Dear Folks: June 23, 1991
Dear Folks, My poor friends. Ever since I wrote last month complaining about how busy I was, those of you who’ve had business or pleasure to conduct with me have been calling so hesitantly, so sweetly, saying, “I know you don’t have ANY time at all, but….”
Wow! If you ever want to erect a wall between yourself and all your friends, [...]
An Outrageous Proposal in Preparation for UNCED
By Donella Meadows
–June 20, 1991–
Next June fifty thousand people will assemble in Brazil for the biggest environmental conference the world has ever seen. About ten thousand of those people will be heads of state from 160 nations and their entourages, there to make official international policy. The rest will be representatives from nearly every environmental group on the planet. They [...]
Professor Meadows, Why Don’t You Like Nuclear Power
By Donella Meadows
–June 13, 1991–
I had just given a talk on the greenhouse effect at one of the great corporate research labs of this nation. I had praised the company for developing super-efficient light bulbs — in fact I had demonstrated one of their bulbs. But I hadn’t said a word about another of their products — nuclear power plants.
That [...]
Grosscon Versus Defendus for the Third World
By Donella Meadows
–June 6, 1991–
Amulya Reddy, a soft-spoken, urbane professor at the Indian Institute of Science, calls his government’s energy policy GROSSCON — growth-oriented, supply-sided, consumption directed. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Reddy says, “gross” means “flagrant” and “con” means “confidence trick.” The Indian energy policy is not different from the policies of most other nations of the world. That [...]
Energy Ideas from Inside and Outside the Beltway
By Donella Meadows
–May 30, 1991–
Dozens of energy bills are before Congress just now, most of them astonishingly dumb. In spite of vivid demonstrations from the Persian Gulf and from the environment that we need to re-think our energy policy, Congress and the President are still pleasing vested interests and playing short-term politics, rather than designing a sustainable energy future.
George Bush, [...]
