RAIN JULY 1978 VOLUME IV, NO. 9 INSULATIQN, SI!-CELLULOSE, NO! p. 10 BPA'S MUNRO p. 14 EXERPTS FROM AKWESASNE p. 4 ONE DOLLAR
Page 2 RAIN July 1978 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY META Publications P.O. Box 128 Marblemount, WA 98267 Our friends up in the high reaches of the Skagit Valley have just come out with a new listing of publications available through their mail order book service. Solid, practical and useful information sources on farm equipment, crops, food . processing, livestock, working animals, transportation, food and nutrition, health and sanitation, metalwork, water supply, cottage industries and many other areas. Write for list of publications available-the best mail-order source for a.t. books, plans and technical information around. -TB ~•~"'•I-=- ~:! ~ter ~ from Simple Methods of Candle Manufacture RAIN access Mountain/Prairie Energy Vision (series of 4), Loren Schultz, $2.50 each, from: AERO 43 5 Stapleton Building Billings, MT 59101 The new posters promised by AERO have arrived. Called the Mountain/Prairie Energy Vision, and geared to the bioregional interface of the Great Plains and Northern Rockies, these four separate scenes illustrate how renewable energy sources, various appropriate technologies and changes in commercial infrastructure could be tailored to meet the particular needs of the economies and lifestyles of Big Sky country. The scenes include a plains wheat farm, cattle ranches, mountain homestead/ forested area and a small city. I like these posters for a couple of reasons: first, they footnote each technical idea right on the poster, so someone can get a visual concept then go right to the best source for more information· second, they strike a great balance be-• ' tween vision and practicality, showing the potential these tools have right now for meeting the day-to-day needs of hard-working people. Could this be Montana ten years down the road? You bet it could. -SA Country Woodcraft, Drew Langsner, 1978, $9.95 from: Rodale Press 33 East Minor Emmaus, PA 18049 If you want to understand what it means to learn from doing-if you want to see where focussed attention and love of something can take you, this is your cake. A handbook of traditional woodworking techniques and projects, but another realm from popular mechanics how-to projects. Here the beautiful products seem almost incidental to what ~s sought and gained by the person makmg them. Interwoven with a lot of wisdom about tools and techniques gleaned from an inquisitive nature and a willingness to test things out. A beautiful sense of how to approach doing things. -TB Simple M~tbods of Candle Manufacture, Intermediate Technology Development Group, 1975, $1.75 from: International Scholarly Book Service P.O. Box 555 Forest Grove, OR 97116 Concise and well illustrated introduction to simple methods of candle making suitable for cottage industry. Materials used and their role in manufacturing and use, different techniques for candlemaking, equipment requirements and designs, and heating equipment (solar would work fine). A practical and handy guide. -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 . Linda Sawaya Steven Ames Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho
CONSENSUS DEMOCRACY The ways by which we take actions are frequently as important as the actions themselves. If we want a society that lives rather than talks equality, where the thoughts and feelings of every person are listened to and incorporated into , decisions and actions, and which can attain and maintain a harmonious and deep-rooted relation with the resf of Nature, we need to change our ways of making public decisions. Majority-rule democracy will not work. Majority-rule processes have been widely used in a period when we have given tacit consent to rapid change-specifically because they all,ow us to ignore and override the desires of significant numbers of people who would never consent to the changes proposed or the way they·are done. The self-serving interests of a minority, coupled with the vote of people not understanding the implications of the action being taken or· hoping it.might benefit them, has repeatedly overridden the real interests of the majority by this p_rocess. Urban growth serves as a well documented exai:nple. The high costs of growth to the community as a whole have be·en repeatedly shown. The percent who profit are small, and their. identity predictable. Yet the local businesspeople give support in hope of expanding their own operations-not realizing that growth brings in more and larger competitors and f~ey are as likely to lose as to gain from the process. "Everyone" appears to have opportunity to profit in real estate exchanges, yet the homeowners forget they must purchase another home in the same inflated market, and the real profits always seem to go to the same people with inside information, contacts, credit and knowledge of the game. Majority-rule voting results too frequently in energy being put int'o obtaining a majority rather than in listening to and coming to terms with the·real and important feelings of the minority. It creates a divisiveness in carrying out decisions between those victoriously carrying out their wish~s and the losers grudgingly accepting the imposition of the decisions upon their lives. Majority-rule tends towards what i-s popular or easy rather than what is right, and gives little power to the always necessary voices of dissension. It giyes an illusion of strength and permanence to decisions that belies the always shifting feelings of a community. It responds to the interests of power, not people. RAIN Page 3 We tend to consider majority rule as the only workable