RAIN -FEBRUARY/MARCH 1978 VOLUME IV, NO. 5 ONE DOLLAR Friends Mime Theater WORLD HUNGER SCAM p. 4 ENERGY THEATER UPDATE p■ -1 6 BUSY BEES VS. GREEDY BEARS IN A.T. p.12
Page 2 RAIN February/March 1978 ( SOLAR ) The Solar Greenhouse Book, ed. by Jim McCullagh, 352 pp., 136 photos, 1978, $8.95 from: Rodale Press Emmaus, PA 18049 The first and only book on the subject, covering on a national scope all three aspects of design, construction and crop production. Especially useful are numerous case studies of the construction and management of different designs in various bio-climatic regions. Many special charts and appendices contain formulas and rules of thumb for evaluating materials, available solar radiation, heat losses, siting, insulation, night shutters and glazing. It does for solar greenhouses what Bruce Anderson's and Alex Wade's passive solar home books have done for solar heating and deserves a spot next to them in your solar energy library ... it's excellent in breadth and dept_h. - LJ Build a Solar Greenhouse-Workshop Style, 21 min., color, sound film, plus an educational curriculum package and • a workshop construction package, $320 from: Danamar Film Productions 275 Kilby Los Alamos, NM 89544 Excellent a.t. film with solar expert Bill Yanda in the starring role as hands-on workshop coordinator. On a snowy weekend, a group of volunteers wanting to learn an innovative approach to obtaining free heat from the sun and fresh food for the table built an attached solar greenhouse. T.he film documents this workshop, demonstrating step-bystep the principles and building techniques involved in a thermally efficient, easy-to-build structure. The fun-filled film demystifies solar technology by emphasizing a grass roots approach available today. -LJ California Educational Opportunities for Solar Energy and Energy Conservation at Institutions ofHigher Education, by John A. Kimball, 1978, 150 pp., a limited number of copies are available free from: Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. 2342 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg. U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20015 A directory describing educational curricula extracted from a survey sent to 250 schools and colleges in California, this should be a great help to those interested in a soft technology career. Cong. Brown, Mr. Kimball and their staffs are to be congratulated for a job well worth doing and well-done. - LJ Manual for the Solar Can-Type Hot Air Furnace, by Bruce Hilde, 16 pp., 1977, $2.00 from: Northern Solar Power Co. 311 S. Elm St. Moorhead, MN 56560 A step-by-step construction guide with understandable drawings for a system which is very low cost, yet performs as well as most commercial air units and is built from recycled aluminum beverage cans. Materials, including simple ULapproved automatic control and air circulation equipment, are listed along with buying hints. See also "Shoptalk" in Nov. '77 Popular Science. Ask Bruce for his price list on glazing materials for this design. If this isn't appropriate D+Y technology, I don't know what is. -LJ Pacific Northwest Solar Buildings, by Robert Lorenzen, 126 pp., Nov. '77, $5 from: Center for Environmental Research School of Architecture Univ. of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 A regjonal guide, a la Shurcliff's earlier national directory, full of technical, bio-climatic and economic data on 65 solar buildings in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. Well-done, with clear drawings and photos. -LJ Pacific Northwest Solar Energy Assoc. steering committee met Jan. 3, 1978, at Rainhouse. Proposed by-laws, names of candidates for election to the board of directors and minutes of the meeting are now being distributed to all International Solar Energy Society-American Section members in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The next official meeting will be that of a duly elected board on a date to be decided by that board. Results of the election will be mailed to members and published in RAIN. RAIN $10 RAIN SOLAR WATER HEATER REWARD We've been belly-aching because so many people seem ready to use solar water heaters and even to build their own-but can't find sensible, well thought-out plans for hooking a collector up to their home hot water system. Do you know a good way to do a hookup? We'll give a $10 reward for the best design we receive before March 10, 1978. We'll pass the best designs on in RAIN for everybody to use. We went through a stack of solar water heater designs last month and were amazed-incredible effort lavished on micro-refinements on collector design but almost no concern about how to make the collector usable. If a hookup was shown at all, it often just added another "solar" storage tank to the existing water heater, which means you have two tanks to lose heat. Or just hooked up to an existing water heaterwhich means as long as the tank is up to temperature you don't get any solar heat. Almost none show any way of dealing with freezing conditions-really, few people are fanatic enough to run out and drain their water system whenever it looks like a freeze! Rumors come in about some systems that sound better than our proposal to use a solar heated tank with a demand water heater on the outlet to boost the water to use temperature. One uses an existing electric heated tank but disconnects the lower element. The top element supposedly keeps a small amount of water at use temperature while the rest stays cool enough to pick up heat from the solar panel. Does it work? What about tanks with heat transfer coils or jackets for anti-freeze? 1 Are any reasonably priced yet? Let's 1 make decentralized solar happen! While we're at it, anybody got interesting results of any solar .collector races? -TB RAIN's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Ph: (503) 227-5110. RAIN STAFF: Tom Bender Lane deMoll Joan Meitl Lee Johnson Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Linda Sawaya
