The many professions practiced by Dennis L. Meadows (born in 1942) can best be summed up by simply calling him a systemic thinker. In the early 1970s Meadows, a co-author of the revolutionary book The Limits to Growth, and his fellow members of the Club of Rome firmly established the concepts of the limited character of natural resources and the need to utilize them sustainably in the minds of the general public. Meadows’ systemic and quantitative approach to analyzing future developments has influenced environmental research ever since.

 

 

In what places or situations do you get your best ideas?

My best ideas emerge when I find out through reading and conversation about an issue that requires a new approach. I find that my most productive ideas tend to come in surroundings where everyday distractions like e-mail and the telephone are far away.

In which everyday skill would you call yourself an “expert”?

I’m an excellent navigator. For example, each spring I spend a week cruising with friends on a houseboat within the complex system of the French waterways. Plotting out the itinerary for each day is a great challenge and an enormous pleasure.

Which everyday mystery most urgently ­requires an explanation or a solution?

We need to understand why humans and the institutions they create typically ignore the long-term consequences of their short-term actions.

Why do we spend more and more time in front of our computers even though they’re becoming faster all the time?

The time I spend with computers depends more on my typing speed than it does on the chip processing speed. Since my typing speed is fairly constant and I use the computer for an increasing number of tasks, the time goes up. That’s why I’ve now set a limit to prevent computers from taking over my life.

Do you entrust your best ideas to a machine or jot them down on a piece of paper?

I have many paper lists of things to do, ranging from simple shopping lists to reminders concerning really complex and profound lines of thought. Occasionally I’ll compile all my lists into a computer document. But then I print that out and use it in paper form.