Page 2 RAIN Ii~: - ·~~-;:-~:;.;_~=~-_--~~-~"-:;-:=.~-i· / ~ RAINaccess The Rainbow Book, edited by F. Lanier Graham, revised January 1979, 208 pp., $6.95 from: Vintage Books 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 In 1975 living in the S.F. Bay Area was colored by a prismatic wave of interest and celebration of the RAINBOW. The Rainbow Show was a year-long celebration culminating with a show and publication of The Rainbow Book. Childrcn's rainbow art colored the walls of many museums and parks in San Francisco along with the textile, fine and graphic arts in exploration of the sensitivc and elusive qualities of light and color that embody rainbows. The original book published with the show was printed in six colors of paper in rainbow sequence and is out of print. This revised edition, although lacking the magcnta that I loved, is much easier to read on white paper. Music and color relationships, myths, poems, and rainbow folklore, visual perception and the physics of the spectrum, metaphysics of the spectrum-auras, the rainbows around our bodies-are explored. Fascinating and visually delightful! - LS ...---------, How the year has flown! It's time again for the Annual Equinox Gathering, a coming together of friends in the Northwest to share ideas, touch bases, renew spirits and spring off for more regional work in the coming year. Spring is a time of beginnings, and last year's gathering saw the beginnings of some wonderful things. Hope to see and meet lots of you Northwest RAINfriends at this one, held at Vashon Island, Washington, near Seattle. Networking workshops Friday; educational and organizational workshops Saturday; Sunday is focused on localities, communities. Pre-registration by April 5 is $25 for 3 days, $19 for 2 days. Registration at the site is $30, and $23, respectively. Contact CAREL, Box 1492, Eugene, Oregon, 97440, 503/485-0366 -LS IRAIN's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Ph : (503) 227-5110. RAIN Phil Conti Linda Sawaya Yale Lansky Pauline Deppen STAFF: Steven Ames Lane deMoll Tom Bender Jeff Paine \copyright © 1979 RAIN Umbrella Inc. C()nrributing Edit~r: Lee Johnson Typesetting: Irish Setter Print·ing: Times Litho Goods and Merchandise, 1978, 128 pp., $7.95, and Compendium, 1976, 397 pp., $14.95 from: Hart Picture Archives Hart Publishing Company 12 E. 12th Street New York, NY 10003 Friends working on publications always seem to call Rain, asking about our wonderful sources for graphics. Here are two great new acquisitions to our graphics library that have made me unusually anxious to layout this issue. Priced slightly higher and on slicker paper than our old standby Dover Pictorial Archives (see Rain , December 1976), these two volumes will add new flavor to Rain. Hope you enjoy this issue and this new find' - LS Smoke Detector Update More than four million ionization smoke detectors have already been purchased and nine million are flooding the market annually. In response to the environmental and health dangers they present, a citizens' organization in Barrington, Illinois, has submitted a resolution to its town board requesting a ban on the sale and use of radioactive ionization smoke detectors. The photoelectric detector is being recommended as a safe alternative (see Rain, Dec. '78, p. 21 for a list of manufacturers selling the photoelectric model). The group, Pollution and Environmental Problems, Inc., has also distributed press releases warning of the potential short and long term health hazards. Americium 241, the radioactive element, is an internal radiation emitter and affects human health when it is inhaled or ingested. It is capable of vaporizing in fire or dissolving into water where it enters the food chain as drinking water, plants, fish , etc. Cancer of the liver and bone have been connected to the ingestion of Americium. Activity to ban the ionization detectors is also occurring on the state and national levels. Several state representatives in Oregon are now attempting to amend a bill requiring mandatory installation of smoke detectors, to include a ban on the radioactive units. For information on the town resolution, contact Catherine Quigg, Pollution & Environmental Problems, Inc., Box 309, Palatine, JD 60067,31213816695. For copies of the press releases
