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Seeing Ourselves as our Neighbors See Us
By Donella Meadows
–August 3, 1989–
Lots of Canadians read Time every week, but few Americans read Maclean’s, and that’s a shame. If we took the time to see the world as our northern neighbors see it, we could learn something. We could learn how we ourselves look to our closest and most sympathetic, but independent and sometimes critical, observers. We could [...]
A Call for Environmental Success Stories
By Donella Meadows
–July 27, 1989–
For the past three years a Washington-based group called Renew America has published an annual report card on the environmental progress (or regress) of the 50 states. The “State of the States” report ranks the states on the strictness and completeness of their policies on such matters as water quality, air quality, waste disposal, energy conservation.
I [...]
What are we Really Fighting About?
By Donella Meadows
–July 20, 1989–
Twenty years ago I was legally forbidden, as a married woman living in Massachusetts, to have an abortion or to use contraceptives. I was a low-income but privileged member of society (a graduate student), and I obtained the Pill with no trouble. My university health service dispensed it quietly, as did many doctors throughout the state.
I [...]
A Letter, Anguish, and a Rubber Band
By Donella Meadows
–July 13, 1989–
I suppose everyone who writes a regular newspaper column gets an amazing stream of letters from readers — I do, anyway. They scold me and praise me. They contain jokes, stories, clippings, leaflets, occasional obscenities, and all sorts of questions. Often a letter will go straight to my heart — because it comes straight from someone [...]
The Richest Ten Percent, The Poorest Forty Percent
By Donella Meadows
–July 6, 1989–
The 1989 World Bank Development Report came out last month, an event that created excitement nowhere except in the hearts of statistics freaks like me. No sooner had my copy arrived than I turned to my favorite table — Table 30, Income Distribution. I like to keep up with how the top 10 percent lives.
To my [...]
