When We’re Ready for Fusion Energy, It’s Ready for Us
By Donella Meadows
–May 4, 1989–
If the chemists at the University of Utah have indeed achieved nuclear fusion in a bottle on a tabletop, their discovery could open a new age in human history.
The economy could run on deuterium, a component of seawater that is vastly abundant. It is available to poor countries as well as rich ones. We could cool [...]
Small Miracles in the Philippines
By Donella Meadows
–April 27, 1989–
One could interpret the recent shooting of an American serviceman near Manila as one more example of how things are falling apart in the Philippines. The guerillas of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) have not been brought under control. There isn’t yet a land reform worthy of the name. Most of the population is still desperately [...]
Dear Folks: April 23, 1989
A Decade Lost, When There Isn’t a Decade to Lose
By Donella Meadows
–April 20, 1989–
It has been possible to accept, temporarily, the grinding poverty of Third World nations because we think of those nations as developing, following in our footsteps, just a bit behind.
It has been possible to contemplate without despair the rapid expansion of Third World populations, in the belief that as they get richer they will stop growing [...]
Why Was Anyone Surprised by the Exxon Valdez?
By Donella Meadows
–April 13, 1989–
After weeks of front-page publicity, it’s time to put the wreckage of the Exxon Valdez in perspective.
The amount of oil spilled was 240,000 barrels, enough to supply United States consumption for about 20 minutes.
It was one percent of the 26 million barrels of oil normally spilled into the oceans each year — about one out of [...]