and reference, send $1 ro uclear Information and Resuurce Service, 1536 ixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY Brickmaking Plant: Industry Profile, UNIDO Development and Transfer of Technology Series No. 10, $4.00 in Europe, North America and Japan, from : Sales Section United Nations New York, NY 10017 or Sales Section United Nations Office CH-12ll Geneva 10, Switzerland free elsewhere from: Editor, UNIDO Newsletter P.O. Box 707 A-lOll Vienna Austria well-detailed profile of conventional mechaniz.ed brickmaking techniques [he best of several such profiles we've seen. Coverage of problems with clay pr cc 'sing, dr ing, effect of brick size upon ompetitive cost with other materials, etc. To be followed by another publication dealing with laborintensive semi-mechanized or manual technologies suit ble for rural areas. ecbnologies from Developing Countries, . 7 in the series (free everywhere), contains brief descriptions of 138 new and innovative technologies from developing countries, along with sources for more detailed infurmation. Plant and animal products, textile, construction, energy, chemical, plasrics and machinery plus other areas are covered. - T B Women and Technology: Deciding What's Appropriate, conference in Missoula Montana" April 27-29, sponsored by AERO, Women's Resource Center and NW Subregion Women's Studies Association, $5, to pre-register write: Women's Resource Center U. of Montana Missoula, MT 59812 Ecorope's insightful and exciting conferen e un women in appropriate technology in December must have been catalyric in getting us to take some steps and fill the need from which that conference arose. Here' another, similar conference. Ilands-on workshops on alternative energy, bike repair, self health, along with philos phieal discussions. f ive dollars w!1l get you in wilh childcare and housing available. See you there! - LS ACT '79-Mid-Adantic Appropriate Cemmunity Technology Fair/ Conference Here's an update on ACT '79, which was mentioned in the November issue of Rain as a model for a.ppropriate tech 'nology fairs. It sounds even more wonderful and for the first time ever, I'm seriously considering going to Washington, D.C.! ACT '79 is developing on the Washington Mall a complete community -with streets, shops, houses, farms, schools and health care facilities. Featuring composting, fish ponds, farmers' markets, beekeeping to urban walkways, light rail transit and jitneys-the list is endless! All I can say is, if you live in the Mid-Atlantic region-GET THERE April 27 to May I! -LS Linda: As for how things are going here, perhaps hyper is the best one-word description. No doubt about it, ACT '79's gonna be fun--and more important, we're gonna achieve our prime objective, which was to bring together a.t. innovators from the Mid-Atlantic region (which is in real terms both the least developed in overall a.t. efforts and the most urbanized) and expose goveprtment policymakers to the wide range of community-based technologies. We go on site 12 weeks from tomorrow (Jan. 22). And we're more or less on schedule (although I don't know whether I would want to take this ride again). And what's most amazing is the diversity of areas from which we're getting help: architects from the American Institute of Architects; government technicians setting up ad hoc working groups within their agencies (without explicit top-down approval) to devise exhibits and programs ; designers; artists; musicians; students giving up a semester to work full-time for us; lawyers; writers; health practitioners; I could go on and on- and they're all doing it just because they feel ACT's gonna be a fantastic thing. For sure, this show of support mitigates all those cynics who sec Washington as impersonal, power-made, etc. Cause if you take away the federal government's contributions to ACT, then we wouldn't have very much at all. Not one business, foundation, labor union, fat cat, whatever has made a substantive contribution so far. And, surprise, surprise, the feds ain't dictating anything; they're giving us the skeleton, and we have the onus on us to flesh it out. Anyway, we're still looking for possible participants and for local planning types. Will probably be right up until the end'of March-although we need planning coordinators as soon as possible. Whatever Rain can do to as ist will be of great help. And, of course, if it's April 1979 RAIN Page 3 at all possible, we'd like to sec all of you here to join with us in this celebration of community efforts. Peace, Michael Duberstein Approp;iate Community Technology Fair/Conference 1413 K St., N.W., 8th Floor Washington, DC 20005 202/393-AT79 Selected Federal Progra1ns in Appropriate Technology, 1978, limited copies available free from: Office of Technology Assessment United States Congress Washington, DC 20510 A description of 52 federal programs which fund research and demonstrations, provide technical and financial assis· tance, or which set standards for small scale technologies. Of interest to people or projects considering seeking federal funding, interested in what Vncle Sam's involvement in this area is or is supposed to be, or wanting to know what kinds of local groups or agencies can obtain federal assistance in this area. -TB POLITICS The Shorter Science and Civilization in China: Colin Ronan and Joseph Needham, 1978, $19.95 from: Cambridge University Press 32 E. 57th Street New York, NY 10022 When Chinese leaders can gain V.S. acquiescence in a military invasion of Vietnam by "coincidentally" dangling "possible" purchases of U.S. equipment in