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Chemicals Are a Means, Not an End
By Donella Meadows
–March 14, 1996–
We thought DDT was great, until we found robins dying on our lawns and eagle eggs broken in their nests.
Thalidomide eased morning sickness in pregnant women; then their babies were born without arms or legs.
Our cars performed better with tetraethyl lead in the gas, but the lead came out the tailpipes and poisoned us.
Everyone believed that [...]
Avoiding Another Silent Spring
By Donella Meadows
–March 7, 1996–
In late 1987 Dr. Ana Soto walked into her lab at Tufts University Medical School and found her tissue culture plates overrun with breast cancer cells. In years of research, she had never seen anything like it.
Soto and her colleague Dr. Carlos Sonnenschein were trying to isolate the inhibiting factor in blood that normally keeps cells [...]
How Environmentalists Ought to Talk
By Donella Meadows
–February 29, 1996–
Environmentalists are too gloomy. They invent catastrophes to attract attention and money. Bugs and trees are what they care about, not people. They want to lock up resources. They use long words, like “biodiversity” and “endocrine disrupters.” They’re elitist city folk who care about nature only as a place to go backpacking.
Accusations like these used to [...]
Environmental Zeros and Heroes of the 104th Congress
By Donella Meadows
–February 22, 1996–
All eyes are on the presidential contenders in the coming election, which is too bad, because (Bill Clinton being a jellyfish) it makes less difference who sits in the White House than which party dominates Congress. One of the vital matters hanging on that difference is the environment.
The starkness of the contrast between the two parties [...]
Lying to the Pollsters
By Donella Meadows
–February 15, 1996–
I want to assure you that my Mom brought me up right. Lying doesn’t come easily to me. I had to endure many New Hampshire presidential primaries before I thought of lying to the pollsters.
In the week or two before the primary they call almost every night. You can tell immediately that it’s a poll by [...]
