(~___.R_A_IN_________] NOVEMBER, 1975 VOLUME II, NO. 2 75 CENTS WORLD FROM ABOVE PAGE 26 INSIDE: p. 14 ON INFLATION E. F. Schumacher p. 17 NORTHWEST ENERGY MAP p. 20 PATHS TO A SOLAR TRANSITION Interview with John Reynolds Speech by Reis Leming
Page 2 RAIN Nov 197 5 RAIN is supported by your subscriptions and a grant from the N.W. Area Foundation, administered through the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210, 227-5110. RAIN I Full Circle Staff Tom Bender Lane de Moll Lee Johnson Steve Johnson Nancy Lee Anne McLaughlin Mary Wells Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photo: Ancil Nance Graphics on pp. 4, 7, 8, 14, 29: Martha Dyck The deadline for material is approximately the 28th of each month. We are selling RAIN through retail outlets. If you have some suggestions, please send them along. Maybe you could distribute in your area? In future issues we hope to do pieces on (1) putting together conferences, (2) personal changes, ( 3) China, ( 4) energy and employment, (5) video/cable directory, (6) urban farming, (7) regional resource inventories. Cover Photo: Looking into the sunset at 9,000 ft. from Illumination Saddle, Mt. Hood. RAIN DROPS As the person who handles money and the mailing list at RAIN, I have some requests to make of you who get RAIN in the mail. And since I respond better to requests that I understand the reasons for, I can't resist giving an explanation of mailing procedures and costs. When we mail out 200 pieces of mail that are all the same, all at the same time, sorted in zip code order, it costs us 1.8<t apiece. That's what happens once a month when we mail RAIN to everyone already on our list. The rest of the month we seem to be spending quite a bit of time mailing out single copies of the most recent RAIN, both to new subscribers and to people who want sample copies, and some others. When we send them one at a time like that, it costs us 1 B<t apiece. That's right, 10 times the bulk rate. It also means lots of time spent addressing those special copies and going to the post office to buy 18<1 stamps. So from now on I'm going to add most of those names to the list for the next issue of RAIN, unless you specifically request otherwise. €GRICULTURE • FOO~ Companion Plants and How to Use Them, by Helen Philbrick & Richard Gregg, 113 pp., $5.95 from: Devin-Adair Co. 143 Sound Beach Ave. Old Greenwich, CT 06870 A classic and pioneering book on one of . the least understood phases of ecology, namely plant antagonisms and plant symbiosis. Why do certain species of plants grow better in the presence of others, and why do some do poorly when others are present? This publication combines the finding of many individual observant gardeners. It is the best we've got until Richard Merrill of New Alchemy Institute-West has time to write down what he's learned. The Use ofthe Land: Essays on the History ofAmerican Agriculture, by John T. Schlebecker, 218 pp., $10.00 from: Coronado Press Box 3232 Lawrence, KS 66044 Very extensive bibliography, footnotes and index backing up comprehensive chapters on agriculture and urban growth, grasshoppers, sorghum monoculture in South Dakota, cattlemen on the plains, dairy journalism, curatorial agriculture. The author is curator of the Division of Agriculture & Mining at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Another burning issue is address changes. Unless you notify RAIN yourself that you're going to move (and where to), and we have time to change our list before the next mailing, you miss a copy, and we're charged l0<t to be notified of your new address or lack of one. (What happens is the PO takes your RAIN, puts a label on it giving your new address or saying "no forwarding address," and returns the magazine to us with l0<t postage due.) We request this service by putting "address correction requested" in our mailing label space because we want to keep track of you if you forget. But it's a lot easier if you take care of it ahead of time. Another thing: if you move and promise the PO that you'll pay for magazines and newspapers to be forwarded, they'll do it, but only for 90 days, and they still send us a notification of address change and charge us a dime. So please let us know ahead of time if you can. Anne McLaughlin The Biochemistry and Methodology of Composting, by Raymond Poincelot, Bulletin 754, Sept. 1975, 18 pp., single copies free from: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station New Haven, CT An unbelievable reference list! This is an extremely fine publication, covering history, theory and practice, utilization of compost and trouble-shooting the balky compost pile. Also explains largescale municipal processes. Get this; and get their publication list. This is the kind of work that needs to be done. Biological Control of Plant Pathogens, by Kenneth F. Baker & R. James Cook, 1974, 433 pp., 57 illustrations, 5 tables, $12.50 from: W. H. Freeman 660 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94104 This is the first book devoted wholly to the microbial soil ecology. Years of research and observation has led to organization of this knowledge into a thorough treatment of principles and suggestions on practical application. The authors present bio-control as one part of an integrated disease-control program, along with cultivation practices, soil treatment, sanitation, host resistance and mild chemicals. On reading, one wonders how and to what degree the ecological principles mentioned might apply to human society. In any case, it's reassuring to have people knowledgeable about natural plant disease control right in one's own back yard ... Prof. Cook is at Washington State University in Pullman.
