Donella Meadows

Donella Meadows
Born	(1941-03-13)March 13, 1941 Elgin, Illinois
Died	Hanover, New Hampshire
Residence	Plainfield, New Hampshire
Nationality	United States
Fields	Environmental science, Systems science
Institutions	Dartmouth, MIT
Alma mater	Harvard University Ph.D, 1968 Carleton College B.A., 1963
Known for	The Limits to Growth, Twelve leverage points
Notable awards	MacArthur Fellowship (1994) Walter C. Paine Science Education Award (1990)

Donella H. "Dana" Meadows (March 13, 1941 – February 20, 2001) was a pioneering American environmental scientist, teacher, and writer. She is best known as lead author of the influential book The Limits to Growth and Thinking in Systems: a Primer.

Life

Born in Elgin, Illinois, Meadows was educated in science, receiving a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College in 1963, and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard in 1968. After a year-long trip with her husband, Dennis Meadows, from England to Sri Lanka and back, she became, along with him, a research fellow at MIT, as a member of a team in the department created by Jay Forrester, the inventor of system dynamics as well as the principle of magnetic data storage for computers. She taught at Dartmouth College for 29 years, beginning in 1972. She died in 2001 from a bacterial infection.

Meadows was honored both as a Pew Scholar in Conservation and Environment (1991) and as a MacArthur Fellow (1994). She received the Walter C. Paine Science Education Award in 1990. Posthumously, she received the John H. Chafee Excellence in Environmental Affairs Award for 2001, presented by the Conservation Law Foundation.

Meadows wrote a weekly column called "The Global Citizen," commenting on world events from a systems point of view. Many of these columns were compiled and published as a book. Her work is recognized as a formative influence on hundreds of other academic studies, government policy initiatives, and international agreements.

Meadows was a long-time member of the United States Association for the Club of Rome, which instituted an award in her memory: "The US Association for the Club of Rome Donella Meadows Award in Sustainable Global Actions." This award is given to an outstanding individual who has created actions in a global framework toward the sustainability goals Meadows expressed in her writings.

Work

The Limits to Growth

Main article: The Limits to Growth

In 1972, she was on the MIT team that produced the global computer model "World3" for the Club of Rome, providing the basis for The Limits to Growth. The book reported a study of long-term global trends in population, economics, and the environment. The book made headlines around the world and began a debate about the limits of Earth's capacity to support human economic expansion−a debate that continues to this day.

The Balaton Group

In 1982, Donella Meadows and Dennis Meadows created an international "network of networks" for leading researchers on resource use, environmental conservation, systems modeling, and sustainability. Since its foundation, the members have met at Lake Balaton, in Hungary, every autumn. While the formal name for the network was the International Network of Resource Information Centres (INRIC), it became more popularly known as the Balaton Group based on the location of its meetings.

Sustainability Institute and Related Organizations

Donella Meadows was the founder of the Sustainability Institute, which combined research in global systems with practical demonstrations of sustainable living, including the development of a cohousing (or ecovillage) and organic farm at Cobb Hill in Hartland, Vermont, in the United States. In 2011, the Sustainability Institute, originally located adjacent to Cobb Hill, was renamed the Donella Meadows Institute and moved its offices to Norwich, Vermont. Additional organizations that sprang from the Sustainability Institute include Sustainable Food Lab, Climate Interactive and Sustainability Leaders Network.

State of the Village report

In 1990, Donella Meadows published the State of the Village report under the title, "Who lives in the 'Global Village'?" which likened the world to a village of 1,000 people. Since then, "If the world were a village of 100 people"−derived from her work but further reducing the numbers to those of a village of 100 people−has been published by others in English, Spanish, and Japanese.

Twelve leverage points

Main article: Twelve leverage points

Meadows published Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, one of her best-known essays, in 1999. It describes what types of interventions in a system (of any kind) are most effective, and which are least effective.

See also

• Amory Lovins
• Cobb Hill
• Dennis Meadows
• System dynamics
• DYNAMO (programming language)

Further reading

• Donella H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis L. Meadows Limits to Growth-The 30 year Update, 2004, hardcover ISBN 1-931498-51-2
• Dennis L. Meadows, Donella H. Meadows, Eds. Toward Global Equilibrium: Collected Papers, Pegasus Communications, 1973, hardcover ISBN 0-262-13143-9
• Donella H. Meadows and J. M. Robinson, The Electronic Oracle: Computer Models and Social Decisions, John Wiley & Sons, 1985, hardcover, 462 pages, ISBN 0-471-90558-5
• Donella H. Meadows, Global Citizen, Island Press, 1991, paperback 197 pages, ISBN 1-55963-058-2
• Donella H. Meadows, et al. Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind, New American Library, 1977, paperback, ISBN 0-451-13695-0; Universe Books, paperback, 1972, 0–87663–165–0 (scarce); ISBN Universe Books, hardcover, 1972, ISBN 0-87663-222-3 (scarce); digital edition of 1972 printing, produced by the Dartmouth College Library.
• Donella H. Meadows et al. Beyond the limits : global collapse or a sustainable future, Earthscan Publications, 1992, ISBN 1-85383-130-1
• Donella H. Meadows (2008) Thinking in Systems - A primer (Earthscan) ISBN 978-1-84407-726-7
• Dennis L. Meadows, Donella H. Meadows and Jorgen Randers, Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a Sustainable Future, Chelsea Green Publishing, 1993, paperback, 320 pages, ISBN 0-930031-62-8
• Donella H. Meadows, John M. Richardson and Gerhart Bruckmann, Groping in the Dark: The First Decade of Global Modelling, John Wiley & Sons, 1982, paperback, ISBN 0-471-10027-7
• edited by Sandi Brockway, foreword by Marilyn Ferguson, introduction by Denis Hayes, preface by Donella H. Meadows, Macrocosm U. S. A.: Possibilities for a New Progressive Era..., Macrocosm, 1993, paperback, 464 pages, ISBN 0-9632315-5-3
• Michael J. Caduto, foreword by Donella H. Meadows, illustrated by Joan Thomson, Pond and Brook: A Guide to Nature in Freshwater Environments, University Press of New England, 1990, paperback, 288 pages, ISBN 0-87451-509-2
• Ikeda Kayoko, C. Douglas Lummis, Si El Mundo Fuera Una Aldea De 100 Personas/if The World Were A Village Of 100 People, Paperback, 64 pages, ISBN 84-7669-625-6. Japanese/English version: ISBN 4-8387-1361-4

External links

• Donella Meadows Institute
• Guide to the Papers of Donella H. Meadows, 1941-2007, in the Dartmouth College Library
• The Global Citizen, bi-weekly column by Meadows
• Another link for Global Citizen
• The website of the Balaton Group (International Network of Resource Information Centers)
• Cobb Hill website
• A copy of her original Global Village report (based on 1000 people)
• The Miniature Earth project based on Donella Meadows text

---