form of democratic d~cisionm~king. Yet one alternative in particular, consensus, is far more democratic and far more respectful of the community as a whole and responsive to it. In consensus, decisions must be acceptable to everyone. To us, used to approving actions which aren't acceptable to everyone, that sounds impossible. It isn't. Native American, Chinese, Quaker, and inany parts of Japanese society have long operated well by consensus. Se~ing it operate in, of all things, a.strongly polarized U.S. government planning committee, it is ~mazingly effective in getting people's feelings clearly articulated, involving everyone in an effort to find a workable solution, and in leaving everyone with a sense of commitment to make the decisions work. At first impression, consensus is.unwieldy and slow compared to simple voting. But it results in real differences being workec;l out rather than being swept under the table ,and results in pulling the energies of the whole group .together behind a decision rather than the obstruction, indifference and uncommitted assistance more .common with voted decisions. It requires a group or community to deal with its real problems on a more honest, open and direct level, which in ·itself is a major improvement over how we do.things now. Consensus also differs from majority rule in that it is basically stabilizing. Failure to agr~e upon,a new action doesn't mean inaction-it means merely that things go on as they have unless or until full agreement on change is reached. In reality, majority rule repres.ents a false economy. The minutes saved in reaching a "decision" are more than lost in implementation, in the anger, frustration and rejection felt by losing voters, and in the repeated cropping up of the.unresolved differences at every possible opportunity. A real community needs the solidarity of shared respect for each other and of shared and accepted qirection which can only emerge _from consensus kinds of processes. • -Tom Bender
Page 4 RAIN July 1978 Last September a powerful and revealing confrontation took place between the consciousness of our Western Civilization and that of the Native civilization that preceded and may yet outlast it. The event was a United Nations conference on "Discrimination Against the Indigenous Populations of the Americas" in Geneva. It was attended by 125 Native delegations from more than 30 countries who took our human rights violations before the world, and was covered by every major press service in the world. Y 071 probably didn't bear about it in the Arrierican media-the story was not one we would like to bear. The more significant revelations came in the style of the COrJference and its participants and in the sense ofstrength, rightness and solidarity the delegates found among themselves. The deep-centered sr:nse of the world and ofright action from which the delegates worked stood in stark contrast to the legalistic, ma17ipulative and alienated actions of the conference officials. No question as to which I would trust my life. The December 1977 Akwesasne Notes gave full coverage to the meeting and is filled with the powerful exchanges that occurred. (50<1 from Akwesasne Notes1 Mohawk N~tion, via Rooseveltown, NY 13683.) An excerpt follows, dealing with the basic issue of control over.land. -TB from Akwesasne Notes FOR CENTURIES WE HAVE KNOWN THAT EACH INDIVIDUAL'S ACTION CREATES CONDITIONS AND SITUATIONS THAT AFFECT THE WORLD. FOR CENTURIES WE HAVE BEEN CAREFUL TO AVOID ANY ACTION UNLESS IT CARRIED A LONG-RANGE PROSPECT OF PROMOTING HARMONY AND PEACE IN THE WORLD. IN THAT CONTEXT, WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE WE HAVE JOURNEYED HERE TO DISCUSS THESE IMPORTANT MATTERS WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY OF MAN. ' RIGHT vs. MIGHT EXCHANGES FROM THE LEGAL COMMISSION While all three of the special commissions occasioned mucli insightful testimony and telling exchanges, it was in the legal commission where the most basic contradiction between the Native world view and Western Civilization became evident. The Native world view is circular, self-contained. It is not based on the expansionist, linear concept of society and history which is the underlying assumption of Western Civilization. The Mother Earth, the Pacha Mama, the territory within which we live is sacred, and must be protected at all costnot out of some Utopian, or intellectual, or pseudo-spiritual notion-but, simply, because it is where the people live. They have lived on it for hundreds ofgenerations. For Native Peoples the land on which they live is truly "home"-and you don't destroy your home. The sacred knowledge is simply that what you don't destroy, you learn to appreciate. Ifyou stay in one place and don't destroy it-you come to know it. And the Creation, the Great Mystery, the Life Force--tbe People come to understand, is manifested in everything around us. The whole process of Western Civilization has been one of displacement. Imperialism~ colonialism, the justification of racism-they are all historical processes which flow out of that basic inability to make peace·with your surroundingswith the Natural World. There is,no contradiction more basic. They are opposing forces, constantly in struggle. The job of chairing testimony about the very corf!plex network of legal issues involved in the protection of Indian lands and sovereignty could not have been easy. There were many different nations represented, much ground to cover and, worst ofall, a very restrictive time schedule. Moreover, we were to work toward a resolution which would encompass a consensus ofall the testimony and which could then be presented to a plenary of all the delegates. .