Compost Vingnanam (Tamil Quarterly' Bulletin on Composting). Inquire on price from: "A. S. Venkat Rao, editor Compost Vingnanam 28 New Street Tiruµelveli District (Tamilnadu) South INDIA Also covers manure and methane as the editor has built more than 170 methane generators. The next issue·, to be published Jan. 1976, will feature the-ORE PLAN (see RAIN, no. 1, p. 22; no. 4, p. 14, or no. 6, p. 5). Future issues will •include plans and photos of simple, new methane plant designs and a full textbook on methane generation is at press. Pesticide,and Organic Gardening Ruling. , The Lartgans of Toppenish sent·us a clipping on the recent court ruling in their favor over a pesticides damage suit filed in June 1973. The Langans con'tended that pesticides sprayed near their 2-1/2 acre farm prevented their crop from receiving an organic gardening certificate. The ruling could obviously have implications elsewhere. They also mentiope~ that January 24, 1976 is the annual meeting 6f the Northwest Organic Food Producers Association, to be held at the Home Federal Savings and Loan, 5th & Yakima Ave., in Yakima, Wash. Green Fun: Instant Toys, Tricks and Amusements from Weeds, Seeds & Flowering Things,' by Maryanne ' Gjersvik, 77 pp. $1.95 from: Devin-Adair Co. 143 Sound Beach Ave. Old Greenwich, CT 06870 Dandelion curls, plantain violin, snapdragon puppets, burr baskets, grass whistles, daisy wreaths and more. And take a child with you . .. an excellent introduction to green, ~rowing things for the 2 to 6 year old~·... kid ecology! Tilth Newsletter, $5 /yr. . P.O. Box 2382 Olympia, WA 98507 More and more sure of itself. We often find out about things iri our own back ·yard related to agriculture and energy. Last issue was an unexpected packet-of things including "New Food Systems in Vermont," "Ecology of Compost" (a t how-to) and "A Decentralist Approach to World Food Crisis." Conseroation of the I.And a'!d the Use of Waste Materials for Man's Benefit, Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, U.S.Senate, March 2S, 1975. A pretty well-known summary of the present and prolonged effects -of mono crop agriculture in the midwest. and lack of or failure of adequate windbreak ~ystems. The second half of the report is most interesting, outlining the use of sewage sludge and animal man-ures as fertilizers. "Of the 7 million tons of dry sewage sludge equivalent now produced annually in the United States, it is estimated that 40% goes into landfills, 20% is applied.on land, 25% is incinerated and 15% is discharged into the ocean. Because land use is the only direct beneficial use of thjs matedal, we have op- •portunities for a five-fold increase in such use: Implementation of the Water Quality Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-500) is expected to result in a three- to five-fold increase in the production of sewage sludge in the next 5 years. We can thus anticipate a large increase in the pressure to use sludges on agricultural land." • Enhancing Biological Nitrogen Fixation, edited by Harold Evans, single copies free from: • Office of the Deputy Assistant Director for Biological and Sodal Sciences, NSF 1800 G St., N.W. Washington, DC 20S50 The annual market value of nitrogen obtained from the atmosphere by •agricultural legumes in the U.S.. is about $3.3 billion dollars. This nonpolluting biological process utilizes neither natural gas nor petroleum as its major source of energy, but is primarily dependent upon solar energy captured by plan ts -through photosynthesis. This report summarizes present knowledge about nitrogen fixation and suggests ways to increase the process in other species. It suggests gaps in understanding where 'further research would be useful. Nov 1975 RAIN Page 3 Countryside Small Stock Journal 130 E. Madison St. Waterloo, WI 53594 This journal is mostly for the ser10us farmer, but/and especially for the farmer who wants to find simple, resource-saving met~ods. "When water has-to be carried from a well, average usage is 8 gallons per day. When a pump is put at the kitchen sink, consumption increases _to 10 gallons per person per day. Put in a fau~et and that figure goes up to 12 gallons. Introduce hot water in the kitchen and you'll use 18 gallons a day-.... Put in a complete pumping system and usage increases to 30 gallons a day." It is mostly written by _the readers, li~e Smallhqlder, Alternative Sources of Energy, Living in the Ozarks, Tilth. , • Generally a notch richer lo~king than those magazines. Enough good stuff for anyone and urban farmers as well. Organic Gardening Under Glass, by Katy & George Abraham, 308 pp., index, $8.95, from: Rodale Press Organic Park Emmaus, PA 18049 ,Covers, with explanatory photos, drawings and charts, greenhouse typesJloca- . tion and layout, simple homemade hotbeds and cold frames; greenhouse vs. outdoor garden soil, how to mix_topsoil, compost and other plant food; how to control growing conditions in terms of moistl,lre, temperature, ventilation a~d lighting. Tips on energy conservation . are useful but incomplete without solar _ heating and thermal storage a la Steve ,Baer's 5 5-gal. drumwalls. -Good but conventional. A primer for more advanced environments such as Jim deKorne's . integrated agriculture-aquaculture~solarwind ecosystem (next issue) and Bill . yanda's Solar Sustenance Projec;t (last issue, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 7).