front of American busincss leaders, it's time to wake up to how naive the V.S . is in international games and hO\\l experienced other countries arc. China has been around for a long while, and a heal thy respect for its tenacity, in ventiveness and character are essential to understanding and dealing well with it. Joseph Needham's epic Science and Civilization in Cbina i a cornerstone to any such understanding- tracing in fascinating detail the accomplishments and ingenuity of the largest civ ili7~tion on earth over the last 4000 years. This abridged version can hardly convey the often remarkably different basis from which Chinese developments arise, but for those without the monetary resources and library space of a university research library. it is a welcome and valuable resource. This first volume covers Volumes One and Two of the original text- an introduction tu Chinese history, the history of Chinese scientific thought and the travelling of science between Europe and China. - TB
- .~. ~ - ' ~- $ ~~,"..<:"-.~ 8 PaRe 4 RAIN April 1979 Passing On Packages have been arriving in our mail box lately, continuing an age-old custom. They've contained a hodge-podge of new and used baby clothes-some wel1 used and handed on from birth to birth, others special keepsakes handed down for several generations and stored away till needed. Some things have been new-bought, crisp and bright, some hand-made by friends and grandmothers who knew of special needs and loves. We know of people who buy such things al1 new. At one time we would have been more incline<j. that way ourselves. But the patient love that some forgotten grandmother several generations ago put into a tiny lace col1ar wouldn't be there. And the special pleasures of thinking of the friend who made a quilt or crocheted a crazy hat, or of having baby clothes made from remnants left over from your own favorite high school shirt can't be bought in any store at any price: This simple and ancient custom of passing on is much more than a wise and welcome frugality. It's a part of our economics where people do matter- one of the parts that never make the slightest blip in our GNP but which make much welcomed gifts to our hearts and lives. Our money economy is wel1 and intentional1y designed so that people don't matter. Jobs are designed so that people are easily replaceable and therefore less valuable and lower paid. Goods are designed to be disposable, and along with them we dispose of some of the self-respect of the people who worked to make them. Products are designed and packaged to prevent a buyer from finding out the durability or details of construction or operation. Products are merchandised at fixed prices so salespeople and buyers cannot exercise and develop judgement of what is an appropriate price for a given situation. Yet the merchandiser is free to scoot the prices up or down to lure or soak the buyer. Little is said about other parts of our economy where people do matter-there's no profit to be made in promoting someone else's self-reliance. But passing things on, auctions, barter, helping out friends, self-reliance, and household eco nomics aU have an increasingly important role to play in our future. For that future has to both maintain itself within shrinking resource limits and at the same time to restore the sense of human and natural dignity, of belonging, and of psy chological and spiritual reward of life that has been destroyed by our industrial economic culture. Haggling The necessity of people-economics may lie in the future, but its benefits are available now and being sought by more and more people as the novelty of our supermarket culture dissolves into a bitter aftertaste of exploitation. Just one step away from the new car showroom is the used car lot, beyond the edge of the safe and standardized world and into a fluid Eeonomies Where and ever-changing'world whose rewards require an expenditure of your personal energy. You're on your own! Buying and selling used things-cars, clothes, houses or whateverrequires more knowledge and gambling to participate in, but also offers greater returns for that risk and effort. Five years ago, when we moved to Oregon, we bought a used stove for $50. We were novices to the world of used goods, and didn't know if we were being taken, but it was worth the risk for the time we needed it. After our fire we went back to the same place, because by then we knew they'd been fair and honest. They didn't have any stoves of the kind we wanted, but told us we real1y couldn't go too wrong with any used stove we could find-they work or they don't, and they're easy to fix. When we final1y found one, the guy wanted $40 for it but didn't have any place to plug it in to see if it worked. We knew by then that the price was great if it worked, and probably fair if it needed fixing. When we got it home and plugged it in, sparks flew everywhere, but the problem boiled down to one