The Donella Meadows Archive

Living Green Isn't a Sacrifice, It's an Adventure

I'm one of those tedious people who try to "live green." I'm no beginner. I've been at it 30 years, since information...

score:9, 04/19/1999, ,

Four Not-So-Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Planet

It's wonderful, the burst of publications with lists of things we can do to save the planet. It's great to see so much...

score:9, 04/11/1991, ,

Hands Across White River Junction

The official Hands Across America line passed 200 miles south of Vermont, but people up here wanted to express their concern for the homeless and...

score:9, 05/29/1986, ,

All the White House is a Stage

Will Rogers said it's not what we DON'T KNOW that will hurt us; it's what we KNOW that ain't so. Politics...

score:9, 07/17/1986, ,

We're All Downwind from Seabrook

Have you ever wondered what drives the people who are activists, who speak up and get involved? For instance, the folks who demonstrate against the...

score:9, 08/07/1986, ,

Beyond Divestment and Sanctions

"I can't decide whether to go to crew practice or to the anti-apartheid rally," one of the freshmen in my class sighed, very...

score:9, 08/14/1986, ,

Cory Aquino -- a New Kind of Leader

"Why have the media in your country started saying negative things about Cory Aquino?" asked my friend Maria, visiting from the Philippines. "They say she...

score:9, 07/31/1986, ,

Two Stories and a Whole Bunch of Morals

Here are two simple stories for the holiday season and a question. The question is, what is the moral? What point do these stories make...

score:9, 12/25/1986, ,

The Gift the Philippines Can Give the World

Corazon Aquino's determined face on Time's cover as Woman of the Year reminded me of the face of another Filipino woman. Her name...

score:9, 01/29/1987, ,

E.B. White the Skeptic and Ollie North the True Believer

Last week while I was watching Oliver North testify before Congress, I was also reading a biography of the great American writer E.B. White...

score:9, 07/16/1987, ,

A Catalog for Ecoconsumers

A year ago I wrote in a column that if every light bulb in the United States were replaced with the most energy-efficient equivalent...

score:9, 10/08/1987, ,

A Negabarrel Saved is a Barrel Earned

Amory Lovins shuttles around the world carrying a small suitcase that contains, he says, the equivalent of 200 large power plants plus all the oil...

score:9, 06/02/1988, ,

New Year's Resolutions for the Environment

"What can I do?" It's been twenty years since I've been asked that question so insistently. A new generation is discovering the environmental...

score:9, 12/29/1988, ,

The People Should Do It, the Government Should Do It

"I want my government to tell me what to do when it comes to recycling trash, and I want them to make it easy. "I...

score:9, 02/09/1989, ,

Consumer Pressure Speeds up a Farming Revolution

They say money doesn't make the world go round, but sometimes it changes the behavior of human beings wonderfully. I have been trying for...

score:9, 06/01/1989, ,

101 Things You Can Do About the Greenhouse Effect

By some stroke of providence, every step we need to take to reverse the greenhouse effect is worth doing anyway. Every step is technically possible...

score:9, 10/26/1989, ,

A Week's Trash is a Heavy Burden

It was the students' idea to carry their trash around for a week. They had worked with the Dartmouth building and grounds staff to create...

score:9, 12/07/1989, ,

Ashoka Fellows: Entrepreneurs for a Better World

Every now and then the air in Mexico City gets so bad that flocks of migrating birds flying overhead rain down dead on the city...

score:9, 12/14/1989, ,

Many Kinds of Giving

Every now and then come times in life when you have to change your give/take ratio -- when you have to be more of a...

score:9, 12/21/1989, ,

The Great Disposable Diaper Debate

What's an environmentally conscious parent to do? To save the earth she or he forswears disposable diapers, finds a diaper service or does a...

score:9, 02/08/1990, ,

Four Not-So-Easy Things You Can Do to Save the Planet

It's wonderful, the burst of publications with lists of things we can do to save the planet. It's great to see so much...

score:9, 06/14/1990, ,

Shopping at the Coop: Anything That Exists is Possible

In the back of my car I keep a split-oak shopping basket. As we empty plastic containers, glass bottles, and paper bags in the...

score:9, 03/21/1991, ,

A Declaration of Independence from Junk Mail

The competitive market economy can be counted on to turn any good thing to ridiculous excess. Commercial mail to my house once consisted of three...

score:9, 12/06/1990, ,

Letters from Africa, Help from America

The sheer brutality of the poverty is the hardest for us to get used to. It takes them so much energy just to live a...

score:9, 12/20/1990, ,

Amazing Energy Facts for Fun and Profit

One mature tree on the south side of your house provides as much summer cooling as five midsized air-conditioners. A single open fireplace damper...

score:9, 02/06/1992, ,