Page 4 RAIN Nov 197 5 Is people flying all agross the country to a conference that costs $32 S, held at a p'osh, $100/day luxury resort, to listen to people read from papers that have already .been printed a part of the problem or the solution? • The Lin:iits to Growth '7 5 Conference held last month in Houston was some of both-an interesting scan on how far people's heads have moved, a chance to get together with a lot of fine peoplebut all buried in·a diet of monotonous intellectual verbosity, general absence of answers and action, and a conference run'and located in a fashion that denied any real comprehension of our problems. Documentation from many sources • demonstrated that our present patt~rns can't continue-in food, energy, materials, capital, industrial production or health. Yet most dialogue was concerned with how long we can wait to change rather than how we can act NOW to a~low the greatest ease and time ·to change. _ . There was a general admission that political and social events rather than technical limits are provjng to be the catalytic caus~s of change. The grow,ing refusal of people-whether indiv.idual factory workers or the OPEC nationsto accept continuation of present in- • equities of wealth and power is alrea,dy causing major changes such as the redistribution of oil profits from consuming countries to producing countries. _ Few participants seemed aware that the local changes that they were proposing trying ro accomplish through cumbersqme and expensive governmental and managerial processes are already happening without their aid-conservation of energy, insulation, changed lifestyles, taking of.power and responsibiliLimits to Gross ty by individuals and local communities. 'The poor, the Third World, minorities, and people actively making changes were visibly absent. If the whole event could be looked at ·as an attempt by the rich and powerful "managers of society" to show that they are capable of understanding and resolving our current problems, it was a dismal failure. Yet there were a number of significant individual moments. ~ Many business people we.re sincerely trying to change-to find more appropriate products and processes. Almost everyone seemed to accept the need for fundamental changes. E. F. Schumacher's real and demonstrated actions in developing humanely viable economics, technology and insights into what DOES work under our 'emerging·conditions was a high point of the conference, as . was the presentation by Amory Lovins concerning ethical and social limits to energy \lse. Herman Daly, Hazel Henderson, John Todd, Jean Houston, Jahangir Amouzegar, all made significant contributic;ms to raising _the awareness of the participants. Yet here, as elsewhere, the small and personal exchanges amo'ng people outside the formal, visible., and presumably important s~ructure seemed to add ·up to more progress and value than the major speeches. Several interesting papers were prepared either for the presentations or for the accompanying competition. Eventually to be printed in conference pro- •ceedings, copies of the papers are probably available from the authors: "Some Limits to Ene~gy Conversion" Amory Lovins 11 Village Close Belsize Lane London, NW3 England A careful survey of general limits to energy use, limits t9 centraFzed electrification, limits to nuclear fission technology, and ethical, social and capital limits to present patterns. "Energy, Growth and Altruism,t Bruce Hannon 1208 W. Union St. Champaign, IL 61820 Winner of the $10,000 first prize.in.the competition. Quantitative exploration· of energy/employment interactions, effects of reduced consumption and what happens when those savings are spent. Raises interesting questions on strategies for change. "International Migration as an Obstacle to Achieving World Stability" John H. Tanton Rt. 4, Box 272 Petoskey,.MI 49770 Discusses economic and social effects of past immigration policies that encouraged expropriation of skilled and trained third world people by wealthy nations. Explores limiting of migration as essential mechanism to deveiopment of responsibility for local developments. "Towards a Primary Lifestyle" Robert Allen International Union for the Conservation of Nature 1110 Morges Switzerland Documentation of numerous mechanisms in traditional equilibrium cultures that limited growth without reaching physical limits. • (T.B.)
Ce-RCHITECTURE ) • Water Cons'ervation and Wastefl~w Reduction in the Home, by William Sharpe, Special Circular-No. 184, available from: • Pennsylvania St. University , College 0£ Agriculture Extension Service University Park, PA A less technical introduction to water use reduction than the NTIS document, this report gives one an excellent feel -for what is easily possible to do in this area. Contains photos, cost analysis of flow reduction options and a bibliog-. raphy. Our next problem after energy and food costs? • . Humus Toilet Bromat Enterprises 739 2nd St. Coeur d'Alene~ ID 83814 208-667-6610 Unfortunately, it is electrically heated and uses 3-4000 watts daily in stirring the human and kitchen waste. But it is another option, and I think I'll add it to my files. Thermal E_nvironmental Engineering, Second Edition, by James L. Threlkeld, 495 pp., $16.1 S from: Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ 0763,2 Comprehensive coverage includes elementary thermodynamics and heat transfer, refrigeration, psychrometrics, solar radiation, applications of heating and.air conditioning principles, and special topics such as heat pumps and· solar collectors. Should be on your bookshelf next to Solar Energy Th.ermal Processes by Duffie and Beckman, $12.9S from Wiley-lnterscience, New York. Both are excellent professional level treatments and both are recommended for,colleges beginning solar energy and energy c1 onservation courses. New Energy Technologies for Buildings, , by Schoen, Hirshberg & Weingart; edited by Jane Stein, $S.9S from: • Ballinger Publishing 'Cambridge, MA Another excellent Ford Foundation Energy Policy Project report, this time on the institutional barriers to energy conservation and solar technologies arid methods to remove them: Trade unions, building codes, sun rights, the housing construction ind.ustry. An excellent overview. .See also Reis Leming's talk to Portland Savings & Loan executives in this issue. Demonstration of Waste Flow Reduction from Households, PB-236 904, Sept. 1974, $5.2S print c<>py, $2.25 micro- , fiche from! National Technical Information Service • U.S. Dept. of Commerce Springfield, VA 22151 A 2-year demonstration program was conducted to evaluate water savings, costs performance and acceptability of various water-savings devices. Reduced , flow toilets and flow limiting showers were installed in 8 single-family dwellings. In 3 of the homes bath and laundry water were filtered, disinfected and reused for toilet flushing and/or lawn sprinkling. Toilet water savings were 25%, with reuse of water for lawns resulting in an additional 16-18% water savings. For single-family homes recycle·system could give cost savings in high water and sewer use rate areas and in areas of poor septic system drainage. ' {§oMMUNITY