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There Are Limits to Growth, But No Limits to Love
By Donella Meadows
–April 30, 1992–
From corporate boardrooms to primary classrooms to the World Bank to the poorest villages, people know that the human economy is taking too great a toll on nature, growing beyond sustainable limits. We know that, and we mourn the disappearing forests, soils, clear streams, clean air — and we worry. Some retreat into denial, but most [...]
What Does Sustainability Mean?
By Donella Meadows
–April 23, 1992–
As the world prepares for the Earth Summit in June, the global buzz-word is “sustainability.” Governments and people are working not only to define that concept, but to achieve it, just about everywhere except the United States, where there seems to be a determined effort not to join the conversation.
A sustainable society, said the World Commission [...]
Will the Clean Air Act Stop Growth, or Will Growth Stop the Clean Air Act
By Donella Meadows
–April 17, 1992–
“We will not, given the current level of science, technology and the economy, … do something that could have serious effects on growth.”
A high official of the Bush administration made that statement a few weeks ago to explain why the White House opposes measures to reduce air pollution, acid rain, and greenhouse gas emissions. The policy [...]
Accelerating with a Foggy Window on an Icy Road
By Donella Meadows
–April 16, 1992–
The human population grows by 95 million people a year and degrades its fertile land by 64 million acres a year. Any moderately intelligent Martian could take one look at those numbers and conclude, “That can’t go on very long.”
Each year 40 million acres of tropical forest fall to chainsaws and cattle. Overfishing has reduced the [...]
Over the Speed Limits
By Donella Meadows
–April 9, 1992–
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds,” said Aldo Leopold more than forty years ago. “Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must … be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes [...]