Yet, a situation emerged which we found C'µrious. Mr. Niall MacDermot, the chairman of the legal commission, was frequently at odds with the Native delegates. His manner was seen by some as high-handed.and obstructive~ even disrespectful, though he constantly made reference to his own commitment to objectivity and impartiality. The conflict emerged as the delegates of various nations attempted to ex,plain their defensive position against the displacing and extractive processes of Western Civilization. The following is an exchange between Segwalise of the Hau de no sau nee delegation (and other delegates) and chairman MacDermot. It took place during an attempt to define the wording to a resolution that would protect indigenous land rights. ' Segwalise: "[We want] ... protection from the processes by which governments can acquire ownership without the agreement of those presently on the land." MacDermot: " ... would give this right to anybody ..." Segwalise: "That's right." • MacDermot: " . .. would be not only through indigenous people's lands, it would mean a highway anywhere ..." Segwalise: "That's right, yes." MacDermot: " . .. because anybody, if they had a choi~e, if they had the power to refuse a highway ..." Segwalise: "You got it." Laughter. MacDermot: "Yes, well, depends on what kind of society • , you want." Segwalise: "Right! " Laughter. MacDermot: "But I am afraid you'll have great difficulty getting any modern state to acc;ept the idea that the.re q.n be no infringement on your land rights wjthout your consent. I think you are asking a bit too much." • • Segwalise: "We are .not saying1without our consent-we are saying without the agreement of those who presently own the land." MacDermot: "That is consent. Agreement is consent ..." Segwalise: "And I mean, if they think that they are just going to:ram anything through-I mean-throughout the entire Western Hemisphere, every doggone country that occu- . pies our land over there does it-they just ram the road right through the middle of Nicaragua (Mesquito country) wi~hout consulting anyone. They just ram roads through all over the place and this'is to bring a screeching halt to that." MacDermot: "Ah, well . .. I think your solution is a bit too drastic to be practicable." ' Jane Penn (delegate from California): "Mr. Chairman, this business about lan'a ... we in California, of the Morongue - India.n Reservation passed an ordinance within our tribe and it took three elections but it did pass and the Secretary of Interior recognized its passage and demanded that the Bureau of Indian Affairs abide by our ordinance. It's standing todaythis took place in 1958. So that this does happen. Any rights of way for anything must go to the people for full vote to agree. This can be done. I hope that will give you information." MacDermot: "Yes." Jose Mendoza (delegate from Panama): "A new wording. The lands occupied by the Indian nations are their property and are under their control. The lands,that have been taken away by the various governments, or private individuals, and· that the Indians need now, should be returned, in accordance with procedures by which the Indian nations have equal standing with the Western governments represented. This with particular emphasis on the demand for equal standing as a nation-because if this is not recognized, the solution will be an imposed one and not an agreement. Mr. Chairman, in one of your phrases you used the word, to "consult." Well, as long as ,we are not recognized as equal nations, the consultation July 1978 RAIN Page 5 will be nothing more than simply to be informed-'Your lands are about to be occupied.' And that's to be consulted." MacDermot: "The difficulty that I still see is that it would give indigenous peoples a greater right to their land than anyone else has to their land." Murmur: "That's because no qne else has any rights left at all!" • Segwalise: "If we work on the basic premise that the indigenous peoples, by prior existence in the hemisphere, have prior land rights to those laws that were imported and that our prior rights were such that we did not allow those kinds of things to go on amongst ourselves-then,we are reenforcing the premise that w~ are not going to allow these things to go on. The Six Nation lands and the Lakotah lands are not part of the United States. The United States .do·es not have ownership where it can just blatantly run its roads through our lands. It has to go in there and consult with us." MacDermot: "I know that is your contention and we've put that forward ... I am afraid that you are focusing your mind too much on your own particular problem." • What ostensibly began as a simple task of defining precise wording for the indigenous position on th.e right to own their own territories turned quickly into something larger. It became apparent very early on that the position being put forth by the Indian Natipns w_as making Chairman _MacDermot uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he continually referred to his own objectivity, claiming that he was primarily concerned with arriving at a position acceptable to all conc_erned. Yet, as we looked about the room, observing the total situation, the physical set:up, (again) the time element, and even the very idea of so-called objectivity, it became apparent that the clash of cultures (of world~views) represented in that room was inevitable. • In contrast to the full circle oi our internal meetings, the Indian delegates had been seated in long rows, one behind the other, and facing a raised platform, which held a long, thick table where the chairman and the official rapporteurs sat. The offi.cials thus towered above the delegates, commanding attention. It was no wonder that some of the delegates continually and'mistakenly referred to the chairman as "judge." The matter of the time limi'tation was important. Jose Mendoza, Guaimi from Panama, had expressed it best when he said: "We the Indian people, when we gather together, we do not look at the clock. We do not have minutes. We have a whole _lifetime to talk, because it is the problems of our people, of our lives." As chairman, Mr. MacDermot seemed at times so preoccupied with definition and the time element that often speakers had difficulty getting their points across. This was interesting because if there was one question upon which the various Indian nations were intimately united it was on the right of Indian peoples to ownership and control of their own territories. Furthermore, the many forms and processes by which Natural World peoples have been dispossessed were also intimately analyzed and u·nderstood. There was no confusion on this. This matter of so-called objectivity is an important one, particularly in the context of the Native position being put forth in Geneva. ·The traditional Native position is so funda- / mentally oppoSt!d to the whole .process of Western .Civilization that it is very difficult for people who are coming out of that context, and who represent states (wkich are also products of it) not to be somewhat shaken by the presentation ofit. The concept of impartiality, of "objectivity" comes out of the . same confusion that tells us that Man can stand "apart" from Nature. It is a curious notion that tells us an individual can step out ofhis place in history-and that in this way he can better judge the truth. • Reprinted from Akwes.asne Notes, Mohawk Nation, via Rooseveltown, NY 13683, December, 1977.