( WIND ) "Rain" StQry Helps Sell Moses Lake Wind-Turbines to California. We just received word from Wilson Clark, Gov. Jerry Bi::own's energy advisor, that due partly to the article "Small Groups, Big Windmills," (Jan. '78 RAIN), the state of California is considering buyirig $10 to $15 million worth of large windgenerators to power water pumps for the State Water Project, or about twenty 600 and 2700 kilowatt Schachle & Sons wind-turbines. Southern California Edison, a~ electric utility, is buying one 2700 kw Schachle mill for testing at San Gorgonio Pass, where Edison is thinking of installing 100 megawatts of wind power capacity. , Watch your local newspaper for an Associated Press story mentioning RAIN, or see the Sacramento Bee, Friday, Jan. 13, 1978, p. B3. On to Nebraska, Iowa and Montana! (See Raindrops). Wouldn_'t it be deliciou~ to see a couple thousand megawatts of windpower installed before DOE and Boeing even finish their design? To place your order or to get an illustrated brochure and technical data sheets, write Charles Schachle & Sons, 1032 Grant St., Moses Lake, WA 98837, or call ?09/765-9696. -LJ Solar Greenhouses, Windgenerators and Solar Greenhomes, contact: Jack Park Helion, Inc. ) Box 445 Brownsville, CA 95919 Jack and Helen have moved, so change your address for Helion, folks. His excellent book, Sfmplified Wind Power Systems for Experimenters, and his 12/16 windgenerator plans are selling briskly. The Kedco Co. (9016 Aviation Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90301), which builds a wind-turbine of Jack's design, has switched to gear-box transmission from the timing belts used in earlier m0dels, and the company is working on an 8kw unit. "Assemble-it-yourself" kits for gear-box drive generators based on the Helion 12/16 are available from: Topanga Power Co., Box 712H, Topan~ ga, CA 90290. Send a SASE for details and prices. - LJ (Gooo THINGS) The Goodfellow Catalog of Wonderful Things, Christopher Weils, 1977, $7.95 from: Berkley Windover Books 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016 . t Beautiful photographs of wonderful things and the people who make them: jewelry, clothes, toys, pots, pipes, musical instruments. A good catalog for present buying or selling your wares if you don't have a Saturday Market in your town. It's designed for direct orders-you don't go back through Christopher. There's a Goodfellow Review of Crafts too: $8/y<:ar from: 2839 Forest Avenue, Berkeley; CA 94705. - LdeM intercom, quarterly, $6/yr., $1. 7 5/ single issue, from: The Center for Global Perspectives 218 E. 18th St. New York, NY 10003 ·Mostly for teachers, tries to bring global perspectives to issues and is full of really good and useful stuff . .·. see "Langu·age Arts: The Human Experience Across Culture," in Intercom , No. 88; Dec. '77. (Courtesy Nancy Bell Coe) Country Crafts in Pictures, J. E: . Manners, 1976, $9.95; Woodland Crafts in Britain, H. L. Edlin, 1949, $12.95 from: David and Charles North Pomfret, VT 0505 3 One reason we seem hesitant ·to give up our demands for resources that others need more'is that we've lost sight of the forgotten resources that surround us. We don't value rose hips if we don't know they're a fine source of Vitamin C and release us from our "need" fororange juice. These books are about local resources. Country Crafts . .. is , filled with local materials being turned into useful products-ideas that with a twist can come up with new jobs and income sources as well as self-reliance. Wo·odland Crafts . .. gives a sense of the special qualities of different woods and their unique uses- it's amazing what -we waste _and trample underfoot! -TB from Country Crafts in Pictures February/March 1978 RAIN Page 3 The Acorn People, Ron Jones, 1977, $1.25 from: • Bantam Books, Inc. 666 Fifth Avenue· New York, NY 10019 Ron's story reminds us of both the toughn·ess and the fragility of life, two qualities never more evident than in the young. His story is very clear and simply written but very poignant. )'hese kinds of closely shared and intense experiences will reveal to us that part of us that eternally yearns for summer. Pri- •orities will reshuffle a bit after reading this, for he makes us aware of the necessity to take time to care about those small interactions that most of life is made of. Ron also reminds us that we do share a common denominator of "all being a little nutty" as well as sharing an unexpected strength. - JM MANAS, 8 pp./issue, 44 issues/yr., $10/ yr., from: Manas Publishing Co. P.O. Box "32112 Los Angeles, CA 90032 Richard Merrill turned me on to this fascinating, intellectual-ideas journal a few years ago and it's been my personal favorite ev<tr since. It sets me thinking down new and unrutted pathways. Here's what Manas says it is (it does an excellent job of sticking.to its credo): "Manas is a journal of independent inquiry, concerned with study of the principJes which move wo;ld societ'y on its present course, and with search for contrasting µrinciples-that may be capable of supporting intelligent idealism under the conditions of life_ in the twentieth century. Manas is concerned, therefore, with philosophy and with • practical psychology, in as direct and simple a manner as its editors and contributors can write. The word "manas" comes from a common root suggesting "man" or "the thinker." Editorial articles are unsigned, since Manas wishes to present ideas and viewpoints, not personalities!" -LJ
Page 4 RAIN February/March i 978 . . "INTRODUCTION OF 'ANY PROFITABLE I TECHNOLOGY INTO A SOCIETY RIDDLED WITH INEQUALITIES OF POWER DISASTROUSLY WORSENS·THE CONDITION~ OF THE -LESS POWERFUL MAJORITY." Food First, Frances ~oore ~ppe and Joseph Collins, 1977, $10.9S froni: Institute for'Food Development Policy • ,2S88 Missio.n Street San Francisco, CA 94110 READ THIS BOOK! Back in October we reprinted Lappe and Colltns' Beyond the Myth ?f Scarcity from their new magazine, Food Monitor. It was clear they were o~ to something important. Their book, Food First, had just arrived, but we hadn't.time to read it, so ran th(! article an4 put off reviewing the book until ·we had time to digest it. We've read it now, and it's dynamite! They show that neither shortage of land nor offood is the cause of current world hunger. There is no shortage of either. Every country has the capability to feed itself The real problem lies in who controls the use of those resources. It's the governments forcing the growing of cash crops instead of food to pay taxes to support an urban elite, the expropriation of agricultural land for corporate or elite-controlled planta- · tions producing luxury food or non-food crops for export, and corporate control of the food processing system. It's the control of essential resources by those who cannot view them as sources of real food for real needs but only in monetary terms-as sources of wealth thar can be expropriated and used to further their own economic gain. . Food First goes on to detail the effects of the Gr~en Revolution on subsidizing rich farmers and impoverishing the rest, how foreign trade exploits both the farmer and consumer, the U.S. governmentlagribusi~ess manipulation offood supplies and prices, the exploitive effects of cdrporate activities in the food system and much more! More importantly, it/ays out both the f?rinciples necessary for food self-reliance and specific actions that can and need to be taken. The'real impact of the book, though, goes far beyond its -major break~hrough in understanding the real root causes of world hunger and how to deal with them. The machinations they've tincovered in the food system are the same o.nes at work in the rest of our economic system and the principles underlying our food system are the same underlying the. rest of our economy.