At first blush, The Global Citizen seems a little dated. The essays on CFCs and nuclear power, for instance, seem very early 80s. But as any good system dynamicist knows, this stuff doesn't just go away. Those nuclear power plants are still there (some even in operation!) and CFCs are still floating around the upper atmosphere, destroying ozone.

The breadth of the essays in the book is impressive - Meadows covers everything from small town meetings to global poverty, property easements in New Hampshire to development projects in Sri Lanka, clean water, clean air, greenhouse gases, conservation, energy security and the American business cycle. The writing is in excellent column form - she gets right to the point, her voice is very clear, and she makes complicated concepts easy to understand. ( )