By James F. Hornig

~Professor Emeritus, Environmental Studies, Dartmouth College~

This weekend there are memorial services like this being held in Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Seattle, and at least one in Europe. What a testimonial to the fact that one person can make a difference! And how appropriate that Dana’s memory is being honored on Earth Day! She loved the earth.

I first met Dana in 1972, when Dennis was being interviewed for a possible teaching position in the Engineering School at Dartmouth. I was Dean of the Science Faculty, and had been told that Dennis’s wife Donella was also interested in a position at Dartmouth. I met with her, and described my reactions in a letter to several departments as follows:

“Dr. Meadows is interested in a teaching position at Dartmouth. I bring her to your attention since her background does not readily suggest that any single department would be a logical place for her to seek a position. … Would you contact me if you feel that there is any likelihood that your department would be interested in exploring Mrs. Meadow’ qualification and interests in more detail?”Fortunately I made the right decision and we created a position for Dana in the brand new program in Environmental Studies. This was arguably the best decision I ever made as dean. And it was the start of a twenty nine year association with Dana which was never dull and which enriched my life immeasurably.

A few years later, when I returned to full time teaching, I decided to cast my lot with the fledgling Environmental Studies Program, and that is when my education in sustainability began in earnest, with Dana as my tutor.

The Environmental Studies Program has done well, and its success owes a great debt to Dana’s influence on students, faculty, and the curriculum. Students flocked to her courses, and in the past weeks I have been contacted by many former students who described how Dana changed their lives.

But I would like to make a special point of Dana’s unique influence on the faculty. We could always count on her to challenge us, to prod us, to inspire us, and to educate us. But beyond that, there was another very important and unusual role that Dana filled for me and, I suspect, for many of her faculty colleagues. Dana was willing — even anxious — to be a visible public advocate of important issues relating to sustainability and the environment. Her weekly newspaper column, of course, was the most visible but not the only example of this role. Most of us on the faculty are trained in a discipline and are uncomfortable about speaking out publicly on matters too far from the comfort zone of our disciplinary expertise. But because of Dana we had the luxury of having someone speak out for us. She spoke eloquently, she spoke honestly, and she spoke knowledgeably. Her scientific training, together with a life in the public policy arena, and a profound intuitive understanding of the dynamics of complex systems, gave her positions a balanced credibility rare in the literature of environmental advocacy. We certainly didn’t always agree with every one of her positions, but we never had to apologize for errors of logic or fact. We were always honored to have her byline identify her as a member of the faculty of the Dartmouth Environmental Studies Program.