Page 6 RAIN July 1978 LAND Films on Food and Land, free from: Earthwork 1499 Potrero San Francisco, CA 94110 Films are often a stimulus to further inquiry into a subject and are effective tools to use with people who can't or won't read. They are especially good for pr.esenting new ideas to large groups of people. So Earthwork has put together a directory of films on food and land that can be used in educating and organizing. Some subject areas covered are agriculture and agribusiness, ecology and pollution, food workers, gardening, nutrition, and the world food situation. Besides listing these resources, this manual explains how to use:; audiovisuals as educational tools to help guide the viewer's interest and energy into action. It covers such basics as ideas for discussion leaders, making arrangements for showing, doing a film festival and publicity. A very helpful resource. -JM Microbes to Man: The Story ofa Prairie Farm, directed and produced by Tom Putnam, 16mm color, sound film, 3 5 minutes. Available from: Tom Putnam 2344 Columbia St. Palo Alto, CA 94306 415/326-1050 'Microbes to Man is not so much the story of a prairie farm as it is the story of Gene Poirot and his relationship to the land he cares for. He began farming 56 years ago on land that had been worn 0ut by 70 years of tenant farming. Only half of his land had been farmed, however. The remaining acreage was virgin prairie and from the beginning he studied the comparison between land worked by man and land worked by nature. What he learned was translated into a long process of soil restoration. The film touches on his methods of fertilization, use of legumes, animal and plant nutrition, gravity irrigation, fishraising, biological diversity and biological control of insects, wildlife conservation, no-till planting and general methods of ecological farming. I highly recommend this film as an infroduction to ecological farming and to ecological laws. -JM Our Margin of Life·, Eugene M. Poirot, available for $3.50, postpaid; from: Acres USA P.O. Box 9547 Raytown, MO 64133 Our Margin of Life is Eugene Poirot's personal observations and practical dem- ;..r <ll/ ~-. . ~ .,...:;;::.;;;.;;;;;;; # .-;"/ -;;.:;.,. ~, ~~.: , ....... , ... "" .• from Our Margin of Life onstration of nature's science. In it Poirot explains in greater depth the processes he w~nt through to restore his land and the common sense behind each step. But this book also offers a way of seeing as well as a way of doing. "If you wish to piece together a philosophy of life, the prairie offers a pat- , tern of living things: The prairie does not measure its c.reatures in gold or silver, but rather in those values they create for other creatures. There is no place for those that fail in this simple task, but even the microbe aids many times in extending the thread of life to man." And I would add: "If man measurd:l his succes~ the same way, all those who work well to make things that people can use in body, mind or spirit have reached success." - JM HEALTH Menopause: A Positive Approach, Rosetta Reitz, 1977, $9.95 from: Chilton Book Co. 201 King of Prussia Rd. Radnor, PA 19089 Nothing sums up our culture's negative attitude towards women or aging more than the double whammy of our prejudices and misunderstandings about menopause. This book is written by a woman who wanted i:o know more about what was beginning to happen to her body and who could find virtually nothing written in "popular" literature, while the medical literature treated it as an illness that needed to be cured rather than a normal, natural stage of life. Although intended primarily for women in their menopause, this is a good book to turri to for anyone who is interested in dispelling the myths and opening up the dialogue of health and well-being on all fronts. -LdeM , Avoid or Achieve Pregnancy Naturally, Terrie Guay, 1978, $3.50 from: Bookhouse Northwest P.O .. Box 296 Portland, OR 97207 For those of us still in the reproduction years, natural birth control has become an increasingly: attractive alternative to chemicals and devices which have questionable side effect·s. This book is another of the several that have appeared in the past year that describe in detail how to learn about your body's monthly, cycle to control conception. This one relies on _the mucus method alone, unlike some which combine charting the vaginal mucus with keeping track of temperature changes. Simpler but probably a little riskier. Any of the variations are·a val1:1able way to get in touch with the rhythms of your body and, incidently, I've found, with the changes of the moon. - LdeM Breast vs. Bottle: The Scandal of Infant Formula Promotion, $1 from: Food Monitor P.O. Box 1975 Garden City, New York 11530 If you are not familiar with the scandal of baby formula manufacturers pushing their products on Third World mothers, this reprint from Food Monitor is a good place to start. Companies like Nestle use pictures of robust babies and salespeople dressed like nurses to convince mothers that their expensive product is more nutritious and "modern" than breast feeding. When the women, most of them poor, dilute the formula to save money, many of the babies die from malnutrition. Yet another example of large corporations making a killing on a substitute for something • ~hich is provided free by nature. Boycott all Nestle products and use this pamphlet to spread the word. -LdeM from Breast vs. Bottle Killy l awr1mct1
FOOD Community Self-Reliance, Inc. Annual Report, 1977, $1 from: Hampshire Community Canning Center Box 104 , Northampton, MA 01060 It looks like this active group is really making strides towards helping people in their community become more selfreliant food-wise. Their canning {::enter is open 72 hol!rs a week during canning season; they organized three Food Processing Fairs so that consumers could buy in bulk easily froin farmers; they have an outreach/educational program for low~income (and next year on in the public schools), and they are doing all kinds of educational activities to convince the people of their community_ that it is possible to become independent from the large amounts of food exported into Massachusetts. The report is well documented with some good quotable nlfmbers and is nicely put together. Worth checking out if you're doing similar things. -LdeM Dry It-You '11 Like It! by Gen MacManiman, 1973, from: MacManiman Inc. Fall City, WA 98024 This book caught my eye several years ago with its unforgettable title. Now that I've read it, I'm more than ready to jump in and Dry It! In addition to clear, simple plans for building your own food dehydrator, there are numerous recipes and inst-ructions for drying many kinds of foods. The food dryer is a great project to start on now before the bounty of nature in our gardens overwhelms us. It's wonderful to have choices other than composting the surplus that comes to us at harvest time. So what more to say, Dry It! -LS 1lJ'fAL. JAF.