Whose Cost? Whose Benefit? Measured by Whom?
By Donella Meadows
–May 4, 1995–
It’s going to take months, maybe years, to sort out the blitz of legislation just pushed through the House without proper hearings or time for understanding. Newt’s Hundred Days have brought forth a hundred ideas, some new, some old, most with such potential impact that in a real democracy they would be subject to critical, informed [...]
Dear Folks: April 28, 1995
Dear Folks,
Slowly, haltingly, tantalizingly, spring creeps toward the farm through all of March and most of April. Until this week we were marking time, moping at the gray, stormy weather, wandering outside on the occasional nice days, kicking at the ground, poking for signs of life, and making up work to do. Too wet and cold to till the garden. [...]
Pointing the Accusatory Finger at Ourselves
By Donella Meadows
–April 26, 1995–
The minute I heard about the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, I knew it was done by Americans. Maybe that was because I couldn’t imagine Middle-Easterners targeting Oklahoma City, or because I’ve heard the rabid anti-government talk on Oklahoma radio. Mainly, I think, it was because I had just finished reading Bob Altemeyer’s book [...]
On This Day We Examine the Failed Environmental Movement
By Donella Meadows
–April 20, 1995–
The journalistic attention cycle has arrived at the point where we talk about the environment only on one obligatory day per year — Earth Day — and then we declare it a defunct issue.
The cycle will turn, of course. The environment will be hot again, This is the way of the media. First they discover something [...]
Ice Cracks in Antarctica, Delegates Dither in Berlin
By Donella Meadows
–April 13, 1995–
Stunning news from Antarctica arrived last month just before the world’s nations gathered in Berlin to discuss global climate change. It was as if the South Pole had reared its hoary head again, as it did ten years ago, to galvanize an international agreement.
What happened ten years ago was the discovery of the enormous ozone hole. [...]