· The exploitation behind world hunger is the same as that behind rich country/poor country relationships, urban exploitation of small towns and rural areas, and poverty in our cities and villages. Its insights need to be expanded and applied to the whqle realm of our "economic 11 system. At root, Food First shows what can be gained by examining problems in their social context rather than as merely technical questions. -TB Food First Most people believe there is just not enough food to go around. Yet, despite the tremendous wastage of land-which we will document-and the "food.crisis" of the 1970s, the world is producing .each day two pounds of grain, or more than 3000 - calories, for every man, woman and child on earth. 3000 calories is about what the average American consumes. And this estimate is minimal. It does not inclu~e-the many other staples such as beans, potatqes, cassava, range-fed meat, much -less fresh fruits and vegetables. Tlius, on a global scale the idea that there is not enough food to go around just does..not hold up. Moreover, we have found "acre-to-person" comparisons to be poor measures of food scarcity. To many, the size of a plot of land is obviously the most important determinant of how many people it can feed. We have had to learn, however, that much more important than size are four other factors.: First, the level of human investments made to improve productivity. As demographer D~. Helen Ware notes, "soil fertility is not a gift of nature·, determined once and for all, but dependent upon man's u·sage of the land." Most people associate the intensive use of the land with the loss 'of soil fertility, but, as Dr. Ware underscores, "fert,ility may indeed be the result of intensive methods of land utilization ..." The croplands of Japan were once inferior to those of northern India; today Japan's foodgrain yield per acre is five times that of India. , The original soils of Western Europe, with the exception of the Po Valley and parts of France, were, in general, once of .very poor quality yet today they are highly fertile. Centuries ago the soils of F,iniand were less productive than most of the nearby parts of Russia; today the Finnish croplands are far • sµperior. Thus using an acre as a fixed unit by which to measure the degree of overpopulation is not helpful. Depending on the human investments .made, an acre might be capabl~ of fe~ding five people or one-or none at all. Second, how many people an acre can feed depends on whether the land is used to feed people directly or to feed livestock. In the Andean region of South America and in the Caribbean nearly four times as much land is used for _extensive grazing of cattle as is devoted to ci;ops. Cattle ranches often occupy,thd relatively flat land of the river valleys and coastal
plaiins while food crops are relegated to ·poorer soils on erosionprone slopes. M0reover, in a world where many people are • too poor to buy all the plan_t food being produced, livestock has been put into service to rid the economy of "surplus" grain that might drive down prices. Livestock consumes over one . third of all the world's grain ~nnually. The result is that the four billion human beings on earth, a figure many would use to measure the burden on our cropland, aren't four billion equal units at all. One person can represent a burden on agricultural resources many times greater than another. If a person consumes a largely plant-food diet in which the animal foods eaten are produced on waste materials and nonarable land, his or her "weight" on the cultivated farmland is relatively light. On the other hand, a person is _a much greater user of cultivated farmland if he or she eats a diet of animal foods produced by shrinking annually 1800 pounds of grain'into 250 pounds of meat, as the average American does. Again, a single acre can sustain a wide range in numbers of people. It depends in part on whether the land is cropped for food for human consumption or for animal feed. Third, how many people a given measure of land can feed depends on whether it grows luxury crops for export or food for the local people. What Americans think of as "food-deficit areas".caused by the pressure of overpopulation are often "food-def~cit areas" because much of the food produced goes to small urban elites or is exported. Worst of all, the exports are frequently made in the name of "development." Here are some food paradoxes to ponder: • Africa is a net exporter of barley,·beans, peanuts, fresh vegetables and cattle (not to mention luxury crop exports such as coffee and cocoa), yet it has a higher incidence of protein-calorie malnutrition among young children than any qther continent. . • In Mali, peanut exports to France increased notably during the years of drought while production of food for domestic consumption declined by 1974 to one, quarter of what it had been in 1967. , • Mexico now supplies the Un'ited States with over one half of its·supply of several winter and early spring vegetables while infant deaths associated with poor nutrition are common. • Half of Central America's agricultural land produces food for export while in several of its countries the poorest 50 percent of the population eat only half the necessary protein. (The richest 5 percent, on the other hand, consume two to three times more than is needed.) Fourth, agricultural,land will, of course, feed no one at all unless it is cultivated. This fact seems too obvious to state, and yet many forget that in Africa and Latin America much good land is left unplanted by large ,landowners. A study of Colom- . bia in 1960 showed that while farmers owning up to about thirteen acres farmed two thirds of their land, the largest farmers, controlling 70 percent of the agricultural su~face, actually cultivated only 6 percent of their land. Although Colombi<!