~ Plf0Ct?9'3ED n,,t.. l'f77 ,eA5~ ':,~51 QVA~T1 2,e!, p1t-1i-, Growing & Saving Vegetable Seeds, Marc Rogers, 1978, $4.95 from: Garden Way Publishing Charlotte, VT 05445 Another gardening idea that is complimentary to self-reliance and letting go of our dependence on corporations is the art of Growing &. Saving Vegetable Seeds. This book describes the ratidnale behind raising your own seed, as well as methods of pollination, selection, collection, extracting, drying, storing and testing seeds for propagation. All the basic information you need to start collecting this season is here in a format that's easy to use as a reference. - LS from Dry It You'll Like It! July 1978 RAIN Page 7 from Community Self Reliance Annual Report LEARNING 1977-78 National Directory of Public_ Alternative Schools, edited by Anne ,Flaxman and Kerry Christensen Homste3:d, 200 pages, $4.20 from: National Alternative Schools Program School of Education University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 0 1003 I have-no idea how complete this directory is, but the several alternative programs I know of in public schools around the country are included. The book is handsomely laid out and therefore easy to use. A good reference for people wanting to get some hints as to who's doing what in alternative learning these days. -LdeM ~""'Y 0,,.-1,,.7,,Scfw•L ,o,t,,• from National Directory of Public Alternative Schoo
Page 8 RAIN .July 1978 DISASTER VICTORS Dear Tom and Lane, , I read your description of the tragedy of fire to your home with sadness and some understanding of the feelings of loss which you must be experiencing. Your words brought back, for me, a range of emotions and thoughts which I encountered following the burning of the primary structure at what is·now the Walker Creek Community. It too burnt to the ground, leaving me and others with fewer ... far fewer ... possessions, grief, hard questions to answer, and the apparent loss of energy, materials and past labors. The hardest questions seemed to come at some times distant from the immediate event ... most connected with.the WHY of it. If fire is cleansing something, what is being removed ... if it is testing us, are we equal to the test ... if it means new beginnings, where do we start ... if we see this as a transformation, why is it so hard to remove the scars of a charred remains ... if our values are being tested, which ones do we reaffirm. In passing from the immediate losses, there came the activities reaffirming life ... the planting of herbs ·in the ashes ... the symbolic placement of remnants from the fire into the garden ... the building of temporary shelter ... the understandings of value in friendships ... the ass~ssment of resources remaining ... the awareness that no one was physically hurt ... The greatest loss seems that of the impetus for creativity through externals ... and the greatest gain, in time, that of b,eing able to create in the face of the temporal nature of reality and ultimately in the face of death. Your words were written sensitively and bravely. Indeed, the loss of a home to fire can be as devastating as the loss of a close personal relationship.with a family member, for it strikes against our security, and our dreams. LETTERS I have tried to think of something to send you other than ··my thoughts and worcls. Enclosed are two things which are reminders to me of a successful resolution of my experience with loss and fire. The metal Judaic item was one which I found in the ashes which has reminded me of its previous , owner who had given labor and energy to our structure, but more, the strength of his spirituality. The spirit survives. The "disaster victor" sign was given to me by a close friend. I believe that the meta-image of·being a disaster victor rather than a disaster victim has been a helpful one in viewing myself and the future. With many best wishes for your gains in the face of loss, Bob Ness P.O. Box 81 Mt. Vernon, WA 98273 Thanks to everyone for all the good energy you've sent our way-.it's buoyed our spirits and hammers. We set the new ridgepole and had a topping-out celebration last week. Feedback has been ofa heavy winter everywhere in the network. Jerry Friedberg (Arrakis Propane Conversions) in Arkansas, George Mokray in Boston, and the new Zenda at the Tassajara Zen Center have all suffered major fires recently, and two of the founders of Citizens Against Toxic Sprays were killed in a house fire. Knowing disasters, we do become disaster victors all, cleansed and stronger for the more intense times ahead. The forests are turning a vibrant green with new and healthy growth. -TB MORE ON FEDERAL FUNDING Dear RAIN, I can't understand how your magazine can continue to favor having the State and Federal government pay for energy conservation and solar energy research. Do you really want the citizens to relinquish their rights to spend their money as they please to the government? In your May issue the letter of Robert Judd pvblished under the title Cal A.T. Grants talks about awarding grants. Judd says of the money, "The limited funds should go to those people who have little or no access to venture capital: individual inventors, small businesses and community groups rather than corporations and think tanks." This s.entence is worth pondering. Who are.these people who have no access to venture capital and who need·our tax money? Has the government passed laws against a certain group so that they can't deal directly with their fellow citizens, but instead need the intervention of the tax collector? If this were so it would be a tyranny against 'both sides. Of course, this isn't so. We don't have any such laws. Any citizen is free to enlist the backing of another if he can convince the backer of the project.·I would guess that Judd wants to hdp people who, so far, feel that they.haven't been good at convincing others. This is a sign to me that Judd ·may be a sympathetic, nice guy. The problem arises when we find that it is our money he will give away; and we may not agree with his judgment and sympathies. This is very bad. A horrible • •consequence of Judd's approach must be the feeling of those his group rejects, among which there must be many people he has classified as not having access to venture capital and who, it now turns out, don't have access to the group who look after the group that doesn't have access. This might be tough to take! Perhaps another layer of the bureaucracy helps this poor fellow! I was also puzzled by Judd's comments on salary. He says:· "Our review team was unsympathetic to salary rates greater th~n $10-$-15 an hour ($20,000-$33,000 a year)."
