RAIN Journal of Appropriate Technology VOL. 11, NO. 7-8 DOUBLE ISSUE MAY 1976 DOUBLE ISSUE 75 CENTS INSIDE: p.3 Country Auctions p.8 Red Star Over China p.24 What's Growing in Iowa? p.28 Small Scale Computer Activities
Page 2 RAIN May 1976 RAIN is supported by your subscriptions and a grant from the N.W. Area Foundation, administered through the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. For subscription prices, see subscription blank on next-to-last page. This blank can also be'used to send us change of address messages. .RA/N's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Phone 503227-5110. RAIN Staff Lane deMoll Mary Wells Lee Johnson Tom Bender Anne McLaughlin Nancy Lee Steve Johnson Rhoda Epstein Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photo: Tom Bender Requests: If you know anything about running an automobile using a process of conversion of methyl alcohol and water, please get in touch with Colin Messer. He's a mechanic and can be reached at the Student Resource Center, Lane Community College, Eugene, OR 97405, phone 503-747-4501, ext. 230 or 333. CORRECTIONS 1. The Directory of Nuclear Activists is available from Environmental Action of Colorado, 2239 E. Colfax, Denver, CO 80206, phone 303-3206537 or 321-1645. The address and phone listed in the Feb./March 1976 RAIN on page 8 are incorrect. So if you get it late, it's our fault and not theirs. 2. In last month's P<?Ster issue (April 1976, Vol. II, No. 6) the Piggy Potty quote was originally from Pete Russell (from Undercurrents). Ken Bossong's name was misspelled as Bossing in "April Showers." ■ ON SPREADING THE WORD: If you send us $1, we'll send a copy of RAIN to five friends of yours. Please write these names and complete addresses with zips on a separate sheet of paper. (If you wrote them on address labels I'd go into ecstasy). ■ ON EXCITING MAIL: If you're a RAIN subscriber, you will from time to time get some wonderful free magazines and things in your mail. They will only be things we really think you would like to know about, but if you don't want this to happen at all, note it on your subscription blank. RAIN DROPS / \ _,---~ .\<: ,. ' ; '··. \ • t\ ..,.r: ;\\ ' [;--. )\ :~-?.-='.-~-...~ ON FINANC°:ES-;we seven who work at RAIN had a meeting this week to talk about our money situation. We looked at what we now have, what we can reasonably expect to see as income in the next few months, and what we'll be spending during the same months. We met basically to decide on the flow of money within RAIN itself: who would get paid what and who would pay what. Our decision was to pay Steve and Anne $400 per month each; Nancy has a CETA position through June 30, and the other four will not be paid. Lane and Tom will continue to pay rent to RAIN through June 30. We based our decision on a commitment we have to two things: expanding the information services we as a center provide and continuing the magazine as one of our modes of information exchange. For the most part those who are not being paid by RAIN have the ability to earn outside money as consultants for other projects able to pay. This work also contributes to our information base and is passed on to our readers. We expect that in the fall our income from subscriptions and sales will be nearly sufficient to cover office and production costs, due mostly to increasing the subscription price, anticipated renewal rate, and the addition of new subscribers, which has been steady for six months. Just wanted to let you know where we're at. ■ ON SUBSCRIPTION PRICE INCREASES: Due to the increasing impact of the dwindling of our foundation grant, we're raising subscription prices as of April 1. Regular subscriptions are $10/year (10 issues). If your budget is pared down and $10 means you can't do it, $5 will suffice. If we have to bill you, please add $5 to your rate. And, if applicable, add foreign postage (it's all listed on the subscription blank). We won't be having a 3-fer $10 institutional rate any more. If anyone still does want multiple copies of each issue, write an_d ask for arrangements. Anyone who subscribed at the old rates will still get the number of issues originally agreed upon. • ON FREE LUNCHES: When you contact the groups we list, expecting a reply, please enclose a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. J/;;:~-- • ON ANONYMITY: If you write to us and don't want your letter printed asis, say so. • ON BEING LOST: When you write to us, or to anyone, and expect an answer, please write your name AND ADDRESS on your letter itself. Sometimes envelopes get lost, and with them the only record of the writer's address. This happened recently to a Craig Savage. If you read this, Craig, please write again. • ON PROPER PLACEMENT OF INFORMATION: If you write a newsy note on your subscription blank, we either have to re-copy the note or the subscription info, or else one of them will probably get lost. Almost the same goes for any conglomeration of info and requests. Routing one letter to lots of people, and through lots of processes, is risky in most offices. It's like writing your shopping list on the same paper with that important phone message and your a\lnt's address and the new casserole recipe you found. • ON.EXACTITUDE: Please use correct, current, full addresses, including zip codes. For us, or anyone, to take advantage of the PO's third and fourth class rates for printed matter, we can't ask the PO to look up parts of addresses. The advantage we gain is that it costs us 1.8¢ to bulk-mail a copy of RAIN, or 13¢ for a single copy, instead of 35¢ ■ ON DOUBLE ISSUE: This RAIN is Volume II, No. 7/8. It's got lots of pages and information, and if you expected 240 pages of RAIN for your annual subscription, this issue brings this volume up to 200 pages, with two more (at least 24 pages each) issues left. • ON MOVING AROUND: When your address is going to change, please let us know ahead of time, or else you'll probably lose at least one copy of RAIN to the post office's magazine-eating address change notification system. (Eve·ry month l ask people to do this, and still there are subscribers who don't. Next month I may print an ENEMIES LIST). ■ ON BACK ISSUES: Those available are Vol. I, Nos. 7, 8 & 9, and Vol. II, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6. $1 each, write to us if you want any. (AM)
