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The Ozone Agreement — Many Kinds of Heroes
By Donella Meadows
–October 15, 1987–
With rejoicing and relief 24 nations and the European Economic Community signed an agreement in Montreal in September to protect the ozone in the earth’s stratosphere. The negotiations were long and difficult, but as they went on, nation-states and multinational corporations behaved in an increasingly civilized, cooperative, forward-looking way. It was enough to make one believe [...]
A Catalog for Eco-Consumers
By Donella Meadows
–October 8, 1987–
A year ago I wrote in a column that if every light bulb in the United States were replaced with the most energy-efficient equivalent now available, we could save enough electricity to shut down half the nuclear power plants in the nation. I should have anticipated all the letters that came in, asking where to get [...]
Jozsef Discovers America
By Donella Meadows
–October 1, 1987–
“How many telephone equipment there are in this house?” Jozsef asked on his second day in America, his second day in the West.
I was embarrassed to answer. Two weeks earlier I had been in Hungary at the home of one of Jozsef’s colleagues, another professor of economics at Budapest’s Karl Marx University. It was a gracious [...]
Incinerator Blues, Part 4: Why Not Recycling?
By Donella Meadows
–September 24, 1987–
Most everyone involved in the Great National Garbage Problem would agree on the following propositions:
Landfills are better (and more expensive) than open dumps; they reduce smell, rats, and pollution of air and surface water. But landfills take up space and pollute groundwater.
Mass-burn incinerators are better (and much more expensive) than landfills; they take less land and [...]
Incinerator Blues, Part Three: Who Do You Trust?
By Donella Meadows
–September 17, 1987–
As I go back and forth from the pro- to the anti-incinerator side of the controversy in my valley, I can’t find any villains. What I find is capable, likeable folks on both sides, who can’t agree on where to put their garbage because they can’t agree on where to put their trust.
Al Haley the operations [...]
