Dear Folks: August 24, 1991
Dear Folks, Our farm slopes to the west, and it’s at its best in the evening, when the long rays of the setting sun turn the place to gold. That’s how it is now, at the end of a peaceful, perfect summer day.
I’m just back from the wedding of my research assistant Diana Wright. It was a Quaker ceremony held in [...]
Let’s Have Some Hugs for John Sununu
By Donella Meadows
–August 22, 1991–
Much as I favor recycling and writing to Congress, deep down I know that’s not enough to end our environmental problems. Even if we all buy efficient light bulbs and have no more than two children, still I suspect we will be dealing only with the surface causes of our cultural tendency to devastate nature for [...]
Renewable Energy Comes of Adolescence
By Donella Meadows
–August 8, 1991–
“Wind Energy Comes of Age!” proclaims the lead article in the May/June 1991 issue of Solar Today. According to the article there are now over 18,000 commercial wind-powered turbines operating in the U.S. — 80 percent of them in California. The cost of electricity from wind has fallen from 25 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1981 to [...]
Corporations Tell Us All About the Environment
By Donella Meadows
–August 1, 1991–
The friendly folks at the U.S. Fertilizer Institute are waging a campaign against manure. The word “manure” has a wholesome connotation that is simply not appropriate, say the fertilizer makers. You should not think of manure as a “warm, fuzzy substance.” Henceforth please refer to it as “fecal contamination.”
I think that’s a funny story, because I [...]
Dear Folks: July 27, 1991
Dear Folks, It’s 4:30 on a Saturday morning. Ever since I got back from Thailand I haven’t been quite sure what time it is, so I’ve just let myself be awake when I’m awake and go to sleep when I’m sleepy (a good way to live, even when not jet-lagged). This morning I’m wide awake. It will be light in about [...]
