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Grosscon Versus Defendus for the Third World
By Donella Meadows
–June 6, 1991–
Amulya Reddy, a soft-spoken, urbane professor at the Indian Institute of Science, calls his government’s energy policy GROSSCON — growth-oriented, supply-sided, consumption directed. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Reddy says, “gross” means “flagrant” and “con” means “confidence trick.” The Indian energy policy is not different from the policies of most other nations of the world. That [...]
Energy Ideas from Inside and Outside the Beltway
By Donella Meadows
–May 30, 1991–
Dozens of energy bills are before Congress just now, most of them astonishingly dumb. In spite of vivid demonstrations from the Persian Gulf and from the environment that we need to re-think our energy policy, Congress and the President are still pleasing vested interests and playing short-term politics, rather than designing a sustainable energy future.
George Bush, [...]
What is a Wild Tomato Worth?
By Donella Meadows
–May 23, 1991–
The field botanist Hugh Iltis is best known as the discoverer of teosinte — the wild ancestor of the modern corn that feeds much of the world. Iltis, the Director of the University of Wisconsin Herbarium, has many more botanical discoveries to his credit, each of them, in his eyes, an argument for thinking hard about [...]
Handling Wastes the Way the Creator Intended
By Donella Meadows
–May 16, 1991–
Suppose someone came along with a new invention that could 1) cut the nation’s garbage problem in half, 2) help clean up polluted waters, 3) reduce energy imports, 4) stop soil erosion, 5) increase farm profits, and yes, even 6) slow down global climate change. An invention like that should make its creator a billionaire and [...]
Kuwait’s Oil — The Future up in Flames
By Donella Meadows
–May 9, 1991–
“Kind of sick,” was President Bush’s response to the news that the Iraqis had opened an oil terminal and let it spill into the sea on the tenth day of the Gulf War.
We were told then that the spill amounted to 11 million barrels — 40 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince [...]
