Donella Meadows

Donella Meadows was an American environmental scientist, systems thinker, and writer whose work on sustainability and system dynamics has influenced generations of scientists, policymakers, and activists. Born in 1941, she studied Chemistry at Carleton College and earned her PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University. She was a professor at Dartmouth College and a leading figure in the field of systems thinking. Meadows was the lead author of The Limits to Growth, the groundbreaking 1972 report that used computer modelling to demonstrate the consequences of unchecked population and economic growth on a finite planet. The report sold thirty million copies and sparked global debate about sustainability. Her posthumously published Thinking in Systems: A Primer has become the essential introduction to systems thinking, explaining how complex systems behave, why they produce surprising results, and where to find leverage points for change. She founded the Sustainability Institute and wrote a syndicated column, The Global Citizen, until her death in 2001 at the age of fifty-nine. Her audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers powerful intellectual tools for understanding the interconnected world we live in — ideas that become more relevant with every passing year.