May 1976 RAIN Page 3 Country Auctions Most of the busiest airways in the country cross each other and the Mississippi River above the small town ofMuscatine, Iowa. From the river you can see dozens of planes passing far overhead every day. Looking down through seven miles of nothing from your airplane window you might be able to make out the single bridge crossing the Mississippi, and south of the bridge you might possibly see a small white speck anchored to the wooded Illinois shore across from the town. That speck turns out to be an old sternwheel river towboat on which live two river ratsLane's sister Cathy and her husband Steve. Auctions, they've discovered, are probably closer to being the social glue of that rural area than even the churches, and they've become true auction fanatics. (TB) We're building our house slowly, and as a real bed replaces a door resting on cupboards, we move the cupboards and have no room for the door ; as we finally build our own chairs, two wonderful old overstuffed chairs, well-loved and well-worn, become sad misfits to be climbed over or piled in a corner. And as we build and change, new needs arise. We find an old hand drill which needs a chuck no longer made; we cannot afford the materials for a duck coop and the ducklings are fast outgrowing their cardboard box. Where to go? We trundle all our outgrown objects into the car and head to the local auction barn where they are sold on a twenty percent consignment basis to the highest bidder. In return, we find another hand drill, not as nice as ours, but with the perfect chuck, and we pick up a pile of screens for 50¢ that will make the airiest duck coop (we will place the screens on a floating platform fished out of the river). The survival of the auction is a hopeful sign in a society so accustomed to disposable living that it is not unreasonable for an imaginative person to live solely on articles found in garbage cans and back alleys. Those whose throwaway habits bring on a twinge of conscience give to the Good Will. Well and good. But the auction presents a Good Will with dignity and profit for all. We are talking about visible and participatory economics. Every bidder must determine an item's value. .Considerations range from general availability to a comparison of the article bought retail to an item's resale value or its adaptability. An old bar stool is bid on by one who will sell it as scrap metal, one who will replace his tractor seat, and one who will paint it up and put it in his basement bar. When an article is in good shape for its original purpose, such as a tool, and the dealers don't want it, we have watched such serious and close bidding that the caller could not get a bidder to raise even a nickel. And time and time again we have checked those winning bids with the price in the Sear's catalog and found the auction price to be about 75%. These people survive on the ability to assess the real worth of every item, by weighing the retail value against all other considerations. How much time can I save by owning this tool? What is the cost if I made it myself? Can I adapt this piece to that purpose? We like to think we have discovered something new, but we are witness to an old and essential art. The auction as a marketplace and a social institution has served its clients well. The influx of outsiders, like ourselves, creates pressures on the institution. Strangers can break down the social cohesion, and strangers increase the instances and fear of stealing. The new buyers also tend to change the auction's economic structure. Values change according to purpose. To a curiosity seeker the process of winning takes precedence over the price paid; and the person looking for a novel plant pot can usually outbid the farmer who needs the ceramic crock for its original purpose-to make beer. It is a problem inherent in the system, and in fact is the basis of that system, but it is magnified when groups vastly different begin to mingle. We owe much to the auction. We have spent many wonderful evenings with the crowd and have been able to build more than we could ordinarily afford through its bargains. But it is a system that is dependent in many ways on a cohesive economic and social foundation, and perhaps even a measure of trust. Is it adaptable to other, non-agrarian situations? Can it even survive in its own climate? We hope our presence does more to contribute than to harm the system on which we have begun to depend. Cathy deMoll To find out about country auctions in your area, look under "auctioneers" in your Yellow Pages and ask one where they are. Or contact the following: American Society of Auctioneers 4209 Lindell Blvd., Suite 408 St. Louis, MO 63100 National Auctioneers Association 13 5 Lakewood Drive Lincoln, NE 68510
Page 4 RAIN May 1976 €GRICULTURE ·FOO~ Community Gardens: A Guide to Organization and Development, Susan York Drake, Technical Assistance Bulletin No. 4, from: Bureau of Outdoor Recreation U.S. Dept. of the Interior Lake Central Region 38 53 Research Park Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48104 A good bit of information here for setting up community garden programs: organizing, insurance, potential problems, budget, seed sources, how much to plant, books on gardening. Should help avoid some pitfalls if you're just getting going. (TB) Energy, Agriculture and the Environment, Larry Geno, 1975, 70 pp, prepared for Environment Canada and available from: Larry Geno Box 5516 Station F Ottaway, Canada Environment Canada should be commended for having the foresight to commission studies such as this-which amounts to an environmental impact statement on our present agricultural practices and a comparative analysis of alternatives available to us. It analyzes the impact of energy inputs and outputs, economic damage, losses of agricultural land, potential climate changes, economic costs of development, and policy and process alternatives. A basic planning document for agricultural/environmental policy. (TB) The Food Co-Op Handbook, by the Co-Op Handbook Collective, $4.95 from: Houghton-Mifflin Co. 1 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02107 or $3.00 from: NEFCO 55 Beach Glen St. Roxbury, MA "From start to finish, it has been a collective project. The four authors were helped by more than 100 people in the food co-op movement who contributed articles, advice, comments, information and, in some cases, chapters." That a collectively-authored effort could be effective is incredible, if not impossible-yet here it is. Simple, direct, thorough-all that cumulative experience carefully laid down. They seem