Asahel Curtis Sampler, $4.95 Puget Sound Access - P.O. Box 4100 Pioneer Square Station Seattle, WA 98104 The Asahel Curtis photograph collection, housed at the Washington State History Society, contains about 60,000 negatives, ·mostly of Seattle, in the period 1900-1915. This volume, edited by David Sucher (who several years ago compiled the Puget Sound Access Catalog) is a selection of about 100 photos with accompanying text. It is difficult to watch a place (or us) grow old. Written history is a sampler: and here too-100 photos chosen out of 60~000, and 60,000 out of how many taken, out of how many taken in proportion to how many that could have been taken, or? ... A couple of years ago I attended a slide show developed by Ernie Munch, a Portland architect, about the growth of Southeast Portland. Though I had lived in Southeast·Portland for.20 years, I realized how small my vision was, accepting many things as givens, many of which-,had been non-exis~ent 125 years ago. In this keep-cm-truckin' socjety, we often move through homes like scenes from movies, seldom knowing how things came to be wh'ere.they are. The Asahel Curtis Sampler is a clearly-designed slide show kind of book, and it should be of interest to Seattle ·lovers as well as a model for sele_cti~e historical photo perspectives. Nov 1975 RAIN Page 5 Street: Magazine of the Environment Pratt Center for Community and Environmental Development 240 Hall Street . Brooklyn, NY 11205 The Summer 1975 issue has an excellent summary of housing problems: good articles on "red-lining" (lending institutions' practice of refusing loans and mortgages in deteriorating neighborhoods, thus ensuring their demise), the use of the National Environmental·Policy Act of 1970 for urban envirqnments, and sweat equity cooperatives to rehabilitate housing. Ea.ch article gives address and phone numbers for people to cont~ct. Many of the programs mentioned are federal; others, though specific to NYC, could be adapted anywhere. Lots of good ideas here. "A Sense of Community" Dept. of Community Development Office of Neighborhood Planning 306 Cherry St~ Seattle, WA 98104 A free fold-out brochure/poster outlining six ways to improve one's neighborhood bicycles, neighborhood organizations, planting trees,'safety, playgrounds, traffic diverters. I America the Beautiful Fund , 219 Shoreham Bldg. ,-washington, DC 20005 202-638-1649 Paul Bruce, with the America the Beautiful Fund (who published Old Glory, a catalog of the Grass Roots History move- _• ment in the U.S.), wrote to remind us of the other programs, including advisory services, workshops and one-time seed money grants. Journai of Community Communications Published by L&G Engineering 1807 Delaware St. Berkeley, CA94703 A feeler issue (Vol. 1, issue O),. for those interested in non- or low-hierarchical communication systems. Good 2-3 page summa,ry of the history of the Bay Area Community Memory Project. UoucATION Population Education: Sources & ·Resources Population Reference Bureau 1754 N St., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 ) Here's probably the best item you can get cheap_that will lead you to the right .teaching materials. Includes audiovisual materials, schools and organizations. $1. continued on page 8
Page 6 RAIN Nov 1975 " ' ·Too Many Books and Too FeW "Everything is there: the ,minute history of the future, the aµtobiographies of the archangels, the faithful catalogue of the library, thousands and thousands of false catalogues, a demonstration of the fallacy of the.true catalogue, the Gnostic, gospel of Basilides, the commentary on ~his gospel, 'the commentary on the commentary on this gospel, the veridical ac-:. count of your death, a version of each book in all languages, the interpolations of every book in all books. "When it was proclaimed that the library comprised all books, the first impression was one of extravagant joy. All men felt themselves lords of a secret intact treasure. There was no personal or universal.problem whose eloquent solution did not , exist-in s<;>me hexagon. The universe was justified, the universe suddenly expanded to the limitless dimensions of hope.... _ "But the searcher did not,remember that the calcul11-ble pos- 1 sibility of a_man's finding his .own book, or some perfidious variation of his own book, is close to zero. . . . - . "The1uncommon: hope was followed naturally enough by deep depression. The certainty that some shelf in some hexagon contained precious books and that these books werf inaccessible seemed almost intolerable.'.' . ' - I Library of ~abel, Jorge_Luis Borges . ' Sometimes after doing RAIN entries for several days, all the _parts of the world don't look like they have any reason.to be here rather than there; or there rather than here, which I hope explains the order of some of the following. , "There are neural cente,;s for generating, spontaneously; numberless hypotheses abo_ut the fact~ of life. We store up information _the way cells store energy. When we are lucky enough to find a direct match between a receptor and a fact, there is a deep explosion in-the mind; the idea suddenly enlarges, rounds up, bursts with, new energy,,and begins to replicate. At times there are chains of reverberating expl'osions, shaking everything: the imagination, as we say, is staggered." Lives of a Cell, Lewis Thomas , In one of the most complete surveys of information in production in the U.S. (now very outdated, 1958), Fritz Maclup found that the ·production of knowledge accounted for about 29% of the GNP and that it was growing at the rate of approximately 10% per year, twice the rate of the economy as a whole. . • , And somehow that feels very much like an understatement; I can't always find the line between information gatheringand dissemination processes and unrelated ones. It reminds me of how Marshall McLuhan pointed out to Xerox that they were really marReting information, not office equipment. Depends on where you are, but most people get their information in non-print ways-by word of mouth, their own as- , sumptions, touch, TV, radio-and then it seems this.search for the wired library of Babel is somehow an aside. "The keepers of the to~er ~f Babel may forever lament its passing, because their ambition to storm heaven and make a name for themselves has been crushed in rubble ... but their patrons never had any wish to storm heaven. All they wanted was certain tools-not an indiscriminate, overwhelming heap 1 of books . . . . " .... _; Library Journal cover, Sept. 15, '75 Daniel Fore, in the Journal article, describes the staggering problem of space keeping up with the information output. "In a yery few years the majority of academic libraries will •own more books than they can shelve~ yet half the time they are unable to deliver the books they already own to' a patron w~o wants them. Too many Qooks and too few." •The output outstrips dissemination and access as "depressed scholars tell puzzled administrators that the Harvard Library of today, with its'9 million volumes, is less adequate to its users now than a century ago, when it was a tiny fraction of , that size." • - How much we need and wh<rn it gets