The Donella Meadows Archive

The New World of Plastics -- Not New Enough

A reporter recently asked me for a comment on a solid waste bill proposed by my Congressman Chuck Douglas (R-NH). I said I was...

score:9, 05/24/1989, ,

Different Approaches to Sewage Treatment -- and to the World

Just below one bank of condominiums at the Sugarbush ski resort near Warren, Vermont, you can find three and sometimes four sewage treatment systems being...

score:9, 06/29/1988, ,

Clean-up is the Wrong Word

Exxon is still frantically trying to "clean up" the oil spill near Valdez. The government estimates that "cleaning up" the radioactive contamination at its weapons...

score:9, 04/13/1989, ,

Two Approaches to Sewage Treatment -- and to the World

Down the slope from the condominiums at the Sugarbush ski resort near Warren, Vermont, are two sewage treatment plants, side by side. They are so...

score:9, 05/21/1987, ,

High-Tech Garbage Recycling Makes Jobs and Saves Money

American municipalities will spend $35-50 billion over the next four years for trash incinerators, but incinerators are not the best solution to the garbage...

score:9, 07/30/1987, ,

Incinerator Blues, Part One: Do You Know Where Your Trash is Tonight?

About a month ago I got a mailing from a national environmental group, warning about the very incinerator to which my garbage wends its humble...

score:9, 09/03/1987, ,

Incinerator Blues, Part Two: a Beginner's Guide to Toxic Ash

The 3200 tons of garbage on the barge that was rejected by 6 countries has finally found its final destination -- an incinerator. Increasingly incinerators, sometimes...

score:9, 09/10/1987, ,

Incinerator Blues, Part Three: Who Do You Trust?

As I go back and forth from the pro- to the anti-incinerator side of the controversy in my valley, I can't find any...

score:9, 09/17/1987, ,

Incinerator Blues, Part Four: Why Not Recycling?

Most everyone involved in the Great National Garbage Problem would agree on the following propositions: 1. Landfills are better (and more expensive) than open dumps...

score:9, 09/24/1987, ,

Earth Care Paper -- Doing Well and Doing Good

I like to collect stories of planet-conscious businesses, companies that run their affairs in ways that sustain the earth's resources. There are more...

score:9, 03/17/1988, ,

The Earth and the Nation Do Not Need More Plutonium

The element called plutonium did not exist on earth until 1941, when Glenn T. Seaborg made the first measurable amounts of it by bombarding uranium...

score:9, 06/16/1988, ,

Methanol is Not What It Takes to Clear the Air

In more than 60 U.S. cities, where 75 million Americans live, the air regularly violates health standards, and it's getting worse. The original...

score:9, 07/28/1988, ,

Who Should Prove What to Whom About Acid Rain?

Every weekday morning this summer, six college students set out from the Ravine Lodge on Mt. Moosilauke in New Hampshire to spend the day measuring...

score:9, 08/25/1988, ,

Hiding the Symptoms, Maintaining the Sales

Lo, the wonder-makers of modern science now bring you biodegradable plastics! Are your roadsides littered, your beaches cluttered, your wild creatures strangled, your dumps...

score:9, 02/23/1989, ,

Clean-up is the Wrong Word

Exxon has just hired 100 people at $16 an hour to "clean up" the massive oil spill near Valdez. The government estimates that "cleaning up...

score:9, 03/30/1989, ,

Denmark's Hazardous Waste Disposal System

In low-lying Denmark people do not live very far from their groundwater. Whatever they dump onto the land ends up in their wells, and...

score:9, 04/06/1989, ,

High up Ozone Versus Low Down Ozone, and Other Atmospheric Confusions

A fat lady in apron and snow boots is out on her porch earnestly spraying an aerosol can out into space. The caption says, "Mrs...

score:9, 05/18/1989, ,

It's a Long, Long Way to Clean Air

Everyone who breathes is hurt by air pollution; so are plants, animals, lakes, rivers, buildings, and the climate. That doesn't make any of us...

score:9, 06/22/1989, ,

Allergic to the Twentieth Century

Until she was 26 Annie Berthold-Bond had never had a medical problem. That year her husband Daniel was a graduate student at Yale, and...

score:9, 08/17/1989, ,

When is "recycling" Not Recycling?

Schoolkids from Vermont to Brooklyn are learning a new skill this fall -- how to separate polystyrene plates, cups, and cutlery from the rest of their...

score:9, 11/02/1989, ,

Bad and Good Environmental Marks for McDonald's

McDonald's, like all fast-food purveyors, is one of the great garbage producers of the world. McDonald's is also working as hard at...

score:9, 11/09/1989, ,

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, ,

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, ,

The Story of an Incinerator -- So Far

Consider the following true story the next time someone tells you a trash-burning incinerator is the answer to your community's solid waste problem...

score:9, 03/01/1990, ,

A New Materials System Arises in Fits and Starts

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Americans are proving not only able but willing to separate their garbage. In fact we're becoming such ferocious recyclers that...

score:9, 04/19/1990, ,