A New Energy Analysis, An Old Energy Policy
By Donella Meadows
–January 30, 1991–
The energy policy the nation has been waiting for — and, some would say, fighting for — is about to be unveiled by the Bush administration. It contains no surprises. It emphasizes supply more than efficiency. It calls for market mechanisms, not regulation or taxes. Oil, coal, and nuclear companies will find nothing in it to [...]
The Costs of War to Those at Home
By Donella Meadows
–January 24, 1991–
The people who tried hardest to warn us against this war were those who had experienced war.
Among them were veterans who stood up in town halls, campus lecture rooms, Congressional hearings, trying to tell us through the feeble power of words what war is. Words cannot carry such a heavy burden. The vets communicated best through [...]
Dear Folks: January 20, 1991
Dear Folks, It’s Sunday morning. As I’ve done every other morning this week, I turned on the radio the minute I woke up and cursed at the state of the world. Today an archeologist is talking about the endangered ancient sites in Iraq, and people are praising the Israelis for staying out of the war, and the first Purple Heart has [...]
Making up a War
By Donella Meadows
–January 17, 1991–
So this is how it happens. This is how the world convinces itself that war is inevitable, logical, and necessary. It’s an age-old story, but I have never seen it acted out before, and I am heartsick.
To my generation the two World Wars are textbook history. We were too young to understand when rhetoric turned into [...]
One More Chapter in the History of Oil and War
By Donella Meadows
–January 10, 1991–
Daniel Yergin’s new book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power is perfect background reading for this perilous time in the history of the Middle East. It provides a much-needed long-term perspective on the politics of the Persian Gulf, and on how politics everywhere is transformed by the presence or absence of petroleum, [...]
