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From Dump to Garden: Burlington’s Intervale
By Donella Meadows
–July 24, 1997–
The Intervale, the green floodplain where the Winooski River winds through Burlington, Vermont, was once the site of flourishing farms. Green Mountain Boy Ethan Allen had a homestead there, and long before him the Abenaki Indians cultivated the fertile soil. But as the city grew, the valley degenerated into a weedy urban wasteland, literally on the [...]
The Big Squeeze
By Donella Meadows
–July 17, 1997–
I don’t travel by air all that often, so I can’t get used to the squeezed-in seats. Every time I get in a plane it seems they’ve shaved another half-inch from the seat width, and the rows are an inch closer together. When the person in front of you leans back nowadays, his or her head [...]
Expert Statements Worth Paying Attention To
By Donella Meadows
–July 10, 1997–
Lay the world’s economists end to end, goes an old joke, and they’ll still point in every direction. Ask the world’s scientists about the environment, goes a modern myth, and they’ll disagree.
But surprisingly large numbers of scientists and even economists have been agreeing lately and issuing stunning public statements — stunning because of the extent of [...]
Old Cars, Air Conditioners, CFCS, and Hoaxes
By Donella Meadows
–July 3, 1997–
You would think that if any publication would NOT receive letters enflamed with political opinion, it would be Hemmings Motor News.
This magazine for folks who like to restore, buy, sell, and ride around in classic old cars normally has a letters page studded with proud pictures of a reader’s spiffed-up 1946 Dodge fire truck, newly acquired [...]
The Tobacco Companies Aren’t the Only Ones
By Donella Meadows
–June 26, 1997–
So the cigarette companies have negotiated a deal that would limit public control of their product and limit their liability for the millions of people who have died using that product.
As the nation debates their offer, I hear people branding tobacco executives as somehow uniquely evil. I’ve just read a book that leads me to believe [...]
