and I would have anything in common, especially since Limbaugh likes to call people like me “long-hair, maggot-infested, FM-type environmentalist wackos.” But strangely enough, we all liked Jurassic Park — the book, which is better than the movie.
In fact all three of us picked out the same favorite passage [...]
Dear Folks: June 20, 1993
Dear Folks,
Sunday morning, summer solstice. I can never believe the length of the day and the glory of the sun around here when the sun comes to its northernmost point of the year. Light already at 5 AM, light still at 9 PM. The sun swings so far around in the sky that it even shines on the grateful north [...]