where (and to whom) is a critical environmental problem. /'Many old maxims point out that talk is cheaper than action. • A comparison of the entropy balance and the energy balance on the surface of the earth indicates that the maxims are indeed a reflection of our exp~rience. The amplification of information is .easier than the amplification of power." Scientific-American, Sept. :11 The assimilation and dissemination of information, such as in that there bits and pieces rag, RAIN, is often seen as a wheelspinning, getting nowhere process; endless talk w'ith no action. I have a sne~ky suspicion that it ain't so, but maybe 'cause_I'm on the hubcap looking out. We'd like to share in this-space some ideas and implications about the race going nowhere; be~een the library of Babel and the $1.25 all-you-need-to-know-about-everything paper- , back there's a steady"'state, appropriate warning, feeling, knowing, eventually invisible, information network. _ "Ambiguity seems'to be an essential, indispensible element for th~ transfer of information from one place to another by words. Where matters of real importance are concerned, it is often , n~cessary, for meaning to come through, that-there be an al- ~ost vague sense of strangeness and askewness. Lives of a Cell In,a study done b'y Stanley A. Elman, University of California, a comparison is shown between manual and computerized 'literature searches. The average cost of 48 manual searches at Lockheed's California company library was about $250.00- (22 hours of time) as compared with $47.00 and 45 minutes utilizing the Dialog on-line interactive information retrieval system. ' "You cannot get something for nothing, not even an observation."-Dennis Gabor • It costs $57 to process every purchase order in the Oregon --state government. Networks are systems allowing for,the movement of information from one part to another. They may be electronic delivery systems (broadbased _cable or microwave systems) or 'cardboard containers ~sed to interlibrary loan a book. . The National Committee on·Libraries and Information Science has released their third·and final draft, recommending continued federal aid in the form of categorical grants dis-• tributed through the state libraries, to coordinate public/private information services 3:nd to resolve the copyright dilemma . so further library networki'ng and sharing of resources through _, micro-publishing and copying' can continue. A White House
C:Onference on libraries and information science is planned for 1976 or 1977, but waiting appropriation (rom Congress. The Library of Congress was recentlr.. awa~~ed a $52,000 grant to pinpoint the role of the Library of Congress in the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences proposal for a National Library Network. Another grant will be administered through the NCLIS to update the ALA's "National Inventory of Library Needs." The federal money that goes directly to the state library systems comes from the Library Services and Construction Act, which was passed for FY 1976 at the 1975 level, $49,155,000 (Title I money, for library services, not new construction); and $2,594,000 for inter-library cooperationthis in spite of advice by President Ford to do away with library cooperation funds and cut the $49 million to $10 million. The state library systems, as administrators of LSCA money for local libraries, must submit a long-term plan each year in order to receive money. How the money is dispersed on the local level depends a lot on the state of local financing. Oregon's state money has always been miniscule, so, unlike our neighbor Washington, very little money has been appropriated to library networking. The money is being spent to help maintain existing services, providing book access for the blind and handicapped, and administering the state library (through which people living in areas without libraries can borrow materials). Washington, on the other hand, has a library network figured to be one of the most advanced in the country. Individual libraries are hooked together into regional consortiums, which then are being related to a common bibliographic base, which will eventually allow anyone anywhere to be plugged into state-wide library resources, which will include academic as well as public library resources. One of the larger undertakings in the Western States along the lines of the Washington State Library Network is being coordinated by WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) under two grants: from Council on Library Resources ($79,325) and U.S. Office of Education Research and Development ($65,135). Ms. Maryann Duggan, with WICHE, explained to a gathering at the Oregon State Library recently how the planned library network would be similar to the Pacific Northwest Bibliographic Center in Seattle, the Bibliographic Center for Research in Denver, and the California State Library in Sacramento, which together include the holdings of 1,150 libraries and 2,515,000 title entries. She also spoke of two very advanced, very complete machine-readable bibliographic data base programs now available at the Washington Library Network in Olympia and with California Ballots in Palo Alto. These programs have online access and permit search by title, author, subject and call number. It is the intent of the network planning task force that these two computer and three bibliographic systems be utilized to build the Western Interstate Bibliographic Network, thus making it possible for librarians anywhere in the region to participate. If we ask something without knowing what the possible answers are, then we have not really posed a question; we have instead requested help in formulating a question. How to Keep Track of Them Things Bowker, a Xerox company (1180 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036), is the McDonalds of the book world (my mind gives up its metaphor searches after three minutes). They publish the Library Journal, Publishers Journal, Books in Print, Literary Marketplace, School Library Journal, Previews (audio-visual publishers' weekly), and many directories. The Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information gives Nov 1975 RAIN Page 7 what seems like the most complete summary of the library of Babel, though of course not complete. Things like the Annual Review ofInformation Science and Technology, and innumerable other annuals, periodicals, proceedings, published by groups such as ALA Information Science and Automation Division (50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611), Special Libraries Association (235 Park Avenue S., New York, NY 10003), Council of National Library Associations, Bibliographical Society of America (P.O. Box 397, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10017), The American Society of Indexers ... HCL Bulletin • Hennepin County Library 7001 York Ave. S. Edina, MI 55435 The way We index things, as Don Juan points out, circumscribes, perhaps even literally makes, the world we live in. The HCL Bulletin attempts to analyze the way we catalog books in order to locate prejudices, mind sets, misdemeanors, etc. Book/egger Booklegger Press 5.55 29th St. San Francisco, CA 94131 $8/yr. A continuation of the style started by Synergy (published by the Bay Area Reference Center). Access/review, touching and going publication. Celeste West and Elizabeth Katz, who worked with Book/egger several years ago, published Revolting Librarians, an eclectic collection of essays on libraries struggling to change their images, and librariesfrom archives to information centers. Book/egger makes a good supplement to RAIN. Young Adult Alternative Newsletter 37167 Mission Boulevard Fremont, CA 94536 $3/yr. Reviews of books, etc. for "children's" librarians. Tall Windows Topeka Public Library 1515 W. 10th Topeka, KS 66604 $5/yr. A literary magazine for librarians. continued on page 8
