A Neighborhood Controls Its Own Development
By Donella Meadows
–January 8, 1987–
A few days after Christmas, neighbors from 11 rural households in Lyme, New Hampshire, gathered at Hank and Freda Swan’s house for an easement-signing party.
Family by family, they put their names to 20 different documents, amendments to their deeds, limiting forever the number of lots that can be subdivided and houses that can be constructed on [...]
We Loved Ronald Reagan So Much
By Donella Meadows
–January 1, 1987–
Watching the nation writhe over another crisis of the Presidency, I am reminded of a chilling story called “We Love Glenda So Much” by the South American writer Julio Cortazar.
Glenda is a movie star. Everyone loves her. Her fans know her films by heart; they study her every gesture and word.
Of course Glenda has bad moments. [...]
Two Stories and a Whole Bunch of Morals
By Donella Meadows
–December 25, 1986–
Here are two simple stories for the holiday season and a question. The question is, what is the moral? What point do these stories make?
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Bobbi Jo Free of Meredith, New Hampshire, is a mother, a toy-designer, and a businesswoman. When she first heard the devastating statistics of world hunger, she thought of [...]
Dear Folks: December 20, 1986
Dear Folks,
It’s Saturday morning and Foundation Farm is humming. John is downstairs vacuuming his rooms (the living and dining rooms are his to keep clean). Kate is in the kitchen making bread (Suzanne and I clean the kitchen; we’ll do it whent he breadmaking is done). Suzanne has just gone out to pick up the mail at the post office [...]
Folly in Iran, Folly in Nicaragua
By Donella Meadows
–December 18, 1986–
The perfect word for U.S. policy in Iran and Nicaragua is folly.
In The March of Folly Barbara Tuchman defines government folly as “the pursuit of policy contrary to the self-interest of the state.” To put it bluntly, folly is official stupidity.
As examples Tuchman describes the corruption of the Renaissance Popes, which provoked the Protestant secession; the [...]
