Things Are Getting Better Or Worse, Depending On What You Count
by Donella Meadows
— November 23, 2000 —
Every month I get a kind of Readers Digest for people interested in the future. It’s called Future Survey, issued by the World Future Society. Each month it contains about 50 extended summaries of recent publications about the paths — economic, environmental, social — we seem to be following.
The November 2000 issue, for example, [...]
The Power of a Vote
by Donella Meadows
— November 16, 2000 —
What is it we are learning in the aftermath of this crazy election? How powerful a single vote can be?
Or how worthless a single vote can be, when 19,000 of them can be tossed out in one county? When boxes of ballots get lost? When recounts are demanded or stopped depending on their expected [...]
A Message To New Leaders From A Fallen Giant
by Donella Meadows
— November 9, 2000 —
During the weekend before Election Day, as midgets battled furiously on warped playing fields, two giants fell, both yielding their lives peacefully, knowingly, with dignity, to cancer.
The better-known one was David Brower, the great outdoorsman and thunderer for the environment. Even in his seventies and eighties he was still shaking up the Sierra Club, [...]
Dear Folks: October 29, 2000
Dear Folks,
Such a huge difference around here, from the end of September to the end of October! When I last wrote, everything was green, the gardens were full of flowers, we ran outdoors without putting on a jacket, I was complaining because it was light for only 12 hours a day.
Now as I write this there’s a light covering of [...]
The Campaign Glass Is 95 Percent Empty
by Donella Meadows
— October 26, 2000 —
In the spirit of celebrating good news wherever it appears, I would like to point out one excellent development in the presidential campaign. The candidates have flailed at each other so much about numbers — how much of that tax cut really goes to the top one percent? how much surplus is there really? [...]
