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Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer to the Greenhouse Problem
By Donella Meadows
–July 21, 1988–
To the folks who bring us nuclear power, this year’s drought is a bonanza. They don’t have to advertise any more, the media are doing it for them. Nearly every report on the drought calls it a sign of the global greenhouse effect. One cause of greenhouse warming is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Nuclear [...]
Private and Public Addictions
By Donella Meadows
–July 14, 1988–
As we limit the public spaces where smokers can indulge their habit and consider calling out the Army to apprehend drug dealers, it might be well to step back and consider the behavior we are trying to control — addiction. Addiction permeates our private and public lives in more ways than we are willing to admit.
The [...]
A Lament from the Countryside
By Donella Meadows
–July 7, 1988–
As I write, the sun, low in the west, is just shining out from beneath storm clouds. This is the third bank of clouds to come over this month, drop ten minutes of soft rain, and pass on. A few minutes ago I went out and scratched in the garden with a hoe. Under the damp [...]
The Greenhouse Effect Meets the Press
By Donella Meadows
–June 30, 1988–
Thanks to the Midwest drought, reporters have caught on to the greenhouse effect. The phones of climatologists and environmentalists have been ringing off the hook. Experts on long-term climate change are quoted on the front page of the paper, asked to testify before Congress, interviewed on the “Today” show. Is the drought the first sign of [...]
The Strength of the Nation Is in Its Two-Headed Nails
By Donella Meadows
–June 23, 1988–
I am proud of my country in many ways, but it never occurred to me to be proud of its two-headed staging nails, until Dmitry Kavtaradze identified them as a secret of our national success.
Dmitry is visiting as part of a USA-USSR exchange program in environmental education. At home he is a professor of biology and [...]
