Nature is More than a Commodity
By Donella Meadows
November 21, 1991
One of the main problems of the market system, every economist knows, is that it doesn’t put a price on nature.
Brazilian cattle barons who burn down tropical forest for temporary pasture never compare the value of beef exports to the full value of the standing forest. U.S. developers can pick up a swamp for a song; [...]
An Introduction to American Politics for Melinda
By Donella Meadows
–November 14, 1991–
Welcome, Melinda, to the United States. Your Hungarian university sent you here to practice English, and since you’ve arrived at the beginning of a presidential election season, you’ll also get to see “democracy” in action. I know people in your country are very interested in democracy, so I’ll do the best I can to explain it [...]
What on Earth to do About Population?
By Donella Meadows
–November 7, 1991–
The World Bank has just raised its projection for the population of the world by another billion. The population will level off toward the end of the next century, says the Bank, not at 11.5 billion as previously thought, but at 12.5 billion.
That item didn’t make the news, although there could hardly be tidings of greater [...]
A Letter to a Great Teacher
By Donella Meadows
–October 31, 1991–
Professor Anita Hill
University of Oklahoma Law School
Norman, Oklahoma
Dear Professor Hill,
The fuss has died down and you have gone back to whatever your life is like now. You must be getting thousands of letters, some of them less than polite. I hesitated for awhile about adding to your mail, but I find that, like many Americans, I [...]
Dear Folks: October 27, 1991
Dear Folks, It’s an unusually balmy Saturday night after a beautiful day, and, strangely, I can’t tell you much about the farm. I was in my Dartmouth office writing all day. It doesn’t feel like a Saturday at all. Beyond the Limits has got me beyond my limits. When I start missing farm Saturdays, I am well over the edge.
The deadline [...]