- is an extreme example, this pattern is found throughout Latin America. Only 14 percent of Ecuador's tillable land is cultivated. • In addition, corporations often keep large tracts out of production or use them for open-pit mining and operations', such as tin dredging in Malaya, that destroy the topsoil, making land unfit for farming unless expen~ive reclamation is undertaken. Bauxite, co'p.per and oil companies decrease tqe ·potential food acreage qy holding l~rge areas of land thought to have reserves of those natural re.sources. • This widespread wastage of agricultural land, especially by largeholders, lends credence to the estimate, confirmed by several studies, that only about 44 perc~nt of the world's potentially arable land is actually cultivated. February/March 1978 RAIN Page 5 The relationship of hunger to land turns out to be less a question of quantity than of use. We discover that the amount of land has less to do with hunger than who controls it. - D ... Despite many clear indications that the Soviets were in the market to buy in a big way and the indisputable evidence that bad weather nearly everywhere in the world meant there would be an exceptional demand for American grain, the USDA, contrary to law, did not inform the farmers. In May, the USDA publication Wheat Situation warned farmers there would be a big surplus even after all foreseeable sales. Thus, only a few American government officials·and grain company • executives were in the know. , By early June 1972, Continental Grain, Cargill, and :the . other four members of the grain export club rushed out to the early-harvest Southwest to buy up wheat. The farmers knew that harvests were going to be big and since they did not know about the strong foreign market prospects, they were happy to unload their wheat. They got about $1.25 a bushel. A few weeks later the same wheat would ·have brought $2.25 to the farmer. {In early 1973, wheat would be hard to get at $5 a bushel.) • •By July 5, Clarence Palmby, Continental Grain's vice-president, he,lped the firm to conclude the biggest grain sale in history-three days before the official announcement of the $750 m_illion loan to the U.S.S.R. that made the deal possible and that had been negotiated by Palm.by while still a USDA employee. Still at USDA in May P~lmby had even attended meetings between Continental and the Russians and surely knew a big sale was in the offing. But Palmby and his b,o~ses at USDA had still'neglected to inform the farmers, despite their legal mandate to do so. It was not until mid-July that the USDA informed the farmers. By then in the Southwest and the early harvest areas of the Midwest, one quarter of all the wheat had already been sold. In Oklahoma alone, the withholding of information by the Department of Agriculture cost wheat farmers about $47 million. Over a mere seven weeks taxpayers handed the·six grainexporting companies $300 million in subsidies. By contrast, the subsidies t~ farmers moved in the opposite direction! In 1972 subsidies were still paid to farmers to make up the difference between "parity," a price level considered fair in relation to the cost of machinery and supplies a farmer must purchase and the average market price over a five-month period. The catch, in 1972, was that the govern-. ment figured the period to begin in July, wh~n most farmers in the Southwest and some in the Midwest h3:d already sold out. As news of the big grain deal spread, wheat prices rose, narrowing the difference between average market prices and parity, thus cutting into the subsidies for -the farmer. The farmers' lost subsidies have been esti~ated•~t $55 million. , The General Accounting Office found the big traders had profits on those hundred of millions of bushels ranging from 2 cents to 53 cents a bushel, whereas normally a profit of 1.6 cents per bushel is considered good. -more•
Page 6 RAIN February /March 1978 □ .. . Already over 22 percent of the total American food , production is under direct corporate control, four fifths of that by contract. Of the vegetables processed in the United . States, 78 percent are produced by farmers under contract and 10 percent by the processors themselves. This means that cor-' porations control 88 percent of the American 'legetable'crop. There is therefore no competitive market to which the individual farmer can turn. He has little choice but to sign up with a corporation. . . . • . . . The contracts they sign, after all, are written by the corporations for the corporations. Jim Hightower reports the asparag~s growers find that their contracts with Del Monte "allow the corporation to decide what part of the crop is 'acceptable.'" In 1972, 8 percent of the asparagus crop was rejected in this way. "With no open market to se11 on," Hightower observes, "farmers literally had to eat that loss." He· goes on to reveal _how the farmers' loss is Del Monte's gain: In many cases, however, Del Monte will buy the rejected asparagus from the farmer-at cut-rate prices. In 1972, the price for "acceptable" canning asparagus was 23¢ a pound. The price for asparagus the corporation found unacceptable was .0005¢ . a pound. Del Monte has sole po\veno decide whether a batch of asparagus is worth 23¢ or .0005¢,.and the contrl!-ct requires the farmer to offer any unacceptable asparagus to Del Monte. If the corpor:ation does not want to buy it, then the farmer can take his rejects elsewhere. B-ut there is nowhere else. Why would Del Monte want to write such a provision into its contract? Because there are windfall profits in those asparagus culls. The farmer may have to give the stuff away to Del Monte, but Del Monte'certainly does ·not give it away to you. Del Monte packages and sells these rejects as aspaPagus soup, asparagu~ cuts and asparagus tips-:--all·drawing a pretty penny at the supermarket. D Foo•d self-reliance depends on mass initiative, not on government directives. Self-reliance means not only mass participation but mass initiative, the initiative of people freed psychologically from dependence on authorities, whether they be landlords or government officials. Mass initiative is the opposite of individual self~seeking. It rests in awakening the confidence of the people that only through cooperative work in which all partake and benefit equally can genuine development occur. People have proved themselves willing to sacrifice and work hard for future reward, when they can see that all are sacrificing equally. Thus equality is a necessary prerequisite for mass initiative. In countries with great inequalities in wealth and income, appeals for nati_onal sacrifice are correctly perceived by the poor majority as a way for the contn;>lling 1 elite to extract yet more wealth through the extra exertion of the masses. Since self-reliance•pres~pposes equality, government programs that help only a segment of the poor should not be confused with self-reliant policies. They often only increase inequality. Between 1957 and 1970, about one quarter of all smallholders in Malaysia were settled through a government lal).d development scheme. Their income r.ose several times higher than the average peasant household. Yet all other smallholders saw their incomes halved. Self-reliance is not the "project approach" to hu·nger. • Mass initiative, moreover, is the opposite of government managed "developm'ent." If food self-relianc~ is managed from above, people f~el they are working '"for the government," not for themselves. People become "clients," not the motive force. A government policy of simply parceling out land to small farmers is not, for example, self-reli4nt development. Land reform must involve the people themselves who deliberate to decide how the resources are to be used and how disputes are to be resolved. Land reform must not only redistribute land but must be the first step in·the creation of a ma.