Page 8 RAIN Nov 1975 continued from page 7 Alternatives in Print Glide Publications 330 Ellis St. San Francisco, CA 94102 ALAISRRT Newsletter Social Responsibilities Round Table 60 Remsea St., Apt. lOE Brooklyn, NY 11201 $8.95 paperback, 50¢ handling. Along with COSMEP, listed elsewhere in RAIN, is a bibliographic search and find compilation of small press publications, usually not listed in Books In Print, etc. $5 ALA members, $3 non-members, $10 institutions. The SRRT is the "Alternative" Library Association, with groups throughout the country. Newsletter mainly for librarians. Rights/censorship issues. CALL (Current Awareness in Library Literature) Goldstein Associates 35 Whittemore Rd. Framington, MA 01701 Good source of smaller press items. Supplement to standard library journals. The U*N*A *B*A *S*H*E*D Librarian: A Letter for Innovatot'S G.P.O. Box 2631 New York, NY 10001 4 issues/$10. "I~genious editor-iconoclast Marvin Scilken rounds up ideas for improving service, saving time, money and tempers. Fast processing, streamlined forms, relevant classification schedules and headings, unique supplies, etc. It's an Occam's razor all the way-with a twist of wry.... Total media. . .." (From Booklegger review) We've previously mentioned publications that supplement the Bowker-Xerox world (and RAINs too): Co-Evolution Quarterly 558 Santa Cruz Menlo Park, CA 9402 5 $6/yr., quarterly. Workbook A Mechanized Information Services Catalog U.S. Dept. of Commerce Institute for Computer Science & Technology National Bureau of Standards Southwest Research and Information Center P.O. Box 4524 Albuquerque, NM 87106 Washington, DC 20234 $7 individuals, $10 institutions. 90¢. "A few statistics illustrate.the dimensions of the problem: at least 80 commercially available machine-readable bibliographic data bases; at least 150 general purpose data management software packages and about 50 interactive information retrieval systems; at least 66 informatin centers offering current awareness or retrospective search services." Sipapu c/o Noel Peattie Rt. 1, B.ox 216 Winters, CA 95694 $2/yr. EDUCATION continued from page 5 Calendars All in about a week we received three calendars: When To Do It Homestead Planning Guide Doug & Barbara Schulz Rt. 1, Box 794A Wilsonville, OR 97070 Lots of useful information for the homestead type. When to plant what, family food supply, herbs in medicinal use. Simple Living Calendar Center for Science in the Public Interest 1779 Church St., N.W~ Washington, DC 20036 $3 .00. With some of the ideas of the Lifestyle Index but somehow lacking the punch of that. Family Energy Watch Calendar Dept. of Energy 528 Cottage St., N.W. Salem, OR 97310 The most informative, dense calendar I think I've ever seen; yet laid out in such a way as to still be useful as a calendar. The information included is of near book proportions. Many, many . good energy use charts, facts, quotations. Designed to help people keep a watch over their energy intake. Though copies we got were free, I think they will be charging $2 .9 5. National Science Teachers Association 1742 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 Has produced some of the best classroom energy materials available. EnergyEnvironment Source Book, $4; EnergyEnvironment Materials Guide, $2; and mini-unit guide, $3. (S.J .) ) OMSI Energy Center Designer and coordinator of Energy Center exhibits is Jeff Kennedy, recent staff addition to OMSI. An alumnus of Brown University, he earned a master's degree from Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to coming to the museum, Jeff worked with the Research and Design Institute of Providence, R.I., in alternative energy research. Three energy exhibits are on loan to the museum. From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a working model of a typical dam and turbine and generator, through which water flows at the push of a button. Also from the Corps are two hand generators that produce electricity and show beautifully the relation between human energy input and electrical output in measured horsepower
(one of these exhibits is for children). From NORCAS the museum will receive a two-dimensional breeder reactor exhibit that includes a quiz and slide presentation. Construction has begun on TERA ONE, the experimental solar-heated house to be built near OMSI. Pacific Power and Light Co. initiated the project and coordinated donations of materials and labor. The energy-conserving three-bedroom house has been designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Two evening education programs of the Energy Center are planned for December: On Monday, the 1st, Dr. George Tsongas of PSU will talk about Future Energy Sources at 7: 30 p.m. in the .Arend Auditorium. Tsongas, Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Sciences and Engineering, will examine energy resources and demands in the near future and beyond. On Tuesday, the 9th, Energy Center staff will offer "Solar Energy: An Introduction," designed for those with non-technical backgrounds. These programs do not require registration and are open to high school students and adults. Both are at 7: 30 p.m. There is no admission charge for OMSI members; non-members pay $1. The Spoils ofProgress: Environmental Pollution in the Soviet Union, by Marshall I. Goldman, 370 pp., 1972, $3.45 from: MIT Press Cambridge, MA 02139 An impressively documented account of the Soviet situation. Goldman demonstrates that it is industrialization rather than capitalist conquest which has produced environmental damage comparable to the U.S. He suggests a "Limits to Growth" kind of solution as ·her only salvation. Contains an exhaustive 23-page bibliography. ' ~·, - ? • h,iti;: :•·. 