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Earth Summit Advice from a Gorilla
By Donella Meadows
–June 11, 1992–
Watching my president argue with other leaders of nations about who shall own, patent, and collect the profits from the earth’s biodiversity, I wish I could get him — and all the others — to read just one book.
I know, leaders don’t read. But I can’t help thinking how different the Rio Conference could have been, [...]
What’s a Scapegoat to Do?
By Donella Meadows
–June 4, 1992–
A few weeks ago I was honored, I guess, to appear on National Public Radio with Dennis Avery, a self-described agricultural expert with the Hudson Institute. I had never met Mr. Avery, but since the Institute is a radically conservative organization, I expected the discussion to be lively.
What I didn’t expect, in this post-cold-war era, was [...]
Why It’s a Conference on Environment and Development
By Donella Meadows
–May 28, 1992–
Reporters are calling it the “Rio Conference” or the “Earth Summit.” Properly it is the “United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,” abbreviated UNCED, pronounced “unsaid.” What is mostly unsaid, at least in the Northern press, is the last word in that title — development.
Environment and development were set up as equal issues for UNCED for [...]
Should Real Environmentalists Eat Beef?
By Donella Meadows
–May 14, 1992–
I became a vegetarian in the 1970s in India, because the people around me lived that way. I stayed a vegetarian when I came home, because young idealists back then were inspired by Frances Moore Lappe’s book Diet for a Small Planet. She convinced us that meat-eating was equivalent to taking grain out of the mouths [...]
Who Cares Whether George Goes to Rio?
By Donella Meadows
–May 7, 1992–
Will George Bush go to the Earth Summit next month in Rio de Janeiro? U.S. politics and media, operating together in their perverse way, have made that the Environmental Question of the Day.
It is a confused and meaningless question. It muddles symbols with substance. It focuses on short-term national concerns and bypasses an exciting long-term global [...]
