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The State of the World as Revealed by a Month of Mail
By Donella Meadows
–May 12, 1988–
Normally I can handle the glut of paper I find in my mailbox each day. Computer-generated stuff gets chucked out unopened. The rest I scan at lightning speed. Some I set aside to read carefully — interesting, timely reports, sent by friends and organizations who help keep me in touch with the world. They sometimes send [...]
Singapore Leads the Good Life Under a Benevolent Dictator
By Donella Meadows
–May 5, 1988–
Singapore has achieved the American dream, but not in the American way. It is a prosperous, clean city, with imposing skyscrapers and glittering shopping centers. The multinational corporations of the world are welcome here; you can buy any brand name you’ve ever heard of. The highways are lined with tropical flowers and crowded with BMWs. And [...]
Around the World in 24 Days
By Donella Meadows
–April 28, 1988–
Boston – Singapore – Bangkok – Bombay – Nairobi – Dar Es Salaam – Jeddah – Kassel – Zurich – Boston, all in 24 days. Only this wondrous age of technology makes such a trip possible; only this crazy age of relentless time pressure makes me undertake it.
Workshops and meetings are suspended like pearls on a [...]
Land Trusts Provide a New Tool for Growth Control
By Donella Meadows
–April 21, 1988–
There is a land trust explosion in the United States. More than 500 private land trusts have appeared over the past 20 years. They are a new addition to a community’s bag of tools that guide growth to express the community’s values rather than just the private developer’s.
Most people learn about land trusts when they are [...]
Trading Debt for Nature Instead of Nature for Debt
By Donella Meadows
–April 14, 1988–
It is a tragedy, but not an accident, that the world’s most threatened tropical forests are in some of the world’s poorest and most indebted countries. The very poverty of those countries destroys the forests. Governments, to pay at least the interest on their debts, encourage logging companies to take timber. Forests are turned into pasture [...]
