Dear Folks: October 17, 1998
Dear Folks, Well, now there are FIVE! Five calves! Maple, Butternut, and Linden, who have graduated from bottles to buckets. And now two newborns, Alder and Birch, on bottles, of course. They came from the farm in Woodstock that gave us Maple. Birch has white markings on her legs. I’d swear she has some Holstein blood, but Stephen and Kerry assure [...]
The Lorax and the Truax — Hey, Can We Talk?
By Donella Meadows
–October 15, 1998–
“I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.”
Children and environmentalists can recite that Dr. Seuss classic by heart. They would be furious if they could see what an alert reader (to quote the immortal Dave Barry) just sent me.
First a reminder, if you need one, about the Lorax. The book is about a sad fellow [...]
200 Years Since Malthus and We Still Haven’t Proved Him Wrong
By Donella Meadows
–October 8, 1998–
This year is the 200th anniversary of a small pamphlet that people are still arguing about. In 1798 the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus said forcefully that the human population tends to grow to the point where it impoverishes itself and starves.
Both Marxists and capitalists energetically bash that idea. Marxists don’t believe people can ever be in [...]
Financial Meltdown — Many Theories, Many Futures
By Donella Meadows
–October 1, 1998–
There’s a small upside to the big downside of the global financial implosion. We get to be amused by theories about why it is happening.
Scandals in Washington. Allen Greenspan. Panic about the turn of the millennium and the Y2K computer bug. The too-tight relationship between Japanese banks and the Japanese government. The Russian mafia, the coming [...]
It’s NOT About Sex, It’s About Civil Rights
By Donella Meadows
–September 24, 1998–
Once again I stopped listening to the news this week. Not because I don’t want to hear someone being grilled about his sex life, though I don’t. Not because I’m a fan of Mr. Clinton, which I’m not. No, I ducked the news because I felt that something immensely unfair was happening, and I couldn’t bring [...]