to have covered it all-organization, decision-making participation, finances, warehousing, while spdling out the essential character of the collective process with devotion. An excellent reference, including a 40-page national food co-op directory. Available also at bulk rates. (NL) Food Co-Ops for Small Groups, Tony Villela, 172 pp., $2.95, from: Workman Pub. Co. 231 E. 51st St. New York, NY 10022 . An excellent companion to the Food Co-Op Handbook. How to buy produce, container definitions, sample forms, inside-the-industry glossary, and other practical marketing informatimi (NL) A reminder of some previous RAIN entries: Food Conspiracy Cookbook, Lois Wickstrom, $4.95 from: 101 Productions 834 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103 How to Form a Food Co-Op, Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies/Food Co-Op Project, 30 pp., from: Food Co-Op Project 64 East Lake St. Chicago, IL 60601 They also have Food Co-Op Nooz, $3. "The Hows & Whys of Food Co-Ops;" March 22, 1975 issue of Environmental Action Bulletin 33 E. Minor St. Emmaus, PA 19049 Nutrition Information Center Phoenix Reid 201 S.E. 12th Portland, OR 97214 503-233-3654 Especially involved with the ethics of food. Giving workshops on the use of complimentary plant proteins and unrefined, unprocessed foods. Has specific information geared to senior citizens, institutional needs, mini gardens, food dehydration , backpacking recipes. Using the principles outlined in Diet for a Small Planet, we can get sufficient protein basically from plant protein, using unprocessed, unrefined foods. Another advantage to using unprocessed; unrefined whole grains, beans and other vegetables is that we can cut down on our consumption of food additives as well. So I offer from my laboratory some recipes which are high protein, relatively low-cost and considered successful by my "guinea pigs." CARROT CASSEROLE-4 Servings 3/4 cup cooked soybeans, slightly mashed 1 cup cooked tomatoes • 1 mediuin onion, chopped 1/4 cup raw wheat germ 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/2 cup peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds, chopped 1/4 teaspoon savory 1/4 teaspoon dill seed 2 medium carrots, grated 1 egg salt & pepper to taste Mix all ingredients thoroughly, place in an oiled casserole dish, bake 45 minutes at 350° €PPROPRIATE TEC~ Coming Around, Lane deMoll, 1976, $1 from: RAIN Magazine 2270 N.W. Irving Portland, OR 97210 We finally found time to type up in one place the a.t. bibliography Lane put together last fall. A couple of sections appeared in past issues, but it's now eleven pages of annotated goodies that give the best introduction we can think of to what. a.t. can mean in a lot of different areas. Does not include how-to publications from VITA, ITDG, etc., or alternative energy stuff, but steers you to them. (TB) Continued on page 7
. The following centers are ones who have been active for some time in assisting people in other countries to develop technologies appropriate for their needs and conditions. We will be telling more about these and other centers and listing their principal publications in future issues. Agency for International Development Department of State Washington, DC 20523 Agricultural Engineering Department The International Rice Research Institute P.O. Box 933 Manila, Philippines Appropriate Technology Advisory Unit Christian Relief and Development Association P.O. Box 5674 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Appropriate Technology Cell Ministry of Industrial Development 268 Udyog Bhavan New Delhi 110011 India Appropriate Technology Centre 506 P Block President's Secretarian-Planning Div. Government of Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan Appropriate Technology Development Unit Gandhian Institute of Studies Post Box 116 Rajghat Varanasi 221001 India APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY CENTERS Brace Research Institute MacDonald College of McGill Univ. St. Anne de Bellevue 800 Quebec, Canada H0X 3MI Industrial Development Division Engineering Experiment Station Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332 Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd. (ITDG) Parnell House 25 Wilton Road London, SWlV lJS, U.K. OXFAM 274 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7D7, U.K. Planning Research and Action Division State Planning Institute, U.P. Kalakankar House Lucknow, India Regional Adaptive Technology Center Mindanao State University Marawi City Mindanao, Philippines Societe d'Aide Technique et de Cooperation (SATEC) 110, rue de l'Universite Paris, 7e France May 1976 RAIN Page 5 Many of the foreign publications can be obtained in the U.S. through Metastasis, P. 0. Box 128, Marblemount, WA 98267, more easily and rapidly than from their original group. Write for Metastasis's new pricelist (about 250 excellent publications). Southeast Asia Technology Co. Ltd. (SEATEC) Nai Lert Building 87, Sukhumuit Road Bangkok, Thailand Technology and Development Institute East-West Center Honolulu, HI 96822 Technology Consultancy Centre University of Science and Technology University Post Office Kumasi, Ghana TOOL Division of Microprojects Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven Postbus 513 Eindhoven, Netherlands United Nations Indu~trial Development Organisation (UNIDO) P.O. Box 707 A 1010 Vienna, Austria Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) 3706 Rhode Island Ave. Mt. Rainier, MD 20822 LEAP YEAR CONFERENCE On the last weekend in February a group of people representing alternative organizations from all over the N.W. met in Sandy, Oregon, for the Leap Year Conference. There was some hope of federating ... but it was enough just to get to know one another. Ideas and information flowed well in practical trade workshops and small discussion groups. It was exciting to see how many of us there are and how together we are! The proceedings will be available shortly from: Leap Year Conference, P.O. Box 10091, Eugene, OR 97401. They should be worth reading-many thanks to the organizing committee from Eugene who made it all possible. Most of us left Sandy with a renewed sense of purpose and plans to have similar gatherings at a more local level. Thus: THE PORTLAND CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY STRENGTH Sunday, April 11 at the Contact Center, 1532 S.W. Morrison For more information, call the RAIN office (503-227-5110) or the Portland Community Warehouse (503-236-2247).
