You Are Not Your Square Footage
By Donella Meadows
–January 1, 1998–
Bill Gates’s new mansion comprises 20,000 square feet of living space, with another 20,000 for guest house, sports courts, gardens and garage.
My brother just built a new house, a bed & breakfast with a floor area of 5000 square feet.
The average American house in the 1940s had an area of 1200 square feet; now it’s more [...]
Dear Folks: December 27, 1997
Dear Folks, All’s quiet at Foundation Farm. It’s Saturday afternoon, 4 PM, just turning dark. I’m listening to the Met broadcast of Don Carlo. The big woodstove in my study is ticking with heat and three big dogs are sprawled out on the floor in front of it. Simon the gray cat is curled up on the copy machine, Kitty the [...]
A Computer Model Tests Our Red, Green or Blue-Colored Glasses
By Donella Meadows
–December 25, 1997–
There’s a new computer model of the long-term future of the world that does something hardly any model — computer or mental — ever does. It explores the fact that we all see the world through biases.. (Yes, even you and, hard to believe, even me.)
The model is called TARGETS. It was put together by researchers [...]
Venture Capital for Public Entrepreneurs
By Donella Meadows
–December 18, 1997–
The idea Bill Drayton began working on sixteen years ago seemed far-out then and seems farther out now. The talents required for entrepreneurship, he realized, need not be applied only to business. Entrepreneurship for public gain is even more admirable than for private gain and even more necessary.
“Public entrepreneurs,” says Drayton, “are rare men and women [...]
And You Thought You Liked Shrimp
By Donella Meadows
–December 11, 1997–
What’s worse? Hearing that something you really like is harmful to your health, socially shameful and environmentally unsupportable? Or NOT hearing that something you really like is harmful to your health, socially shameful and environmentally unsupportable?
If you picked the first, stop reading now.
The world shrimp catch has tripled since 1970. It’s now 50% beyond what the [...]