~s democracy. The process of land reform is as important as the reform itself. :. D .. . Thus the real lessons for us are these: First: We cannot solve the problem of world hunger for other people. They must do that for themselves. We can, . however, work to remove the o,bstacles that ~ake it increasingly difficult for pe9ple everyo/here to take control·of food production and feed themselves. · ' Second:.We should focus on removing those obstacles that are being reinforced today by forces originating in our coun- •try, often in our .name and with our tax money., . Third: We must support people everywher~ already resistin·g forced food dependency and now building self-reliant societies in which the majority of people directly control food~producing resources. Direct financial assistance is im- . portant'as is communicating their very existence to Americans still believing that "people are, too oppressed ~ver to change." Fourth: Working for self-reliance, both on a personal and national level, benefits everyone. Making America less dependent on importing its food and less depende.tlt on pushing our food on others will be a step toward making America "safe for the world." Local self-reliance will make it more difficult for elites, both in the industrial countries and the unqerde~efoped countries, to manipulate prices, wages !l,nd people for their own profit. Self-reliance ,for America means wholesome food available to all, supplied by a healthy domes- • tic agriculture of widely dispersed control. D ·-Tom Bender ·cancer: ·Metaphor for Modern Times; Pet~r Barry.Chowka, ' a three-part special,.March, April 1977:}an. 1978, in EastWe~t Journal, $1 each from: P.O. Box 305 Dover, NJ 07801 , • j While we're on the subject of food and well-being, we should mention this -excellent series of artjcles by Peter Barry Chowka. We're spending more than $800 million per year of our tax money on cancer research. That research has been an almost total failure, except to provide lucrative income ~o the medical/pharmaceutical industry. Although cancer incidence has increased parallel to our introduction of synthetic food •chemicals into our diet and pollutants into our surroundings, cancer preven'tion remains 'a taboo subject ~nd funds remain · concentrated on ineffective treatments. A few minutes of simple logic can exclude almost everything ,except diet as the cause of a majority of cancers, and research done in the 1940s had striking results through limiting intake of fats, c~lories, salt, excess protein and sugar. It also established with mice that a diet restricted to 2/3 of what would be eaten with no· restraints caused caused a significant reduction in incidence of tumors. Is·cancer a dis.ease of self-indulgence? -TB
(AGRICULTURE) Wi~ter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, Binda Colebrook; 1977, $4. 75,(Washington residents add 25<1 tax) from: Tilth 'Rt. 2, Box 190~A Arlington, WA 98223 Our long-quiet friends at Tilth have just put out this excellent book with the help of former Rainmakers Steve Johnson and Rhoda Epstein. It is a beautifully done guide that should help you keep your cabbages, kelp, sp.inach and rqot crops coming during the rainier. part of the year. It came just in time for me to begin to think about planning my new g3:rden. - LdeM ; Windowsill Ecology, William 1-1. Jordan, . Jr., 1978, 24~ pp., 20 illustrations, 40 photographs, index, $8.95 fro·m: Rodale.Press Einmaus, PA 18049 Windowsill Ecology is a biological contrql manual for the greenhouse manager and house-plant enthusiast. Dr. Jordan, an ento_mologfst at the University of California's Division of Biological Control, has reviewed the state of the art of greenhouse pest management ~ith natural enemies as practiced in Europe on commercial vegetable and cut flower crops, with the specific intended pur- •pose of advancing such indoor pest management practices in the U.S. H_e has produced a valuable explanation of the biology of the more common greenhouse pests as it applies to their 'economic control through manipulation of natural enemies. His instruction~ and recommendations are sufficiently explicit and detailed to enable a careful greenhouse grower to immediately embark on a pest management program with confidence and probable I success. His explanations of the ecological dynamics of the plant-pest-natural enemy-environment relatidmships are so engaging, however, that the careful reader may also become·an effective experim•enter-developing new, modified control strategies that will transcend the cook book approach. Obviously written with the untrained amateur grower in mind, the book introduces the complexities of insect ecology with grace and a measure of chatty humor. It is intended a.,t least as much for the casual house-plant tenderras it is for the commercial greenhouse manager or practicing entomologist. Although I would have personally .preferred a more technical approach, I found that the book's popularizing style did not detract from its value to the serious student of pest _management. By synthesizing available knowledge on the ecology of greenhouse pests as well as tried and proven,management strategies, Windowsill EcolQgy makes an important coµtribution to our developing ' ecologically sensitive agriculture. I recommend it. -Woody Deryckx • ,.,. SHALLOTS (Allim~ asca'lonicum) Profitable Herb Growing at Home, Betty'E. M. Jacobs, 1976, $5.95 from: Garden Way Publishing _Charlotte, VT 05445 •This is a thorough, well-organiz'ed book for anyone interested in growing herbs as a cottage-scale industry. Profitable Herb Growing provides a clear, complete explanation of how-to for individuals with no previous·experience growing herbs. Ms. Jacobs c<jvers the different kinds of herbs, what they ca'n ' be_used for and their cultural requirements, care and propagation, harvesting and storing. For those in~erested in ' herb farming as a livelihood, i_ncluded are chapters on markets and marketing, herb products with com'mercial possibilities as well as separate chapters on growing parsley and chives. The myth- • ology and poetry of these plants is missing but the information is definitely there. -JM February/Ma_rch 1978 RAIN Page 7 When Tillage Begins, T. J. Gilles, 1977, $3.95 from: UMP Publishing Rt. 1, Box 300 Laurel, MT 59044· Here's another home-grown book, but from a different·climate. It's subtitled "History of Agriculture in Montana." Lots of details and i_nteresting stories here for Montanans who want to learn more about their roots. -LdeM ( HEALTH ) The New Birth Control Program, Christine Garfihk and Hank Pizer, 1977, $4.95 from: Bolder Books/Hampstead Hall Press. 