Page 6 RAIN May 1976 RADICAL TECHNOLOGY Fig 4. Products obtained by dry-distillation of 1 ton of hardwood saap (ca. 70% maple, 25% birch, 5% ash, elm and oak) • Charcoal Gases: Carbon dioxide (38%) Carbon monoxide (23%) Methane (17%) Nitrogen (16%) Methanol Ethyl acetate Ethyl formate Acetone Creosote oil Sol. tar Pitch 600lb S,000 cu ft 3 gall 1S gall 1.3 gall 0.7 gall 3.3 gall 22 gall 661b Source: Alan J.P. Dalton, 'Chemicals from Biological Resources' ITDG, (197 3). Table 4. Some British tree products suitable for direct human consumption. Tree Almond Alb Beech O:ab apple• Elder Hawthorn Hazel Lime Medlar MoW1tain Alb (Medlar) Oak Sweet Cl\estnut Walnut Radical Technology, Godfrey Boyl~ and Peter Harper, Ed., 1976 $5.95 from: Panthe()ll Books 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 An impressive collection of essays, reports, access information and counterculture philosophy that surveys a broadly-viewed range of "technology." Interesting essays on tree farming, textile making, biological chemicals, metal working and paper making. Much of the writing is not particularly penetrating, but does pull together in one place an introduction to a.t. from a counterculture perspective. By the editors of Undercurrents. Makes accessible much of the information on European developments that is difficult to obtain in the U.S. (TB) hnu,ed Nut Seed, Nuts Leave, Apple• Flowcn Benie1 Fruit Luve1 Nut Leave• Flowers Fruit Berrie, Not leaveo Acom Nut1 Leave, Nut Nut Leave, A ship mill. (corn-mill, laundry, paper- pr saw-mill). Wben gathered Sept/Oct From July Sept/Oct April/May July to Dec Before fully open When ripe Early Autumn April Late Aue/Oct Summer July Mid-Winter • Oct Oct Oct/Nov June/July July Oct/Nov June/July Ptepa,ation Cooku meat Boil twice and pickle Raw/bake and salt Young leaves cooked u vegetables Make into cider or jelly Raw/infused boilin11 water (drink) Raw/add to apple pie Not raw. Make into preserve Use in baking<- Mabey) Chopped on salads/salt and,store Sandwich filling (raw) On salad• Bake or make into jelly Make into jelly Poisonous Shell, grind, boil until water ii dark, change water. Repeat, and rizue for up to 12 hour, Routed or made into stuffing Not raw High vit C when raw Picldc:/malc.e into a marmalade Infuse u tea
May 1976 RAIN Page 7 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY continued from page 4 Testimony Before the Senate Select Committee on Small Business, Dec. 2, 1975, Dr. Barry Stein, 12 pp, inquire for price, from: Center for Social and Evaluation Research role of universities, building up new industries and identifying new opportunities for innovation. Gives good feeling for the "managerial" and institutional pressures on a.t. that are going to develop as the money starts to flow. An c;RCHITECTURE ) Low-Cost, Energy-Efficient Shelter, edited by Eugene Eccli, 1976, $5.95 from: University of Massachusetts Boston, MA 02125 A very clear summary of the different economic and community costs and benefits of small and large business, real efficiency of small business and manufacturing, and recommended changes in legal structures and administrative practices by government agencies to encourage more independent, community-sustaining and effective businesses. By the author of the excellent Size, Efficiency and Community Enterprise (Jan. '76 RAIN). (TB) •instructive comparison is given between our present costly information services and innovative low-cost access techniques. (TB) Rodale Press Emmaus, PA 18049 Combines good experienced advice on when and when not to build yourself, financing different building options, dealing with codes, neighbors and contractors, along with solid information on lowering first-cost of a home, reducing energy use and employing income energy sources. Not a primary reference in any of these areas, but gives good overall guidance and access to some hard-toLow Cost Technology: An Inquiry into Outstanding Policy Issues, Nicolas Jaquier, 1975, Worldtech Report No. 2 Control Data Technotec, Inc. 8100 345h Ave. So. Minneapolis, MN 55440 A study based on the 1974 OECD seminar of "low cost" technology practitioners. The full proceedings of the seminar will be out later this year and should be worth reading. The present - find aids: Cinva-Rams, super-sealants, pre-cut homes, or cellulose fiber insulation. (TB) A. A. Abbingdon Ceiling Co. 2149 Utica Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11234 These folks are the only ones we know who produce the decorative stamped metal ceilings that were common in the turn-of-the-century stores. They -report gives a general overview of major issues discussed-information mechanisms for low-cost innovations, a.t. and appropriate government policies, the ~Booth/New_Yorker still have advantages for certain applications-non-flammable, washable, yet decorative. More than twenty ceiling patterns available, along with 10 different cornice and trim designs. (TB) Continued on page 10 Health and Light, John N. Ott, 1973, $7.50 from: Devin-Adair Co. Old Greenwich, CT 0p870 We just got another letter yesterday from a person wondering if we knew why they commonly got a headache and had trouble concentrating after a short period of time in fluorescent-lit buildings. We keep meeting more people who have that experience-as we have. Half way through a supermarket we're half asleep and have trouble remembering what we're doing. John Ott's book opens up some of the reasons why. Like anything breaking new ground, it has caused a rage of controversy. He's what "scientists" are supposed to be-people with their eyes and minds open enough to look into the reasons why things go wrong when they're not supposed to. While pioneering time-lapse photography of plants he found strange things happening when he had to grow the plants in glass greenhouses or under artificial lights. A long series of experiments by him and others revealed important effects on biological systems of spectral ranges missing from artificial light or blocked by window glass. He also pioneered research showing dangerous effects of radiation from TV sets that brought development of new safety standards-he found that some TV tubes tested had X-ray emissions up to 1.6 million times the acceptable safety level established by the National Committee on Radiological Protection! Health and Light is a fascinating and important study of the effects of natural and artificial lig~1ts on people and other living things. (TB) 8110 ;100 =-c 90 ~ ~ 80 • ] 70 u !. 60 FLUORESCENT DISTRIBUTION CURVES ·••••••• Outdoor Llgh1 :Z:::: Vit1-LiH --N•tur4SOlnt .........-,..., Comp..,.ltlve I (I) 50 --- - . CII > •_;;40 -- "' "ii 31 • a: 20 10 290 J20 Vita-Light Full Spectrum Lamps Duro-Light Lamps, Inc. 17-10 Willow St. Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 These full spectrum fluorescent lamps-which reproduce fairly closely the spectral distribution of sunlight (including the near-UV band)-were designed as a result of John Ott's research. Other "plant growing lamps" by the same manufacturer do not cover the same spectral pattern, and even these lamps share other problems common to all fluorescent lamps. (TB)
