The Senator, the President, and the Sea Lion
by Donella Meadows
— December 21, 2000 —
The drama of the presidential election, they say, has awakened the interest of the public, and especially of young people, in the democratic process.
So welcome, young people, to the entertainment that never ends. Once the question “who won?” is settled, other questions begin. What are the people who won up to? For whose benefit? [...]
Closing the Barn Door on POPs
by Donella Meadows
— December 14, 2000 —
However environmentally permissive a Republican-controlled United States may be, other parts of the world are pioneering attitudes, technologies, and laws that could carry us safely through the 21st Century. As this week’s happy example, I offer the new global agreement on POPs, plus Sweden’s even better policy on the same topic.
POPs is the hot [...]
The 2000 Election in the Cool Light of History
by Donella Meadows
— December 7, 2000 —
The crowds demonstrating outside Florida courtrooms and counting rooms have been reminding me of the historical opera “Boris Godounov.” It opens with peasants milling about, waiting to find out who will be their next tsar. Every now and then a handler comes out and whips them up to yell for Boris, who is not [...]
No Point In Waiting Around For Leadership
by Donella Meadows
— November 30,2000 —
The most earth-shaking event of the past two weeks had to do with leadership, or lack thereof, but it did not unfold in Florida. It happened in the Netherlands. The stunning lack of leadership came from the Clinton/Gore administration.
The meeting in the Hague was the sixth attempt since the Kyoto conference of 1997 to forge [...]
Dear Folks: November 26, 2000
Hi, Dear Folks!
Sunday after Thanksgiving, all is quiet. Stephen and Kerry are at the dining room table reading the Sunday paper and petting their cats. Baroque music is playing on the radio. Marsha is not back yet from her holiday visit to her mother in New York. Jan is in San Diego with Ellen. Sourdough bread is rising in the [...]