10 East 40th St. New York, NY 10016 Natural, birth control is just like any other appropriate technology: we have to experiment and learn; trying out many different ways to see what me,thod suits our needs. This book is the .best I've yet seen on the subject. It outlines a method that. is a combination of the basal body temperature and mucous methods. The details are not all that different from discussions I've seen elsewhere, but the hows and whys are explained much more clearly. This looks like a good one. - LdeM Where There Is No Doctor, David Werner, 1977, $5.50 in U.S. ($3.50 in poorer countries) from:· Hesperian Foundation • P.O. Box 1692 Palo Alto,.CA 943 02 This is the promised English language - , translation of the excelle-nt village ; health c~re handbook, Donde No Hay Doctor (Spanish-$10 or $5 from the address above). The drawings by the author are a trip, but the information looks to be pretty complete. No nat'u-· ral remedies are included, but it would be a good companion book to one that does·include them. Write to them for information about bulk prices in the U.S. and elsewhere for both books. -LdeM Baltimore-Washington Healing Resources, 1977, $5 from: Healing Resources, Inc. P.O. Box 1100 Silver Spring, MD 209~0 Here's an excellent resource if yo4 live. in the D.C. a.r~a or a good model to copy if you don't. It is a listing of people practicing different kinds of esoteric and health-oriented medicine, cross referenced by the type of healing th~y offer. They intend to update and ex- , pand the book every couple of years so keep an eye on·them. -LdeM ,
Page 8 RAIN February(March 1978 ISLAND POWER When I first heard that Hawaii is having a Constitutional Convention next summer, my reaction was similar to what yours probably is right now. Shrugging my shoulders, I wondered what difference that could make in the overall scheme of things. But the more I visited and talked with people there, the more I realized that whether or not the people succeed in ·writing a radi~ally or even a moderately new document, the process they have to go through has the potential of being a •very exciting one. If anything at all comes out of it, there will be some things here we ~an all learn from. The circumstances in Hawaii this winter are this: The 1968 State Constitution mandated that every 10 years a referendum be automatically placed on .the ballot to have the people de- • cide if they want another constitutional convention. That referendum came up in November 1976 and the vote was overwhelmingly in favor (over 75 percent) of calling one. The dates for ConCon, as it is being called, were then set for July 1978. • As Ted Becker, one of the people involved, pointed out, a constitutional convention has an interesting potential as a change agent because it is a "political arena that has no incumbents, no entrenched bureaucracy, almost unlimited power to solve any maj,or political process or substantial problem in the society, and superior power to the legislative, executive and judicial branches-even over their form." Ordinarily one would assume that the same old powers that be would get themselves electe·d and after much hemming and hawing and slaps on the back would hand to the public an ever-so-slightly modified version of the present constitu-. tions. They might have switched from a unicameral to a bicameral legislature or limited the terms of the governor, but the difference would only be in form. Very little of-substance would have changed and the chance would have been missed to re-examine, in Hawaii's case, their crippling dependence on a military and tourist economy or the import/ export patterns of the tiny island state. That's how you would expect it to be. But in this case, • / the people writing the rules last time _put in one major provision which could throw the whole thing open-could, that is, if the circumstances are right. The representation to this convention is to be elected by h.alf of a state house district or one representative for every 6-8,000 people. There are not even any representatives to be elected at large, which means that there will be so many little campaigns scattered about t}:ie islands that it will be difficult for the powers that be to do their usual media blitz for any particular slate or party line. This, then, provides a perfect arena for a real grassroots campaign. Interestingly enough, that is exactly what is happening. It .doesn't take much money to campaign at th~t level. All kinds of people, young and old, some with political experi-. ence already, are getting campaigns together. High school and college students, the native Hawaiians, the Japanese, the Chinese, the business people, longhairs and so forth. In each tiny district they are declaring candidacies right and left, preparing to ring door bells, attend PTA meetings and shake hands. Win or lose, the experience gained and the politization process will have been tremendous. Now none of this would make any real d'ifference if the political climate weren't ripe for change. But Hawaii is ready. An incredible growth boom in the last two decades has made many people aware that the idyllic island paradise they love is turning even the smaller islands into a mass of high rise condominiums and Sheraton~ and Waikiki Beaches. Prices are outrageous-often 50 percent higher than on the mainland. While the island water table is becoming dangerously low, the fertilizer- and water-intensive sugar cane and pineapple growers continue to get away with huge water sub-
