Dear Folks: May 26, 1991
Dear Folks, Sylvia likes to make fun of the to-do lists I’m always making to remind myself (and everyone else) what needs to be done on the farm. They do tend to be long lists. You would consider them overwhelming, if you’ve never seen us knock off most of the items on a single weekend. You’d understand why Sylvia thinks it’s [...]
What is a Wild Tomato Worth?
By Donella Meadows
–May 23, 1991–
The field botanist Hugh Iltis is best known as the discoverer of teosinte — the wild ancestor of the modern corn that feeds much of the world. Iltis, the Director of the University of Wisconsin Herbarium, has many more botanical discoveries to his credit, each of them, in his eyes, an argument for thinking hard about [...]
Handling Wastes the Way the Creator Intended
By Donella Meadows
–May 16, 1991–
Suppose someone came along with a new invention that could 1) cut the nation’s garbage problem in half, 2) help clean up polluted waters, 3) reduce energy imports, 4) stop soil erosion, 5) increase farm profits, and yes, even 6) slow down global climate change. An invention like that should make its creator a billionaire and [...]
Kuwait’s Oil — The Future up in Flames
By Donella Meadows
–May 9, 1991–
“Kind of sick,” was President Bush’s response to the news that the Iraqis had opened an oil terminal and let it spill into the sea on the tenth day of the Gulf War.
We were told then that the spill amounted to 11 million barrels — 40 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince [...]
Another Fight for the NIMBYs
By Donella Meadows
–May 2, 1991–
There’s an environmental fight brewing in my valley that has all the NIMBYs scrambling. You know — NIMBYs — the Not In My Back Yard folks, often looked upon as selfish obstructionists who try to stop progress by opposing somebody else’s idea of development.
In the current case the “development” is an electric power plant that will [...]