11 J'i Prometheus Crisis, by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank Robinson, Doubleday, 1975, $8.95. We Almost Lost Detroit, by John G. Fuller, Readers Digest Press, 1975, $8.95. - Hot off the press. Two amazing books on nuclear accidents-one truth, one fiction. Both scary. The Prometheus Crisis, written by the authors of Towering Inferno, is soon to be made into a major film. Fort Union Coal Field Symposium, sponsored by Montana Academy of Sciences, Eastern Montana College. $8.75, order from: Eastern Montana College Bookstore Billings, MT 59101 This five-volume work is an important technical compilation on the development and use of coal resources, especially in Montana, though applicable in general. An impressive range of considerations, including one volume on social impact. A six-month turnaround between conference and published proceedings, too! Economics ofEnergy, ed. by Leslie E. Grayson, 457 pp., 1975, charts, graphics & index, $16.95 from: Darwin Press, Inc. Box 2202 Princeton, NJ 08540 Focuses mainly on the governmental and industrial aspects of the problem, with texts of Nixon & Ford policy statements, and reports from the major power industries of oil, coal, gas, nuclear and explores supply and demand, anti-trust, environmental and future concerns. The new technology section covers new avenues of non-renewable as well as renewable resources. Geothermal A Technology Assessment of Geothermal Energy Resource Development, 500 pp., NSF-RA-X-75-011, by The Futures Group, Glastonbury, CT 06033, available for $6.00 from: Assistant Public Printer U.S,___G_ overnment Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 Suggests potential futures for geothermal energy in the U.S., evaluates these, and makes recommendations based on these evaluations which can help policymakers capture the desirable aspects of this energy source while avoiding its pitfalls. All persons interested in geothermal energy should have this in their library. Definition Report: Geothermal Energy R, D and Demonstration Program, by ERDA, Division of Geothermal Energy, Oct. 1975, $5.45 print, $2.25 microfiche from: NTIS U.S. Dept. of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Rd. Springfield, VA 22161 This document explains what the federal, i.e. ERDA, effort will be in relation to geothermal energy in the U.S. and is a useful companion to the NSF Technology Assessment of geo-power. Nov 1975 RAIN Page 9 Solar • Soap Lake Community Newsletter, No. 1, mentioned in last issue, (RAIN, vol. 2, no.1, p. 14) is out of print and no longer available. However, the solar collectorthermosiphon hot water heater plans used in the community workshop are available for $1.00 plus a.business-sized SASE from: Greg Higgins, Project Manager Soap Lake Solar Community 502 E. Main Ave. Soap Lake, WA 98851 Industry Opinions on the Formation of a Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) by MITRE, Oct. 1975, available from: ERDA Division of Solar Energy Washington, DC 20545 Recommendations and caveats on SERI; orie big one, many little ones in each bio-climatic region, SERI's mission, siteselection. A Simple Solution to the Energy Problem, by Stephen Tarver, 88 pages, paper bound, 1975, $4.00, from: Wyoming Specialties, Inc. Gillette, WY 82716 This book proposes a legislative solution to the problem, based on the concept of depletion allowance presently applied to petroleum production, gas production, mining and forestry. The author traces the history of this concept, showing that its application encouraged the huge capital investments in petroleum production facilities which have made possible the tremendous fuel-using economy of the present day. Noting that the use of the percentage method for depletion allowance makes it possible for the taxpayer to deduct up to 50% of the net profits from his taxable income, the author proposes that a similar principle be applied to renewable sources of energy. He argues that this would furnish the tax incentive needed to attract private capital to companies manufacturing solar equipment, wind generators, waste degradation equipment for gas production, etc. Also, he would extend the principle to power companies for the sale of electricity produced by renewable sources of energy. The author presents figures and arguments to show that renewable sources of energy, coupled with an extensive pumped-storage development, could lead to energy independence for the U.S. This book should be read by legislators and all those who may be interested in the possible use of tax incentives to further the use of renewable sources of energy. continued on page 12
Page 10 RAIN Nov 1975 Biological Sewage Treatment Natural systems are almost always cheaper and more effective than our mechanical ones. NASA has discovered the value of common plants and has reached the unsurprising conclusion that common plants can process sewage much more economically than our mechanized sewage treatment facilities. The town of Bay St. Louis, with a population of 8,000, is using water hyacinth plants for its sewage filtration system. After the sewage flows through 4 acres of hyacinth, the water meets all EPA and state standards. The city is able to harvest the plants and use them for fertilizer and cattle feed. Eventually the 4 acres of plants may be able to supply the town with all the natural gas it needs. (C.B.S. Morning News, 8/29175) Waste Water Renovation and Conservation, Richard Parazek, Pennsylvania State University, 1967. Contains a summary of the pioneering work at Penn State on using cropland and forests for sewage treatment, aquifer recharge, and nutrient recycling for plant growth. Ask for list of reprints covering stripmine spoils revegetation, soils as nutrient filters, and use of sewage sludge and liquids for fertilizer. The Energetics of Beauty Something as unquantifiable as beauty can provide both energy conservation and monetary savings. We spend large amounts of money travelling to get away from our ugly places to better ones, while, if we spent the same money making where we live good so we wouldn't want to leave it, we would substitute permanent improvement for momentary consumption of depleting energy supplies. Don't travel-MAKE WHERE YOU ARE A PARADISE! Plants, People and Environmental Quality, G. 0. Robinette, 1972, from: Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 $4.35. An excellent guide to use of plants for climatic control, engineering, privacy and beauty. How to control sun, ventilation, temperature and wind. Important information to know before building or planting. Moonlight Gardens The Moghul rulers of India were famed for their moonlight gardens-gardens designed for special beauty at night. Waterfalls with flickering lamps behind, candles floating on mirror-smooth lakes, plants selected for their evening fragrances, patterns of foliage silhouetted against marble pavillions glowing softly in the light of the moon. "Why Not Plant for Moonlight?," Louise Riette, Organic Gardening & Farming, May, 1973. Contains numerous suggestions for nightblooming plants. Floral Clocks The famous European botanist, Linneaus, had a floral clock known all over Europe, with flowers that opened at different hours of day and night arranged in the form of a clock. Some FREE night bloomers are: Midnight to 2: 30 a.m.-night-blooming cereus; 3 a.m.- Amazon water lily is open; 4: 30 a.m.- Virginia spiderwort is unfolding; 5 a.m. -Purple morning glory opens, so does wild rose, Iceland poppy and blue chicory; 5 :20 a.m.