Page 8 RAIN May 1976 Red Star Over China It's been clear almost from the beginning that something exciting has been going on in the People's Republic of China. The increased level of travel there in recent years has resulted in a flurry of reports about what has been accomplished since 1949. Almost all of the material written shows that there is much we can learn from their experience: their localized health care program (barefoot doctors, virtual elimination of VD and other diseases), their incredible use of simplified technology, the ethic of serve the people, and their consciousness and selfreliance. Yet, I was greatly impressed by a talk by Orville Schell at Farallones last summer where he expressed his ambivalence about his three months' work experience in China last spring, first in a remote farm area and then in a Shanghai factory. He had gone speaking Chinese and feeling great enthusiasm for all he had read. He was surprised to find that the total selflessness of the people nearly drove him up a wall after a timethey looked at him askance when he asked for a little time alone. It also depressed him to realize that the Chinese are plunging full speed ahead into an industrial society-albeit on their own terms. He felt there was very little of the so-called "ecological consciousness" he had hoped to find. Pollution in manufacturing centers is as bad as many places in the West and growing daily worse. People recycle and reuse things because they cannot afford to waste them. When it is important to have more fertile agricultural land, the river is made to change its course even if it changes the face of a beautiful mountain. His lesson was clear-we can borrow ideas from the Chinese experience, but we must adapt them to our own needs and culture. It'll be some time, I think, before we know enough to understand what all this really means for our own struggles for alternatives to our present way of doing things. In the meantime, here are some of the books I found most interesting and helpful in my search for some understanding of what was going on there. (LdeM) The China Reader, 3 Volumes, Franz Schurmann and Orville Schell, Vintage, 1967, from: $2.95 Random House 201 East 50th New York, NY 10022 "Imperial China," "Republican China," "Communist China'." These books will give you a good overview of China's recent history with a good smattering of political writings and firsthand accounts. The Crippled Tree, A Mortal Flower, and Birdless Summer, Han Suyin, 1972, from: Panther House Ltd. P.O. Box 3553 New York, NY 10017 The three-volume autobiography-history from 1885-1948. A half-Chinese, half-Belgian woman growing up in Szechuan Province. Somehow these books gave me as good a feeling as anything I read about how it was "before." Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow, 1937, $2.95 from: Grove Press 53 East 11th St. New York, NY 10003 This is the classic story of Snow's trips behind Red Army lines in 1936 when they were still a band of "upstarts." He was skeptical when he went and then became very close to them. His succeeding books, journey to the Beginning, The Other Side of the River, Red China Today and The Long Revolution, chronicle his continuing friendship with the Chinese. His warm and loving accounts make all the big names into real people. China Shakes the World, Jack Belden, 1949, $3.95 from Monthly Review Press 62 W. 14th St. New York, NY 10011 An American reporter traveling among the peasants and the Red Army during the war with the Japanese and the continuing struggle against Chiang K'ai-shek's Kuomintang. Good reports on peasant·efforts.
Yo Banfa!,.Rewi Alley, $1.35 from: New World Press 13 5 East 44th New York, NY 10017 1952 When this New Zealander's efforts to organize factory workers , into cooperatives proved too radical (and.effective) for the Kuomintang, he joined the communist forces. He's still there today. A good picture of the terrible oppression of pre-communist China. Once the fighting was over, it was time to turn full efforts to the on-going struggle of changing people's lives-continuing the real revolution: Fanshen, William Hinton, Vintage, 1966, $2.95 from: Random House 201 East 50th New York, NY 10022 The best account I know of a small village's efforts to "tu~n itself over"-dealing with former landlords and spies, dividing. up the land (this had to be clone several times as thei_r perceptions of "fairness" changed), and consciousness-raising-th.e continuous process of teaching each other to be effective farmers and comrades. Warmly written. Although I haven't read them, I'm sure Hinton's later books, Iron Oxen (1971) and Turning Point in China (about the Cultural Revolution, 1972), are equally perceptive. • Priso_ners of Liberation, Allyn and Adele Rickett, Anchor Press, 1973, $2.50 from: Doubleday 501 Franklin Ave. . Garden,City, NY 11530 . Two Americans convicted of ~pying in the period during th~ Korean War and sentenced to prison. A fascinating account of the criticism/self-criticism process by which they dealt with their crime (including their distaste for the Chinese as a people-even though they had been.Chinese language stud.ents) and and their totally changed attitudes following their release after four years. They now work with the AFSC in this country. Away With All Pests, J. S. Horn, from: 1969 $2.45 Monthly Review Press 62 W. 14th St.• New York, NY 10011 This is one of my favorites-if you're only reading one China· book, pick this one. By an English doctor who immigrated with his family in the '50s. A fine perspective on the process of humanizing health car~-one of the more su.ccessful of the efforts to truly serve the people. Here are some more up-to-date t?ings covering specific topics: Women and Child ~are in China, Ruth Sidel, 1972, $1.25 from: Penguin Books, Inc. 7110 Ambassador Road Baltimore, MD 21207 China: Science Walks on '(wo Legs, Scie·nce for the People, Avon Books, 1974, $1.75 from: Hearst Corporation 959 Eighth Ave. New York, NY 10019 ✓ Barefoot Doctor's Manual, U.S. Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare, Public Health Service Publication No. 75-695 (NIH) $9.75 from: • U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 See RAIN, Vol. II, No. 5, Feb./March 1976. May 1976 RAIN Page 9 "Rural Industrialization in China," John Sigurdson, in China: A Reassessment of the Economy, Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, July 101 1975, 24 pp. The ]!..ole of Small Scale and Rural.Jndustry and Its Interaction with.Agriculture and Large Scale Industry in China, John Sigurdson, 1974, 169 pp. from: The Economic Research Institute Box 6501 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden These papers both cover the same ground. Accessibility,determines preferability. Thoughtful analysis of the purposes, successes, failures, and evolution of Chinese rural industry. Reveals very different intents and purposes than U.S. a.t. developments, yet useful overlays. A full monograph on the subject by Sigurdson will be published later this year by the East Asian Research Center at Harvard. China Books and Periodicals is the best way to keep up with current writings. They carry all the books here and many, many more, including the writings of Mao and other revolutionaries, Chinese language books, children's books, records and maps. They also carry material on Vietnam and other Third World liberation struggles-includjng a number of books and pamphlets in Spanish..Write them for their extensive catalogue. West Coast Center 2929 24th St. San Fran'cisco, CA 94110 East Coast Center 125 5th Ave. New York, NY 10003 • Midwest Center 210 W. Madison St. Chicago, I,L 60606 Well, how that you're all fired up to go to China, talk to the U.S. People'_s Friendship Association, National Office, 2700 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90057. :find out which of the many local chapters is nearest you-they p'-t.n together trips regularly in addition to sponsoring discussion groups, speakers, films, etc. They also publish a quarterly magazine that's full of interesting pictures and a wide variety of articles. It's available on many newsstands: * New China 41 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 $4/yr. ($8 institutions)
Page 10 RAIN May 1976 THERMOGRAPH·v New ii;ifra-red photography techniques being used to detect excessive heat loss in buildings are making invisible heat losses visible. Besides being an effective tool for reducing energy waste, the thermogram pictures produced help everyone see and believe what others have been saying about the value of· insulation, weather-stripping, curtains and entryways. Pioneered as a research tool in Sweden over the last 7 years, thermography has proven a valuable aid for det_ection of construction errors in new buildings, determining effective building and insulating practices, understanding where and how heat loss and gain actually take place in buildings, where opportunities exist for he·at savings, and what conditions actually are present in existing buildings. A Midwest utility, CENGAS, has been using aerial thermography of five communities in Nebraska and South Dakota to measure heat loss from residential and commercial buildings. Property owners will then be urged to contact the utility to find out whether their homes are adequately insulated. The. National Bureau of Standards, FEA and the U.S. Army Cold Regions Laboratory are working on refining the technique which is already being used commercially for insulation inspection services. The major drawback remains the excessive cost of equipment ($40,000) which will prevent wide application Photo and thermogram show different heat loss of regular windows (white), entrance foyer (black), storm windows (2nd floor). White area on right is from heat reradiated from sun-heated brick wall. until less expensive units are developed. Does anyone know of simpler infra-red techniques? Will direct i-r photography work? What about the i-r television used by the military in Vietnam?. For further information: "Infra Red Scanners," Popular Science, Sept. 1975, p. 86. Dramatic thermograms and ·survey of developments in the field. "Thermography Helps Save Energy," .Engineering NewsRecord, March 27, 1975, p. 11. Discusses CENGAS project and other commercial applications Thermography of Buildings, Paljak and Pettersson, 1972, from Sv~nsk Byggtjanst, Box 1403, S-111 84, Stockholm, Sweden, 40 Swedish Kroner. The basic reference manual for thermography. Describes theory and techniques and contains a catalogue of black and white and color thermograms for common wall designs and conditions. "Detecting Structural Heat Losses with Mobile Infrared Thermography," Munis, et. al., Research Reports- 326, 338 and 438, from.U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755. These three reports describe techniques developed and surveys on Pease AFB and U.S.A. CRREL. (TB) I ARCHITECTURE continued from page 7 ASHA-Rural Cap Rammed Earth Report No. 1 and H-Plan House Comments, 70 pp., 1968, Alaska State Housing Authority Remote Housing Program, Vetle Jorgensen,-Architict,, $1 from RAIN. I don't know whe,re these reports came from or what came of the program, but we have about twenty copies we can make available to people for $1 each. This report, like Bill Vanda's Solar Sustenance Project Report (RAIN, Vol. 2, No. 1, Oct. '75), is the kind of report I like to see on what people have done. Clear, concise-laying out what went well and what went wrong, what people should try next if it works and if it ' doesn't. Also shows the thin line where theory and reality o~erlap. Anyhow, ~n ~xcelle_nt report on test houses for using indigenous materials for rammed-earth construction of houses in remote areas of Alaska. (TB} sawn lumber conserves resources where you're not cutting down 800-year-old forests, but it requires good, simple design. This booklet reviews constructed designs for 30-ft. hessian cement-covered geodesic domes, market halls, bus stops, community halls, health centers and homes, along with design details, plans, • photos of completed buildings, and information on structural trusses, cement roofs and rural wood preservation. Donation to cover printing and postage would probably be appreciated. (TB) Pole Buildings in Papua New Guinea, Peter Lattey, 1974, 41 pp. from: Forest Products Research Center · P.O. Box 13 58 Boroko, Papua New Guinea Use of simple round ·poles.rather than
