Donella (Hager) Meadows ’63

A remembrance by Jan Hieronymus Webb

After graduating with a BA in chemistry from Carleton in 1963, Donella earned a PhD in biophysics from Harvard (1968). Next, she and her then husband, Dennis Meadows (Carleton ’64), joined MIT as research fellows working with Jay Forrester, founder of system dynamics, for the next four years.

Donella, known as Dee at Carleton but called Dana by friends and colleagues afterwards, left an impressive personal and scientific legacy. She was lead author of the book, The Limits to Growth (1972), based on computer modeling, which concluded that unchecked growth and consumption will deplete our planet’s finite resources and that within 100 years, the world will experience catastrophic events due to the collapse of biological systems. The book sold 90 million copies, was translated into 28 languages, and is today considered a classic similar in influence to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It caused an uproar. People didn’t want to accept the conclusions. A second conclusion was that a state of equilibrium could be designed so that the basic needs of each person could be satisfied; and a third conclusion was that “if the world’s people want to work toward equilibrium, the sooner they begin, the better the chances of success.” Later, Dana explained, “We didn’t think we had written a prediction of doom. We intended to issue a warning, but also a vision.”

In 1972, the year the book came out, Dana moved to Dartmouth College, where she taught ethics, environmental systems, and journalism for 29 years until her death in 2001. She lived for years on an organic farm where she “lived simply, saving energy, practicing what she believed.” In 1997, she founded The Sustainability Institute near Four Corners, VT, which she called a “think-do-tank” for environmental solutions. Today the institute operates as The Dana Meadows Sustainability Institute and researches world sustainability solutions and practices local solutions; it also holds archives of Dana’s work. There have been two revised editions of Limits to Growth, one titled Beyond the Limits (1994) and one titled Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update(2004). In her lifetime, Dana wrote six books, many articles, and a 16-year syndicated column called “The Global Citizen.” A book entitled Thinking in Systems (2008), which contains some of Dana’s lectures, came out in 2008.

Dana was recognized in her lifetime. She served for 18 years as coordinator of the International Network of Resource Information Centers (INRIC), facilitating exchanges of information between scientists from East and West during the Cold War. She won a Pew Scholarship and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her syndicated column was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She received invitations to teach and lecture throughout the world. Yet she referred to herself simply as a farmer and a writer. She would often refuse speaking invitations after weighing the amount of carbon she would use to travel against the benefits of the speech. She turned down multiple invitations from Carleton College to accept an alumni achievement award, saying others deserved recognition more than she.

Donella died in Hanover, NH in February, 2001, following a two-week battle with cerebral meningitis. We honor her and her work posthumously.