from The Valley Isle sidies. What's more, the sugar cane they grow is shipped to California to be processed and then sent back to the islands in the same brown boxes we buy in Oregon. Hawaii is totally , dependent on imported oil and natural gas for its energy input, having so far ignored the incredible potential for solar, wind and geothermal energy. There is also an increasing awareness of the effects of the exploitation of thet'native people. Basically, they are in the same situation we are all in, but the naturally defined limits of their islang economy IT1ake the dangers and trade-offs that much more pronounced. There are a few more intriguing pieces to this politically interesting puzzle. One is a strong ai;id increasingly articulate sector of the population that is interested in changes such as increased reliance on alternative energy sources an·d locally produced food. This group has some extra potential because of the income resulting fr6m the excellent marijuana growing climate. Another factor is a very powerful head of the student body at the University of Hawaii, _an ex-convict who is helping to organize student campaigns in almost every district. February/March 1978 RAIN Page 9 There is also a group called the Constitutional Network, Inc., the brainchild of a transplanted New York Constitutional lawyer turned political science 1 professor and beachcomber. ' Ted Becker and his group have organized a well-done statewide random public opinion poll that gathered information about what the public thought were the most important issues , to be discussed at ConCon: The top ten were Crime (63%) Public Education (61%), Conservation of Energy (60%), the Welfare System (59%), Unemployment (58%), Political Corruption (56%), Environmental Pollution (52%), Criminal • Justice System (50%), Housing (49%), and Population Growth (45%). The bottom five included many that the politicians and·the media have been holding up as important issues: Public Financing of Elections (19%), Election of Prosecutors (17%), the Lt. Governor's Office (17%), Distribution of Legal Services (16%), Primary Voting System (17%) and Worker Participation in Corporate Decisions (14%). Ted Becker also pulled together a seminar series last fall ' - which brought publicity to the ideas of no-growth futures and appropriate technology alte_rnatives. He ~as a _Simul~ted . ConCon for University credit planned this spring which will give anyone who wants a chance to learn how to par~icipate in such a convention. He's planning to experiment with consensus decision-making, computerized information sharing (see box) and such crazy (?) ideas as a legislature selected by lot like· a jury. The spring sessions will be held on evenings and weekends to make it possible for community people to attend. Whether or not it will be possible to pull off a people's ConCon is still anyone's guess. The power and dollars _of the traditional politicians µiay still be strong enough to wm a substantial majority of the representative even in campaigns at.such a grassroots level. But the possibility of a real upset 1 is clearly there. It's one of those situ.ations that fall into our hands. I'm beginning to be convinced that this latter part of the l 970s is all about taking advantage of such circumstances as they come into focus. It entails having a fe~ of the right people in the right places at the right time and a willingness on the part of a large number of people to have ~ g_o ~t it. There's l~ttle to be lost and much to be gained. Even 1f It 1s only a le~rnm~ experience, we'll all know that much more for the next time and place. -Lane deMoll Valley Isle P.O. Box 1086 Wailuku, Maui, HI 96793 Weekly, $4/year or $20 First Class. If you're looking for news. of alternative goings on in Hawaii this paper is a good place to' start. They cover groups like the Hawaii Self-Sufficiency Asso-· ' ciation (2525 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96826), and their work to show different crops and food,products that could help make the islands less dependent on the Mainland. They also cover local bands, particularly those w,-i~ are rediscovering and enjoying their native heritage. And since at least one' of their reporters is running for the ConCon; I'm 1• sure there will be more talk of its progress here soon. -LdeM .
Page 10 RAIN February/March 1978 CONSTITUTIONAL NETWORK The Constitutional Network, Inc. (CN) is a private, non-profit corporation devoted to establishing a totally new kind of political communications pattern, one that would transform 1 the character of ConCon. They have proposed an integrated grid of appropriate communications and information 'technology-a three-way system that would work something like this: All Concon proceedings will be broadcast live and delayed (by tape) on cable-TV (CATV) channel leased by (or donated to) th<'; Constitutional Network. This can be viewed at those homes wtth CATV or at one of CN's 21 centers around the state. The second CATV channel leased or donated to CN will broadcast easily read and understood outlines of issues being discussed-as well as community supplieq bulletins, revisions, suggestions, alternatives. So one channel is dedicated to a h~rizontal flow of data and opinion on issues and events between the people themselves. At each of the 21 centers, videotape ~ameras and production equipment will be available for personal, group and community usage. People in every area will be en'couraged, trained and assisted in making issue-oriented statements on videotape. These staiements will be,played on the s,econd CATV channel -another aspect of the people-to-people exchange. , • . Each center will also have two computer terminals open for public use. These will be of the typewriter keyboard/TV screen variety, and there will be staff available to help P.eople learn to,use them, or to ~erve those who don't want to learn but who want to help. The computers will be used mainly to .. establish "computer conferences" between the centers on , various issues. But best of all, citizens will be able to plug into the conference by staying at home and calling into the center in their area. • What is more, since the computer network will be hooked into national (and international) sources, CN will be able to provide research .and informational assistance to all interes.ted citizens on any and all issues. The citizen can either go to the center near him or pick up the phone and make a request. Finally, during each issue discussion at ConCon, CN will conduct statewide, random public opinion surveys on a nightly basis. This will utilize an automatic sµrvey device and the results will be di_sseminai:ed to the ConCon delegates and .to the public via the regular news media and Channel 2 of the CATV hoo~-up. In addition, the Delphi method of polling will be employed: three rounds on each issue-thus helping develop any,latent public consensus on any and all issues. There's no guarantee, of course,·that they'll succeed in installing the Constitutional Network at the July 1978 ConConi However, by developing the idea, establishing the corporation, distributing information_aboyt it, and addressing various civic and community organizations, the Constitutional Network is dramatically raising consciousness a 1 bout the dangers in our present political system and is presenting a real alternative. Excerpted from the draft of a longer