Build Your Own House in the Old Ohana Style, Suzanne StewarJ, 1974 $7.50 from: The Hawaii Community Design Center 2480 Koa Ave., L-29 Honolulu, HI 96815 A good, simple, step-by-step guid_e for building a $7.50/sq. ft'. owner-built house house suitable for the Hawaiian climate. The design, unlike many "low cost" houses, feels comfortable. Good howto drawings include details for making doors, shutters and cabinets. Plans are also available. (TB) • ~OMMUNITV ) The Costs of Sprawl, R~al Estate Research Corporation, 1974: U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 Executive Summary (4111-00023) 55¢; Detailed Cost Analysis (4111-0021) $2.90; Literature Review & Bibliography (4111-0022) $3.25. Also summarized in Ekistics, Oct. 1975. Thoroughly . documents a wide range of costs for different patterns of community land use from low density single-family suburbs to high density compact planning. Covers capital, land, energy, pollution, water use and auto use costs for different options. Many costs are halved through compactness of land use. (TB) The Community Context ofEconomic Conversion, Barry Stein, \971, 63 pp., inquire for price: Center for Community Economic Development 1878 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02140 Explore the community Fpact of de- - fense contracts, absente9'_ownership, and industrial trends, such as the impact on Seattle, Boston and Southern California of depending on aerospace contracts for their main employment base. Presents excellent case for communityowned businesses. (TB) Nongrowth Planning Strategies, Earl Finkler and David Peterson, 1974, $13.50 from: • ' Praeger Publications 111 Fourth Ave. New York, NY 10003 A concise and right to the point study of growth control for communities. No one has yet dealt with real responsibilities of small regions .towards growth, but at least this covers what isn't happening at state and federal levels and why it is pragmatically necessary for communities to act. Analyzes economic costs of non-growth and explores a range of available mechanisms for at.: taining it. Things are moving fast in this area, but this is a good starting point. (TB) Rural Tribune Washington County Commupity Action Organization 546 E. Baseline Hillsboro, OR 97123 Free, published monthly. Met these folks at the Leap Year Conference, and, from all appearances, this is a community action agency at its best. They just helped set up a food co-op (Vital Vittles, 1235 E. Baseline, Hillsboro) and are thinking about an auto repair co-op and credit / nion. Also have a free foreign language translation service for help in courts, hospitals and social service agencies. The Rural Tribune, half of which is in Spanish, covers local Hillsboro news with a regular colu.mn by self-sufficiency farmer Glen Simmons and a swap section ("My rooster for your rabbit" and "Would like a woman to teach me guitar in trade for a hand-crocheted afghan"). I really enjoy reading it. Similar agencies . in other parts of the country might want to order a sample copy for ideas. (LdeM) Common Ground Cross Roads Resource Center 2314 Elliot Ave. So. Minneapolis, MN 55404 $4/yr.,.quarterly. This 64-page newsprint magazine is filled with information specific to the Twin Cities, most of which can apply anywhere. Hospital workers-on unionization, high rise and industrial development, and a good, clear "People's Guide to Home Insulation" and "Altern,ative Energy and Who's Doing It." Back issues ($1 each) on Neighborhood History, Parks and Open Space, Community Control, Controlling Neighborh·ood Development, Parade of Neighborhoods, and Art for Our Sake. (LdeM) May 1976 RAIN Page 11 Community Ownership in New Towns and Old Cities, Edward Kirshner and James Morey, 1975 from: Center for Community Economic Development 187 8 Mass~chusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02140 I really had trouble getting into this at first-it looked like it was going to be another socialistic tract about government ownership. I was wrong- it isn't, and it's good! A lot of really obvious stuff once you think about it-utilities are basically no-risk public monopolies. Public ones have a track record at least as good as investor-owned ones. In both cases the rate payers end up paying for the whole operation. So why should the profits go to outside investors·rather than back into reducing costs for the community? They show specifo::ally that if all the land, real estate development , and utilities were owned by the com- , munity (with revenues subsidizing housing) then up to 100% of new housing would be within the reach of low and moderate income families. They lay out a lot of options and the benefits of each-for new and e~isting communities, for common mortgages, financing remtal housing, leasing of greenbelt land for agriculture, community-owned industrial parks, businesses, utilities, cable TV. Returned profits reduce direct housing costs by 25-50%,· depending on options chosen, and incomes required to afford new housing would drop from $18,000 to $7,800 in some cases. Well worth reading. (TB) Continued on page 12
Page 12 RAIN May 1976 COMMUNITY continued frpm page 11 CDC News Community Development Division American Institute of Architects 1735 New York Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Free. For the past eight years, community design centers have been pro- . viding free (usually) design services for neighborhood groups. Traditionally they have designed tot lots, remodeled drop-in centers and worked as advocates, with citizens on neighborhood' pians. More and more now they are gettmg . into rehabilitation for energy conservation. The CDC News is a periodic update on their goings on. And I just got "Community Design Centers Profile: 1975-76" in the mail today-a complete listing and description of cq.rrent CDCs. If you have anything to do with architecture/environmental design in the community, you ought to be on their mailing list. (LdeM) €corOPIA "Solar Water Heater Workshop/' April 17, 1976, Mercer Island Alt. H.S., Se- . attle,·Washington. For details contact: Chris Peterson, Manager Environmental Farm Program ESD #110 1410 S. 200th St. Seattle, WA 98148 206-242-9400 Ken Smith (Ecotope Group) and Lee Johnson (Ecotope Group, RAIN Magazine) will direct and instruct a hands-on (i.e. workgloves required) workshop in which 2 solar water heaters will be built. One of 11 sessions in the Central Washington State College course "Energy Efficiency in the Food System" (Envir. • Studies 440); attendance at all eleven earns 4 college credits via CWSC Office of Continuing Education. (LJ) Makara Makara . Pacific Women's Graphic Arts Cooperative Assoc. 