Donella Meadows Archives

Between the People and the Government there is a Huge Ethical Gap

by Elizabeth Sawin – April 1, 2003 – “Why aren’t they using their words?” a seven-year-old asked her mother today. She was talking about the U.S. bombing of Iraq.” So begins Talking with Children about War – an article sent home from my daughter’s school. The little girl’s question is a good one. But I didn’t find the answer in Talking with Children about [...]

Searching for Our Untapped Sources of Power

by Elizabeth Sawin – March 19, 2003 – You’ve called your Senators and your Representatives. Or perhaps you have called the White House (possibly many times). You have signed petitions. Or you have stood with groups of your neighbors on a bridge, at city hall, or on your town green, holding up a sign saying NO WAR ON IRAQ. Perhaps you have taken your children with [...]

Petitioning a Government That Does Not Yet Exist

by Elizabeth Sawin – February 3, 2003 – Petitions have been arriving in a flurry in my email in-box lately. I have some doubts about the effectiveness of all this petitioning and tend to be quick with the delete button, but one recent petition drew me in. The message itself – which stated that the United Nations is collecting signatures of people opposed [...]

Healthy Systems Need Good Feedback

by Elizabeth Sawin – June 2, 2002 – Friends of mine tell me that their daughter will only eat meat if she knows the name of the animal that died to produce it. She’ll eat the pork roast from pigs grown on our farm — but not the anonymous bacon offered up in the college dining hall. Adherence to this one guideline [...]

What Really Needs to be Said About our Last Lamented Election

By Donella Meadows –February 1, 2001– Like you, I have been drowning in the gush of reaction to our recent election (or selection) — an election that will never quite be over, that will continue to prick like a thorn, that was clearly never intended, as our new president is already demonstrating, to unite instead of divide us. I have heard no one, [...]

About DMI

Since its founding in 1996 by environmental leader Donella Meadows, our Institute has been at the forefront of sustainability thinking and training. Our initiatives have addressed economic, environmental, and social challenges from a range of angles and at many levels. In everything we do, the disciplines of systems thinking and organizational learning inform and shape our work. It is this focus on whole-system analysis, combined with careful listening, truth telling, and visioning, that make the Donella Meadows Institute unique among sustainability organizations.  Read More

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