I hav~ been asked to be on such review teams and believe the government pays tihe review teams themselves $200 per day plus expenses. That is much more than the amount he disapproves of. (~his may be unfair criticism. Judd may donate all his.time and the same with the rest of this peer panel-but I'm very curious). What is Judd's salary as director of the Office of Appropriate Technology? It is my hope that peol?le will think about their relationship to government and the problems they face. I believe if they give all this some thought they will prefer to work on their problems directly rather than through agencies as the D.O.E. or the California Office of Appropriate Technology. These agencies are not giving away wealth that they have created; they are giving away your money which they collect under threat of confiscation of your possessions if you refuse to pay, and they are paying themselves good salaries as they do it. Steve Baer Dear Lee: I am writing this letter in response tq an article in the Oregonian entitled "Boeing May Bring Oregon Big Windmill." I am writing a similar le.tter to Oregon's U.S. Senators and Representatives, as well as President Carter and James Schlesinger. Several months ago, it came to my attention that the Columbia Gorge would be an excellent site for large-scale windelectric power generators. Installing these generators to tie in with the existing Bonneville Power hydroelenric grid sys- .tern would be an ideal opportunity for Oregon to pursue. This concept is well known and has been developed by Dr. E. Wendell Hewson of Oregon State University. (See undated Oregonian article enclosed.) My purpose for writing is this: I wonder why the U.S. Department of Energy is granting Boeing of Seattle $10 million to "design, test and build the first unit" to test "the econom- . ics of wind-gei:ierated electricity." (Please see attached article.) I wonder if most people are aware that another firm,.Wind Powe.r Products of Seattle, is ready to go on line ~ith a large- ·scaie-wind generator right now? (See article from the Sacramento Bee, enclosed.) I would like to know why the federal government is giving Boeing so much money, for essentially the purpose of re-inventing the wheel, in this case a wind generator. • Charles Schachle, the head of Wind Power Products (who, like myself, runs a small family business) has built a prototype wind generator that has been supplying power into the Grant County P.U.D..lines for over a year now. The model Schachle proposes will be the same'as the prototype, only it will supply 3,000 kilowatts of electricity instead of only 125 kilowatts. The Office of the Governor of California is already considering investing in this generator,'and Southern California Edison is in th·e final stages of purchasing one. Why can't Bonneville and/or Pordand General Electric (who is also-considering the Boe'ing/DOE model) buy a system that already • exists and is ready to go into mass production? Why should they wait for several more years for the Boeing model to be completed? This seems like a waste of tax dollars merely to benefit Boeing. It would appear that Senator Henry Jackson has used his influence again to get federal tax dollars to support Boeing. My questions for the tax-paying publi'c are t_hese: Why couldn't BPA or PGE'. be persuaded to buy wind generators that already exist in prototype form; and could very easily be made in Oregon (the propellers are made of laminated wood)? Why should a small businessman such as Mr. Schachle have to compete with government-subsidized big business like Boeing? Why can't Boeing come up with their own money for the research and development, like Mr. Schachle did? Creating this artificial competition only makes it more difficult for the small businessman to stay in this market. July 1978 ~AIN Page 9 My personal interest stems from the possibility of selling Schachle our speed gear trains for the wind generators. I would benefit from the mass production of this renewable energy source, as would many other Oregon businesses. I think it is high time the federal Department of Energy sto.p funding projects to study technology and equipment that already exists. I think the Department of En.ergy should try to help the small busi·ness people like Schachle, instead of trying to hinder his progress. Dear Lee: Sincerely, Frank W. Seifert Frank Seifert Company P.O. Box 16638 Portland, OR 97216 • Just finished reading your a.t. article ("Side-Stepping the Sun") in the April '78 issue. Good job. RAIN should do more of this kind of article. I share your frustration with dealing with the Feds. If you have found some "bozos" at DOE, sometime you should take a look at some of the people at the D.epartments of Transportation and Agriculture. It may ,be a sad commentary on the state of the bureaucracy; DOE has, by far, the best staff that .I have found in D.C. On the federal budget process. The program directors at DOE have little control over what they get each year f9r funding. Within Schlesinger's office and at the Office of Management and Budget, there are anonymous individuals who decide just what budgets will be ~equested from Congress each year. In covering Washington over the past four years, I have found only a few of these people-and, even when you find them, they won't tell you anything. So, on the average, you will be wasting your time trying to find the money planners at DOE. • In shaking loose some D.C. money for a.t., your best bet is to concentrate on the Congress. Whatever are the wishes of DOE and 0MB; the Congress has the final say. Forget, for the most part, lobbying DOE staffers. In your article you are a little hard on some of the DOE staff. What they say in public may be different from what they actually believe-but they want to keep their jobs. On a number ofoccasions, I know that while DOE personnel were testifying bdore Congress that they didn't want their budgets increased, they were privately furnishing reams of information under the table to Congressional Committees showing why they actually did need more money. Wh_ile this is not always the case, I think that you will find that often Congressional opinion for increased