-Common blue flax is "fully unscrewed." Getting Trees Bare root forest trees can be gotten for as little as 3</./tree from forest tree nurseries in all but 5 states. Forest Tree Nurseries in the United States, from Chief, U.S. Forest Service Washington, DC 20250 Lists local nurseries. If you want to get serious about it, request: Public Assistan_ce Programs in Cooperation with State Forestry Agencies (Nov. '72) and Public Assistance for Forest Landowners, PA-893 from: Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, DC 20250 Contain information on local forestry aid programs and government aid for planting trees, improving young stands, controlling erosion, fire and flood. Plant A Tree, Michael Weiner, MacMillan Publishing Co., 1975, $6.95. An excellent manual for planting and maintenance of trees. Describes many city street planting programs, urban tree maintenance, planting for rural conditions, and a photographic survey of American, European and Oriental trees. Giving Trees Give trees for Christmas- something that grows in value and benefit rather than wearing out. Give someone six treestwo to make where they live a better place, one to make a public place a better place, one to make a friend's place better, one to give to a stranger, and one to plant where no one else will know. Grow them yourself. Or start a neighborhood plant exchange ... trade cuttings, rootings and starts of your favorite plants. Biological Pest Control Over the last several years the use of chemical insecticides has been virtually eliminated in several California cities, and more than $20,000 saved each year
TREE ENERGY in Berkeley alone, through the use of programs employing biological, microbial, cultural and physical controls.•. Similar programs for gardening, agri- . cultural and special applications·have been developed. Contact Bill and Helga Olkowski, 1307 Acton St., Berkeley, CA 94706: Commonsense Pest Control, Helga Olkowski, $2, from: • Consumer's Cooperative of Berkeley, Inc. 480 5 Central Avenue Berkeley, ~A 94~04 If your paradise includes birds and , animals, • The Dutch Mountain Nursery'Catalog from: The Dutch Mountain Nursery Augusta, MI 49012 . (Would probably appreciate $1 or SASE) Specializes in plants,which birds and wild animals eat-information on who eats what when, how many species are supported by different plants, lifezone studies, and how to encourage diffe~ent • species. The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness, Jean Giono,_1967, from: Friends of Nature • c/o Miss Ellen R. Riggs 92 Arlington St. Winchester, MA 01890 $.75. The story of Elezand Bouffier's, successful, one~person, unfunded campaign to restore the landscape of Provence. Every day he planted 100 acorns as he shepherded his flocks on the bar.: ten hills. Thirty years later the hills were covered witl,. forests, the streams ran again, and healthy, happy people again have settled on the land. (See Whole Earth Epilog for great excerpt; p. 484) Everything was changed. Even the air. Instead 6f the harsh dry winds that u·sed to attack me, a gentle breeze was blowing, laden with scents. A sound like water came from the mountains; it was the wind in the forest;_most amazing of all,1 I heard the actual sound of water· falling into a pool. . ; . The old streams, fed by the rains and snows that the , forest conserves, are flowing again. Their waters have been channeled. Ori each farm, in groves of maples, fo,untain pools overflow onto carpets of fresh mint: Little by little the villages have been rebuilt. People fr_om·the plains, where· . land is costly, have settled here, bringing youth, motion, the spirit of adventure. Along the roads you meet hearty men and women, boys and girls who under- , stand laughter and have·recovered a , taste for picnics. Counting the former population, unrecognizable now that they live in comfort, more than 10,000 people owe their happiness to Elezard • Bouffier. • Growing Food From Rocks Labor intensiveness and the long-term nature of investment has made tree • farming unpopular while,we have had c1'·eap, mechanized energy. Tree -crops grown on hillsides, marginal and rocky land offer many advantages for erosion control, microclimate improvement, food and livestock crops, lumber and biological chemicals. Tree Crops, J. Russell Smith, 1950, $7.95 from: Dev,in-Adair Co. 143 Sound Reach Ave. Old Greenwich, CT 06870 International Association for Education, Development and Distribution of Lesser ·Known Food....Plants and Trees P.O. Box 599 Lynwood, California 90262 We finally found their address. A research group working to expand knowledge of edible wild plants and less known cultivated plants of potential economic or social value, and to establish nurseries and seed banks to make their wider growth possible. . If you really want to ,get into plants: Biology ofPlants, Peter Raven and . .Helena Curtis, 1970, $12.95 from: Worth Publishers , 444 So. Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 Flower shapes, pollination, energy, . origin of life, plant family groups, evolution and coevolution, cell life, water and soils. Beautifully illustrated. - Energy Conservation With Plants We all know it's cooler under a tree than out in the sun on a hot day, but we don't design our buildings as if we knew. It's time to plant trees and vines now so they will be big enough to shade our buildings as energy to operate air conditioners gets more and more expensive. Careful use of plants to create a rnicroclimate around our buildings that minimizes the amount of heating and cooling we need can be one of our . most effective and economical means Nov 19.75 RAIN Page 11 of energy conservation, as well as the 1 most beautiful. Regional Climate Analysis, A.I.A. and House Beautiful (RAIN, Oct. '7S) Gives graphic information on climate conditions. Plan~s, People and Environmental Quality, G. 0. Robinette (see above). Gives information on gen'eral principles of use of plant materials. Design With Climate, Victor Olgyay, Princeton University Press, 1962, $25. Probably the best basic guide for siting and designing climatically sensitive buildings. Climate (actors affe·cting·• , comfort. Weather. Microclimatic effects. Solar orientation and solar control. ' Building form. Wincj effe'cts and ai_r flow patterns. Thermal effects of materials. Design for regional conditions. Quantitative information and techniques for measuring and calculating needed inforf!lation usually given. The Climate Near the Ground, Rudolf Geiger, Harvard University Press, 1960. Gives the most comprehensive coverage . of the effects of sun, wind, water, vegetation, topography and dwellings on microclimate. • • "The Technology of the Cooling Effects ·of Trees and Shrubs," Robert Deering, Housing and Building in Hot Climates, Building Research Advisory Board,' Report #S, 1952 . • Gives an excellent and detailed presentation of how and how much cooling takes place under different conditions. Natu.ral Air Flow Around Buildings, Benjamin Evans, Texas A&M Research Rep~rt #59, March 1957.. • Pr~sents a basic study of the influence of building shape, size and orientation, upon ventilation and airflow. Includes model and wind tunnel tests. I Effects of Landscape on Natural Ventilation ofBuildings, Robert F. White, Texas A&M Research Report #45, March 1954. Continues study of natural air flows and extends evaluation to the effects of location and nature of trees, shrubs and other landscape materials upon air flows in ,and around buildings. (T.B.)
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