When our Enemies Become Us, Who do we Become?
By Donella Meadows
–October 19, 1989–
“We have no model any more,” a Japanese businessman once told me, glumly. He meant that Japan, which spent centuries trying to be like China and more recent decades trying to be like the United States, has run out of nations to emulate. The Japanese now have to define themselves without outside help. They have to [...]
System Dynamics Meets The Press: A few good concepts can make a big difference
By Donella H. Meadows
–Fall 1989–
Through my work as a systems scientist, I have met the press in continuous and often dramatic confrontation for twenty years. My experiences have sometimes been frustrating, sometimes fruitful, and sometimes funny. Playboy, of all publications, was the first to do an article about our world modeling work (The Limits to Growth, Meadows et al., 1972). [...]
The Costs of the Greenhouse Effect will be Unpayable
By Donella Meadows
–October 5, 1989–
Forward-thinking people are preparing for the greenhouse effect. Barge companies on the Mississippi are acquiring railroads in case the river becomes permanently unnavigable. Planners of Boston’s sewage treatment system are taking into account a sea-level rise from global warming. The Weyerhaeuser company is planting drought-resistant trees. The Dutch are raising their dikes.
Either this behavior is certifiably [...]
The Greenhouse Effect, Left, Right, and Center
By Donella Meadows
–September 28, 1989–
“High Cost of Greenhouse Hysteria” reads one recent headline. Another says “Greenhouse Effect Looks Like Just a Lot of Hot Air.” And a third: “Environmentalists, Not Pollution, are the Real Threat.”
The backlash has appeared. Once the greenhouse effect was popularized, it was sure to become politicized.
Folks who are unhappy with the state of the world anyway [...]
Dear Folks: September 24, 1989
Dear Folks, Two nights ago the edge of Hurricane Hugo brought us wild winds and tropical temperatures. Basil and I woke up about 2:30 and went outside to watch the trees bending in the wind. Heavy gusts whammed through the valley — we could hear each one sweeping toward us from a long way off, sounding like an oncoming express train. [...]