1011 Commercial Dr. Vancouver, BC, Canada $6/yr. Canada., $7.5'0 U.S. (6 issues). One of the most beautiful magazines \ I've ever seen-the photographs, drawings and layout are truly fine: Sometimes I get tired of both the glossy New York Ms, filled with make-up ads and the harsh polemics of radical women's things (is it liberated to sleep with men?). This softspoken new women's magazine strikes an appealing middle ground without seeming middle of the road-perhaps precisely because it is c9ming out of West Coast Canadian women. How could it miss? A wide variety of articles on women in prison, radical therapy and women's history, also children and adult fiction and photographic essays. Some of the writing is a bit weak, but then it's put out by artists. I have a feeling it will mature as they attract more talent.,The spirit feels good. Highly recommended for all people. (In.cidentally, anyone needing graphic help in any form would do well to look these women up!) (LdeM) "Eastern Oregon CDC Solar.Project," for details contact: Dennis Naughton, Exec. Dir. Eastern·Ore. Community 'Dev. · Council 801 Adams Ave. La Grande, OR 97850 503-963-3186 • EOCDC has received a Community Services Administration (CSA) grant to design, build and install 6 solar water heaters, 2 each in Wallowa, Union and Baker counties. A construction and installation manual will be produced to aid low-inc;ome citiz~s in the use of solar heaters and the projecf evaluated for continued, more widespread support. A good practical "do-it-yourself" orientation e~phasizing local people, tools and materials. RAIN would like to hear about and cover similar efforts. (LJ) "Original Log House-Construction School,",$20 course fee, $30 per couple, for pre-registration details, contact: Skip Ellsworth Bar E Ranch Redmond, WA 9_8052 206-885-4972, after 7 p.m. Slide-lecture, hands-on construction techniques, discussion session, potluck dinner. (LJ) 1 Working Papers for a New Society, 123 Mt. Auburn St. Cambridge, MA 02138 $10/yr., quarterly. Collections of often quite useful papers for putting togeth~r, as the title says, a new society. The Winter '76 issue has an-excellent article on the conversion 0f the British Triumph motorcycle factory to a worker-owned •co-op, ·the history and prospects for adfree TV (see below), tax reforms, problems of big lumber companies and independent woodsmen in Maine, the effects of the recent socialist government in BC, and other good things. (TB) • < The Fragrant Garden, Louise Wilder, 1932, $3.50 from: Dover Publications 180 Varick St. New York, NY 10014 Ummm good! I've been looking for this kind of book for a long time: So many garden plants today are hybridized to be big, colorful and showy that we have forgotten how incredibly fine a garden can be that is designed for our noses! ' Daphne and cherry blossoms in Kyoto, wisteria and lilacs outside bedroom windows when we were growing up, the gentle fragrance of nicotinia in the evening, fresh mown fields of mint or alfalfa -we've traded a beautiful symphony of •, smells for auto exhausts and industrial effluents. This book gets into things I never dreame.d of-sweet-leaved geraniums, herbs and grasses, night-scented. flowers, shrubs and trees, orchards and berry patches, ferns, mushrooms, wild scents and much more. Our copy is going to .get well used-this is a real ' breath of fresh air! (TB) Continued on page 14
\ May 1976 RAIN Page 13 ·Winter Tomatoes,·Anyone? Some good friends just down the road, Bill and Marsha Mackie of SUN Experim·ental Farms, have finished their solar aquaculture greenhouse. Th'e story tells most of it:.Bill used to teach in and was the Energy Center at the Linfield Research Institute (Linfield <;allege) wh'en we first met . .. back in B. C. ... before the energy crisis. They want to expand to some outside pools this coming summer,and begin experimenting with algae and its uses, as well as other pond life-forms. After • the story, there's a list ofgreenhouse reso,urce people across the nation. Ifyou write them, please send a SASE. (LJ) Inside the Mackie solar aquacu,lture greenhouse. Note water, drum wall heat storage on left. We started our greenhouse in the spring of 1975, worked on it slowly throughout the summer and had it completed enough to begin using in the fall. Although there are'always modifications and improvements to be made, we are satisfied with its performance through the winter and are now convinced that Oregon's sun is strong enough to provide all the heat and light a greenhouse needs. . Our greenhous·e is an 11' x 16' free-stan,ding structure, partially sunk into the ground for insulati~n.. It ·has glazing only on the south side. A fish tank extends the length of the north wall and above it are eight 55-gallon drums painted flat black .. _a,nd filled with water. Both the drums and the fish tank are used for heat storage. Digging the hole proved to be the single most time-consuming job in the entire.con_struction process. We dug it by hand, slightly larger than the finished greenhouse, about 14' x 18' x 2-1/2 \ The dirt dug from ~he hole was bermed against the north wall of finished structure for added insulation. • A concrete foundation was poured the perimeter of the gr.eenhduse and as a ,continuous ~lab under the fish tank. Then , we began laying a 40" high concrete block wall all the way around and'also 4' in from the north side to form the fish tank. Drain tiles were laid on the un-concreted earth and we poured several inches,of gravel for a floor. The drainage ditch empties into our garden, so whatever water we pour out onto the floor, including the rich algae bloom we siphon out of the fish tank, goes to water and nourish our garden. .One of the things we didn't do which we wou'ld do a second time is insulate between the fish tank and the earth. Hopefully t~is would elevate the water temperature to keep•the greenhouse warmer during the winter, but primarily to lengthen the season for raising warm-water fish. As it is, we are adding a solar collector to boost the water temperature of the fish tank. The north, east and west walls are regular framed-in walls with 3-1/2'' of fiberglass insulation. We felt the extra, insulated wall area was worth the decrease in solar radiation'. Painting the greenhouse interior white would probably increase the solar tadiation falling on the plants and,.at least partially com-. pensate for tl).e light loss. The south wall is a double layer of 30 mil Kalwall fiberglass tilted at an ~ngle of 45,,'. The space between the two layers, the width of a 2x4, holds an insulative batt for extra protection on cold.nights. It was not until February that we added the second layer of glazing, so the greenhouse went through the cold part of the winter without the benefit of its second layer of fiberglass or its insulating batt. A few nights the inside temperature • dropped to 45°, colder than you really would like a gr~enhouse. Daytime temperatures, however, were generally up around 60° or 65°. Despite the cool nights, we lost no plants and..) 1re optimistic about our greenhouse's ability to hold heat with its second layer of glazing and its insulative batts in place. • . At the present'·time we have about two dozen largemouth bass in the fish tank. We're anxious for the tank temperature to rise enough so we can put .a pair of tilapia in. Hopefully, with the aid of a solar collector, we'll be able to extend the warm-water seasqn long enough to harve~t two or three crops of tilapia froll,1 our tank this summer. , For a copy of the greenhouse plll;ns, send $2,and a stamped, self-addressed envelope to SUN Experimental Farms, 835 Fleishauer Lane, McMinnville, OR 97128. Or if you just want to·write, we're ~lways interested in what others are doing. \
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