Who Needs Florida, Anyway? Scientists need to help us prevent climate change, not adapt to it
By Donella Meadows
–Summer 1989–
The urgency of climate change calls for leadership from some unusual quarters. Environmental author and columnist Dana Meadows comments here on the role scientists – a group generally not known for activism – need to play in averting global climate change. Her writing has been appearing regularly in IN CONTEXT, and she also writes a weekly column [...]
The Map is not the Territory; The Flag is not the Nation
By Donella Meadows
–June 29, 1989–
“I fought for three years for that flag. Anyone who burns it must be a traitor.”
That was one man-on-the-street’s comment this week in response to the president’s call for a constitutional amendment banning flag burning. Most people who were interviewed supported the president, many with high emotion.
“The flag is the symbol of our country. No one [...]
It’s a Long, Long way to Clean Air
By Donella Meadows
June 22, 1989
Everyone who breathes is hurt by air pollution; so are plants, animals, lakes, rivers, buildings, and the climate. That doesn’t make any of us terribly eager to stop our personal share of the polluting. We zoom around in inefficient cars, heat and cool poorly insulated houses, squander electricity, splash around volatile chemicals. We choke and cough, [...]
Dear Folks: June 19, 1989
Dear Folks, In case you ever get nostalgic for the Peaceful Life in the Country, consider the following scenario:
Your large, friendly, and, let’s face it, very dumb dog decides at 3 AM to play bouncy games with a fuzzy black and white visitor he finds in the yard. Ten seconds later, the dog is rolling in agony on your best Persian [...]
Nothing is so Powerful as an Exponential whose Time has Come
By Donella Meadows
–June 16, 1989–
The reason environmentalists are often so gloomy is that they know what the word “exponential” means.
“A lack of appreciation for what exponential increase really means leads society to be disastrously sluggish in acting on critical issues,” said Dr. Thomas Lovejoy of the Smithsonian Institution in a speech that has been reverberating through the environmental community. “I [...]
