Donella (Dana) Meadows inspired countless individuals with her pioneering work in systems thinking, her strong voice in support of a just and sustainable world, and her undefeatable optimism. Her ideas and writing remain as influential today as ever. The Global Citizens blog is an ever-growing collection of reports, reflections, commentaries, thoughts, and stories by people striving to fulfill Dana's vision of a world that aligns environmental, social, and economic systems. Read on to learn more about this vision and what it means at all scales.

Envisioning a Sustainable World

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 8th, 2012

By Donella Meadows

Donella Meadows, one of the founders of the Balaton Group and an early advocate of systems thinking. (image credit: Donella Meadows Institute This is an edited transcript of part of a talk given by Donella Meadows at the 1994 meeting of the International Society for Ecological Economics in San José, Costa Rica, and recorded by Peter Griesinger. Meadows, cofounder of the [...]

Donella Meadows Honored at Atlas Awards Ceremony

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 4th, 2012

By Sarah Parkinson

Donella Meadows and her Limits to Growth co-authors will be among the 100 “climate heroes” recognized this week at the inaugural Atlas Awards. The event aims to honor recipients for “their leadership in influencing Americans towards more caring and sustainable lives that could ultimately stabilize Earth’s climate.” It will feature a keynote address from Boyd Cohen, co-author of Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age [...]

Learning from the Past

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: October 2nd, 2012

By Sarah Parkinson

Looking Backwards to Move Forwards in a Year of Anniversaries Happy anniversary to Silent Spring, The Limits to Growth, and other environmental milestones! (Image credit: lou.veyret via Flickr) While making progress on social and environmental issues requires looking forward with vision and resolve, there’s also good reason to look backwards. This year marks the anniversary of a number of historical events important [...]

Social Innovations for Economic Degrowth

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: September 28th, 2012

By Andreas Exner, Christian Lauk

Members of the Ein-Harod kibbutz work at a stone quarry in 1941. The kibbutz offers an early example of how cooperative enterprise can shift goals from profit to concrete human needs, which are satiable and do not compel constant growth. (Image credit: Government Press Office of Israel) At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we find ourselves in a peculiar situation: [...]

Setting Down Roots: Dennis Meadows on the Founding and Mission of Balaton

Posted by Kindle Loomis, Published: September 24th, 2012

Working with their Hungarian colleagues, scientists Donella and Dennis Meadows organized the first meeting of the Balaton Group in Csopak, Hungary, in 1982. Donella died unexpectedly in 2001, and Dennis relinquished all his responsibilities for organizing and financing the group after its 25th annual meeting in 2006. But he remains a steadfast participant in its meetings and a keen observer [...]

About The Donella Meadows Project

The mission of the Donella Meadows Project is to preserve Donella (Dana) H. Meadows’s legacy as an inspiring leader, scholar, writer, and teacher; to manage the intellectual property rights related to Dana’s published work; to provide and maintain a comprehensive and easily accessible archive of her work online, including articles, columns, and letters; to develop new resources and programs that apply her ideas to current issues and make them available to an ever-larger network of students, practitioners, and leaders in social change.  Read More

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