A Scientific Consensus on Global Warming
By Donella Meadows
–October 11, 1990–
Is there a greenhouse effect or isn’t there? In the United States that question has become political. Some people think global warming is an enormous threat; therefore we should change our polluting ways. Some think that is pernicious poppycock. Several of each persuasion whisper into the ear of the President.
The discussion should not be political, of [...]
None of the Above
By Donella Meadows
–October 4, 1990–
It took them four months of high-level haggling. They produced a plan for the biggest deficit yet — an estimated $250 billion NOT INCLUDING the Savings and Loan bailout. Once again they shoved the target date for balancing the budget five years into the future. It is always five years in the future. And as the [...]
To Solve the Energy Problem You Have to Want to
By Donella Meadows
–September 27, 1990–
In the September issue of Scientific American is a graph that sums up beautifully why we are on the brink of war in the Middle East and how we can back away from that brink.
It shows two curves estimating how much more efficient U.S. electricity use could be. One estimate was made by the Electric Power [...]
It Takes a lot to Run a Biosphere
By Donella Meadows
–September 20, 1990–
Last week Space Biosphere Ventures, Inc. selected the four men and four women who will be locked for two years inside Biosphere II. On the day the announcement was made I was climbing around inside that Biosphere along with strategic planners from several multinational corporations. Depending on which of us you asked, we would say we [...]
Lessons From the Soft Path: Denmark’s Energy Policy
By Donella Meadows
–September 13, 1990–
The energy wars are back. Not the ones in the deserts of the Middle East, but the ones in national capitals the oil-using world around, where energy policies are again being formulated in an atmosphere of panic and conflict.
The battle is the same everywhere. It is between the hard path (oil, coal, nuclear, and defense of [...]
