Social Security Is No Problem, Unless We Make It One
by Donella Meadows
— April 7, 1999 —
Overshadowed by the agony of Kosovo, outshouted by the Dow crossing ten thousand, a surprising news item appeared on page 6 or 15 or so of most American newspapers last week. Social Security has received a stay of execution. Instead of going into the red in 2032, it may survive till 2040 or 2050. [...]
Why Kosovo is a Battleground Again
by Donella Meadows
— April 1, 1999 —
Surprised citizens are flooding Congress with calls asking how this Kosovo mess came about and why we’re involved in it.
When I heard that, my first thought was, “Where has everyone been?” This storm cloud has been darkening the horizon for weeks, as genocide broke out in Kosovo and negotiations dragged to a predictable impasse [...]
Dear Folks: March 28, 1999
Dear Folks,
Foundation Farm has just invented a cartoon strip, the first installment of which you will find in this newsletter.
It started on the “white board” in our kitchen, the place where we write up the shopping list and the “to fix” list and the “to do” list. Sometimes random comments, announcements, or complaints appear on this board, but normally it [...]
Genetic Engineering Is Not Just More of the Same
by Donella Meadows
— March 25, 1999 —
Genetic engineering is nothing new. People have been messing with genes since the first farmers selected the biggest wild grass seeds and began to breed what we now call grain.
So say many widely respected scientists. It’s no big deal, they say, to snip out code from a flounder and paste it into a tomato. [...]
Monsanto Gets Pie in the Face
by Donella Meadows
— March 18, 1999 —
Poor Monsanto.
To my knowledge only one other company — Microsoft — has managed to be so hated that its CEO — Bill Gates — has been hit in the face by a cream pie. The pie that hit Monsanto’s CEO Bob Shapiro at an environmental forum last fall was made of tofu, in protest [...]