non-nuclear R&I;:> budgets is actually furnished by DOE personneL Anyway, RAIN continues to be a great publication. And if you are looking for some big bucks from DOE for an a.t. project, why do,n't yoll propose a nuclear-powered windmill? After you spend a few million building the windmill, you can conclude that the nuclear reactor is not necessary and save the government a:few million·. Similarly, there could be a nuclear-powered solar energy ~ystem, etc. Good luck. Regards, ' Bill Margetts Dr. Margetts is the editor of the very excellent Government R&D Report, one of the few newsletters we exchange with that has been c9nsistentlyfull ofaccurate, comprehensive information q,r,d experienced perspectives on the p. C. energy scene. We highly recommend to you the.ir "Solar Energy Edition" (June 1, 1978), 'J)Jhich you might want to review befo~e subscribing. Ask for a sample copy from :.Gov't R&D Report, MIT Branch, P.O. Box 85, Cambridge, MA 02139. It's $90/year. -LJ
Page 10 RAIN July 1978 Sedition/cpf lnsulalion_,si ! Cellulose, ~00~ The real fire problem, in my opinion, lie~ in the cellu_losic insulations. To begin with, the cellulosic insulation is most generally a pulverized or finely chopped-up paper material, frequently waste paper. In this condition, it is highly flammabl,e. Flame-retardant salts are then added ,to that paper by a dry mixing method. It has been reported that a few manufacturers are using some 'type of steam impregnation for adding salts. This may give better quality control, but the other problems remain. So, most salts do not become an integral part of the paper, but merely rest upon the surface. Originally borate and boric acid were used as flame r_efardants. Due to the cost or unavailability of boron-based materials, substitutes are being used, or the borates and boric acid are being used with extenders that dilute the effects. The substitute materials are, most generally, ammonium sulfate or aluminum sulfate. -These accentuate the corrosion problem, · since they are acid salts. Even the best of these flame-retardant treated cellulosics , will begin to smolder when heated to approximately 450 degrees Fahrenheit. When smoldering once begins, it is most difficult to extinguish. It reacts like a smoldering cotton mattress. The ordinary application of water or other extinguishing age1_1ts is i~effective. The material must be carefully pulled apart in its entirety, and each parcel extinguished separately. Ever since cellulose fiber insulation began to be promoted a couple ofyears ago as a low-cost "wonder drug" for building energy conservation, we've been expressing our concern over its potential combustibility and moisture problems. RAIN reader Paul Hewitt in Toronto wrote saying he shared our concern and would let us know if he found any documentation. It follows, below, excerpted from an article by]ohn G. Degenkalb on fire safety concerns of energy conservation measures in buildings. It's from the May 1978 issue of Fire Journal published by the National Fire Protection Associati'on, • 470 Atlantic Ave., Boston, MA 02210. In addition to detailing the fire hazards of cellulose insulation, Degenkolb's article gives the first overview I've seen of general fire hazards of well-insulated buildings (rapid fire spread from containment of heat, rapid smoke spread, etc.); electrical/fire hazards from insulation (overheating during electrical equipment operation, overheating from beat released from insulation while curing, chemical interaction of electrical and thermal insulation, and chemically induced -corrosion); and other hazards (corrosive effect on structural members of sulfuric acid produced by flame retardant salts in cellulose insulation that bas caused one and possibly more _buildings to collapse). Good things to know about. About an hour after Paul Hewitt's letter arrived, Laura Masin walked in the door at RAIN to let us know about a recently completed "Feasibility Study on Small-Scale Cellulose Insulation Manufacturing" by the Community Energy Network, 122 Anabel Taylor Hall, Cornell U,niversity, Ithaca, NY 14853. The study covers net energy analysis, moisture problems, market analysis, fire retardancy and research on alternative chemicals, economic analysis of small-scale '• production, etc: -TB In Jan_uary 1977, ERDA prepared a report entitled Survey of Cellulosic Insulation Materials. Nineteen off-the-shelf samples were obtained. They noted that "of the 19 samples received for analysis, 13 showed visible evidence that some of the fire-retardant chemical had separated from the cellulosic matrix; quantities of the additives were,•found at the bottoms of the containers." In other words, that paper from which the fire-retardant chemicals had dropped off was little more than waste paper in a highly flammable form. . V As to moisture absorption, the weight gain should not exceed ·1.5 percent if it is to meet the Standard. All 19 showed water solubles in excess of 15 percent. "The difference in moisture absorption increased with increasing time-some samples had moisture gains in the 75 percent range after g:.15 days of exposure. Also, in some samples the moisture gains reached a maximum and then decreased." After 15 days, nine of the samples exceeded 15 percent, with one as high as 70 percent, and two were in the 40 percent range when in a lowdensity packing configuration. Under different packing configurations, six of nine exceeded the 15 percent after 15 days. Since the flam'e retardants are water soluble, doesn't this indicate there is the defif)ite possibility that those salts may well be leached out over a period of time? Because the problem has been recognized, some comp·anies utilize permanently I
