12 Quotes & Sayings By Donella Meadows

Donella Meadows was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 13 March 1936. She completed her secondary education at the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1957. After graduation she took a position with the United States Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, DC, where she worked for three years.She then moved to Denver, Colorado, where she worked as an assistant professor of mathematics at Wesleyan University. She was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study the hydrology of the Colorado River basin in 1961 Read more

After completing her graduate work at Stanford University in 1962, she moved to Washington, DC. There she worked as a statistician with the United States Weather Bureau until 1968. During this time she completed her Master's degree in meteorology at George Washington University.

The following year she became the Director of Research for the American Academy of Environmental Sciences (AAES). In 1972 she began her course work toward a Ph.D., which was completed in 1975 with a dissertation entitled "Integration of Socio-Economic and Environmental Systems." She then accepted an appointment as Professor of Civil Engineering at Stanford University; during this time she continued to work part-time with the AAES and taught courses at Stanford University and Rice University. She held both positions until 1984 when she resigned from Stanford to become a full-time writer and consultant on environmental issues.

Ms Meadows currently works out of San Diego, California, where she lives with her husband, Dr Donald A. Worster.

1
I know that war and mayhem run in our blood. I refuse to believe that they must dominate our lives. We humans are animals, too, but animals with amazing powers of rationality, morality, society. We can use our strength and courage not to savage each other, but to defend our highest purposes. Donella Meadows
2
Biodiversity can't be maintained by protecting a few species in a zoo, or by preserving greenbelts or national parks. To function properly, nature needs more room than that. It can maintain itself, however, without human expense, without zookeepers, park rangers, foresters or gene banks. All it needs is to be left alone. Donella Meadows
3
Scientists worldwide agree that the reduction needed to stabilize the climate is actually more like 80 percent. Donella Meadows
4
Social services, not wealth per se, seem to be the key to lower birth rates. The Chinese, although among the poorest peoples of the world, have brought their fertility rate down to 2.4, partly by social coercion, but mostly by broadly available education, health care and family planning. Donella Meadows
5
We don't need bigger cars or fancier clothes. We need self-respect, identity, community, love, variety, beauty, challenge and a purpose in living that is greater than material accumulation. Donella Meadows
6
Every policy is shaped by two forces: background analysis and foreground politics. The political forces are loud, self-serving and, in the case of energy policy, well known. Donella Meadows
7
Ending poverty calls for humility, honesty, freedom from ideology and refusal to accept cruel simplicities about anyone's human potential. It requires listening to the wisdom and cutting the nonsense from both the Right and the Left. Donella Meadows
8
You may be able to fool the voters, but not the atmosphere. Donella Meadows
9
A knowledgeable and courageous U.S. president could help enormously in leading the world's nations toward saving the climate. Donella Meadows
10
Like the other great revolutions, an environmental revolution will require sacrifices and lead to enormous gains. It, too, will change the face of the land and human institutions, hierarchies, self-definitions, cultures. It will take centuries. If it happens. There is no guarantee, of course. Donella Meadows
11
We don't need new laws that can be used by organizations with deep pockets and the ability to deduct legal expenses as a cost of doing business to intimidate individuals or organizations that voice legitimate concerns. Donella Meadows