article by Ted Becker. For more information, contact: Constitutional Network, Inc., Waialae Kabala, P.O. Box 10135, Honolulu, HI 96821. BASIC TRANSPORT V'EHICLES The Transportation Department of the World Bank has be~n researching the availability of basic transport vehicles which are sturdy, cheap and ser'Qiceable, enough for use in rural areas. The following are some of their early findings-contact Richard Browning, Transportation Department, World Bank, 1818 ' H Street' N. W., Washington_, DC 20433, ifyou know of others or to find current status ofstudy. -TB Rokon Moto-Tractor (Scout Model) Rokon Inc. 160 Emerald Street, Keene, NH 03431 Descripti_on: Two-wheel drive; 10 hp engine-two-stroke, single cylinder, gas and oil mixed, fan-cooled; speeds range from .8 km/h to 65 km/h; can deliver up to 14 km per liter of fuel in transport mode and consumes about 1.7 liters per hour while ploughing; transmission-automatic torque converter into 3-speed range selector; fron! and rear disc brakes. Dimensions: Weight-86 kg, wheel base-1.25 m, length-1.88 m, width-.77 m, height over seat-.74 m, height over handlebars-1.02 m, ground clearance-.36 m, fording depth-.59 m. Comments on Maintenance, Productivity, "Appropriateness," etc.: Its range of implements includes all purpose trailer (.34 cum with a recommended payload of 227 kg), 1,500 watt alternator, yo,rk rake, moldboard plough, double gang pumping; over 10,000 models have provided transportation in difficult terrain and conditions over various ·areas of the world; grade capability-45 degree slopes; usage of the agricultural implements has just begun in such countries as Indonesia, Columbia; Philippines, Iran, Brazil, New Zealand and Mexico; using the moldboard plough, the rate of work is approximately 12-1/2 hours per hectare; 9"aily maintenance requires lubricating the chains and checking the air filter as well as keeping the tires properly inflated; a major overhaul inspection ought to occur after 1,000-hours·; the life expectancy of the tires is 3-5 years. Cost and Present Status (as of 2/15177): Rokon ScoutU.S. $1,495; implements vary from U.S. $68.50 to U.S. $625.,
Tinkabi Tractor National Industrial Development Corporation P.O. Box 450, Manzini Swaziland Description: Air-cooled and hand-started twin cylinder diesel engine of 16 hp, under normal farm use, fuel consumption is less than 1. 5 litres an hour; hydrostatic drive transmission which controls speed, direction and braking through a singlehand lever; variable speeds up to a maximum of 8 km/h; load pan situated in front has a payload of 500 kg which can be increased to 2,000 kg with the addition of a trailer. Dimensions: wheel base- 2 m, wheel track-1.7 m, ground clearance -.6 m, overall width-1.8 m, overall length-2.5 m, weight unballasted-1,050 kg. Comments on Maintenance, Productivity, "Appropriateness," etc.: Its range of implements includes a plough, planter, cultivator, ridger, harrow, water pump, irrigation set, circular saw, cotton sprayer, hammermill and electrical generator; between service intervals of 250 hours or 6 months, whichever is earlier, the operator need only fill the fuel tank, keep the tires inflated and tighten all nuts and bolts; under dry soil conditions, using the Tinkabi single furrow 30 cm moldboard plough, the rate of work is up to 2 hectares a day at 20 cm deep; extensive testing has been carried out in Tanzania, Zambia, Swaziland, U.K., South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, S.W.A., Mozambique, Kenya and U.S.A.; the work requirements of the Swazi farmer were met under test conditions. Cost and Present Status (as of 5177): Commercially produced in Swaziland at about U.S. $2,000. Basic Transportation Vehicle B.T.V. Operations Group Bedford Commercial Vehicles Vauxhall Motors Ltd. P.O. Box No. 3 Luton LU2 OSY England Description: Water-cooled, 4-cylinder petrol engine of 42.5 hp; maximum speed of 97 to· 105 km/h and can deliver up to 8-9 km per liter of fuel; 4-speed synchromesh transmission with floor-mounted gear lever; two-wheel drive; rack and pinion steering; dual circuit hydraulic service brakes; payload capacity-551 kg; cab takes a 3-man seat. Dimensions: wheel base2.3 m, track front-1.20 m, track rear-1.22 m, wheel clearance laden-.1 m, overall length-3.6 m, overall height-1.7 m, overall width-1.6 m; gross vehicle weight-1,321 kg. Comments on Maintenance, Productivity, "Appropriateness," etc.: It is capable of easy conversion to an owner's specific needs; since it utilizes Vauxhall mechanicals (i.e., engine, transmission, drive line, etc.), in conjunction with locally fabricated sheet metal and local assembly, all mechanical components are proven in quality and reliability to the extent that they have been common to vehicles in the current Bedford range; since 1973 when it was introduced in Malaysia, Portugal, Ecuador and the Philippines, distributorships have expanded to include some twenty countries in Africa, the Far East, Central and South America. Cost and Present Status (as of4125177): Distributed in over twenty countries in an approximate range of U.S. $3,000- $3 ,600; in some small markets, it is possible to produce less than 200 units a year economically. C ) Wood Connections, 1975, $4.50 from: The Timber Framing Book, Stewart Elliott and Eugene Wallas, 1977, $9.95 from: BUILDING Island Hot Baths Box 4676, Rolling Bay Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 These folks have available the only wood-fired Japanese bath heaters we've been able to find in the U.S. Expensive ($325), bµt they look good- sturdy copper construction and complete with tub fittings and connecting pipes. Boiler burns coal, wood or charcoal. We're still looking for other types-submersible ones that fit inside the tub, ones that operate on other fuels, etc. Know of any? -TB Robin Hood Publications Berkeley, CA Found this in a small store in Berkeley, but can't find an address for the publisher. Joints-page after page of jointsfrom Europe, Asia and America. A builder's delight. Gives some explanation of some of the joints, but it would still be useful to have more information on relative strengths and special qualities and uses of various joints. Want to do it? -TB Housesrniths Press P.O. Box 416 York, ME 03909 There's a special good feeling in building when a beam sets down into a mortised post with a solid "thunk" and everything stands there solid and true. That special feeling carries over to most people who use the building-and it never comes from "2x4" construction. This book is about timber framing based on traditional New England housesdone by people who do it well-todayand make a good living by it. Good. how-to. -TB
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