treated rather than salt-treated paper for facings. We are not talking about this year or next, but about 30 years from now when the mortgage is to be paid off-that is, if the home has not burned in the meantime as the result of unsafe methods of energy conserving insulation. When moisture is added to an insulating material, the insulating qualities become weakened and the public is shortchanged. Underwriters Laboratories brought to my attention that the Building Materials Directory states: "The loose fill materials, consisting of cellulosic fiber or shredded wood chemically treated to reduce combustibility, incorporate treatments consisting of water-soluble salts which may· be affected by repeated exposure to water or conditions that may result in the condensation of water." In the ERDA conclusions, it was stated that "Six of the 19 samples exceeded the moisture-absorption criteria of the standard specification when tested in a low-density configuration" as found in attic installations. Where corrosion was involved, 11 of the 19 samples used in the ERDA investigation showed corrosion rates greater than allowed under the ASTM Standard. Some showed extensive subsurface corrosion, particularly on aluminum. The sulfates appear to be the most critical where corrosion is concerned. ERDA also reported on fungal growth. Six of the 19 samples supported such growth. Samples containing boric acid were resistant, whereas those containing primarily sulfates supported fungal growth. Thermal conductivity values for two of the eight samples tested exceeded the values reported by the manufacturers; the range of deviations was 11 to 63 percent. The standard specifications ~How only a 5 percent deviation. It is interesting to note that ASTM C739-73 provides for three classes of "Cellulosic Fiber Loose Fill Thermal Insulation," i.e., Type I has a flamespread of 0-25; Type II has 2675; Type III has 76-200. To establish three classes appears to me to be the height of assininity. For three classes of readily or highly combustible material to be placed in concealed spaces where it may be subjected to accidental ignition is inexcusable! Unless something is done about it, and immediately, we are building for a rash of fire deaths in the foreseeable future. Reports on the cellulosic insulating materials have been received from as far north as Edmonton, Alberta, and from as far south as Florida. Concern has been expressed about the covering over of electrical fixture boxes. Oklahoma City placed a moratorium on the installation of recessed electrical fixtures, so tests were conducted. "Insulation was blown in to the suggested "R" value. After one hour and 45 minutes a heat rise of 650 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded, joists were charred from heat being conducted through fixture hangers and metal flex cables, wiring insulation was melted with bare wire exposed, all paint was burned off of recessed fixtures, and plastic connectors were melted in the UL-listed connector box. The only method of clearance that maintained safe temperatures was the metal enclosure over recessed incandescent fixtures." In Oregon, the cellulose insulation identified as to its fire-resistant qualities came into contact with a bathroom July 1978 RAIN Page 11 heat lamp, and fire resulted. Another Oregon community passed a local ordinance in the late '60s prohibiting the use of cellulosic insulation "due to the lack of adequate uniform fire-resistive treatment." But fires are still occurring due to the quantities installed prior to that prohibition. Phoenix reported that insulation fires generally increased 30 percent between 1975 and 1976. Michigan has reported numerous fires. So have Texas, Alabama, Colorado and other states. Reprinted from Fire Journal, National Fire Protection Association, 470 Atlantic Ave., Boston, MA 02210, May 1978. Cellulose Fiber. Cellulose fiber insulation is like expanded perlite and expanded vermiculite in that it is a loose material. It is either poured or blown into the joist or stud space. It is unlike the mineral insulating materials in that it is combustible. Cellulose fiber insulation is produced by shredding wood or paper, pulverizing it in hammer mills, then blending the material with a dry chemical to achieve some degree of fireretardance. The chemicals used for the fire-retardant treatment may be one or a mixture of the following: borax, boric acid, mono- or diammonium phosphate, and ammonium sulphate. Other fire-retardant chemicals may also be used. These chemicals are water soluble and may be adversely affected by repeated exposure to moisture or extreme changes in humidity. There is some question about whether such changes would result in migration of the chemical deeper into the fibers or lower in the bed of insulation. Insulating material treated with sulfates may cause corrosion of metal-sheathed cable or metal fixtures, especially under humid conditions. Not all cellulose fiber insulations are listed by testing laboratories. Those that are listed generally have flame spread ratings ranging from 15 to 60. Under favorable conditions, cellulose fiber insulation will smolder or glow, especially if a source of ignition penetrates deep into the bed of material. With a sizable, sustained ignition source present, the chemicals will eventually break down and the insulating material will burn.
Page 12 RAIN July 1978 The Changing City, Jorg Muller, a Margaret K. McElderry Book, 1976, Verlag Sauerlander AG, $9.95 from: Atheneum Publishers 122 E. 42nd St. New York, NY 10017 RAIN subscriber Sue Tideman of Los Angeles recently brought Jorg Miiller's amazing portfolio, The Changing City, to our attention. A collection of eight separate fold-out color illustrations, Muller's wordless narrative chronicles the decline of a composite Swiss/German city over two decades, where neighborhoods, plazas, cafes and trolleys-signs of local economies and human energy-give way to autobahns, tower blocks, boutiques and parking structures. It's the exploitation process of centralized economies that afflicts industrialized nations everywhere, and which even has a foothold in the Third World. Each frame of Miiller's bittersweet time-lapsed exposure (three of which are shown here) offers a wealth of artistic detail you can pour over for hours, observing the various incarnations of a degenerating building or noticing the changes in patterns of socialization and styles. We'd sure like to see Jorg move into the realm of the possible with his talents; until then, if you find this too awful to contemplate, do as Sue suggests and read up rather than down. -SA
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