broken wire and less than an hour to fix. Cheap new stoves cost nearly $200, so we ended up with a better product, saved about 75 percent of the cost, and learned how to repair a stove- a good return for asking a few questions and taking a small gamble. Second hand stores, auctions, used car lots, classified ads, friends, and haggling prices are all a different kind of economics than Sneers or Pay-More. Price depends on what you know and don't know, how you and the other person feel towards each other, how much others are wil1ing to pay, what you really want it for, and how much wool can be pulled over the other person's eyes. Do a little homework-check prices in the classifieds, look up new prices in the Sears Catalog. Talk to a repair person. Get a feel for the market. It takes a little more time and asking the right questions. It develops a good eye for people. One of my first lessons in barter when you can't even speak or read the language came from a fellow-traveler in Istanbul when we were buying food from the market vendors. Stand back and watch the coins. See what the locals are paying for what, even if you don't know the language. The second lesson- don't insult the scller or the merchandise if you don't know what you're talking about. The bluff is obvious, insulting and infuriating. Just say you aren't willing to spend that much money for that merchandise, and make a counterE .:! -.:Jc: ~I~E E .§ Tom Bender People DO Matter
April 1979 RAIN Page 5 offer. Compare prices and condition, and play from there. Yes. haggling takes a little time, but it's a cheap and worthwhile education. It leads to respect for the other person, how much they know, and how well they can size you up. It is probably the only practical way to deal with the trading of unique or used goods, and a source of fun and satisfaction that cannot be gotten from buying fixed-price new merchandise. When fewer and fewer of us can afford "new," it's a rewarding, cash-and resource-effective way to trade, and truly part of an economics where people do matter. Helping Out As much as haggling is the most common people-process for determining price for goods in a particular situation, helping out is one of the most time honored ways of dealing with services in economies that are localized enough that people know each other and are around long enough to reciprocate. It recognizes the truth of the word "obligation"-that you really owe something back to someone who has helped you that isn't erased by a mumbled "much obliged" and a round of drinks. Looking back, I'm amazed at how much of our lives, even in middle America, never went through the money-changers but was part of a great process of helping back and forth. Many of our vacations while growing up were to visit our relatives living in various places. One uncle was conveniently in the Army, which moved him and his family to new and exotic places like Kansas and Georgia and Virginia every two years so we had new places to visit! While another of my aunts was sick, my cousin came and lived with us for several months. Around home, of course, money rarely changed hands for work done, so probably two-thirds of the work done by our family as a whole- like almost every family-never saw a dollar accounting. With the neighbors, lawnmowers were borrowed, hair was cut, houses and pets taken care of during vacations, rides into town given and taken, and babysitting done. Our neglected grape arbor came under the wing of a neighbor lady who took the grapes every year and gave us grape juiee and grape jam in return. Over the last few years our lives have even more interwoven with others in an interlocking web of obligations and giving, sharing, borrowing and being given, and our lives have become much richer in the process. Lane's younger brother and sisters have all come and spent time living with us-helping put out the magazine, building and rebuilding a house, haring each other's lives and getting to know each other again as "big people." We've gained a lot, and hope they have too. We've passed on to others our newly acquired skills of pouring concrete, doing electrical wiring and building windows, and we've received- not necessarily from the same people-baths and dinners and used water heaters and sinks and tools and hclp felling storm-damaged trees. All that saves money, yes- quite a lot of it once you figure in rhe taxes you have to pay on the money you would have had ~o earn to pay someone to do those things, the middleman profits you've eliminated, and the better results you've gotten doing thing exactly for your needs. But does all this playing ar und add up to any significant impact on our economy? How docs it deal with gasoline, rent, buying a new car, or taxes? Often it can't-which merely says that part of your life is still in the dollar economy, and you may wish to leave it there. Gasoline? Probably little help unless you know a friendly farmer. But maybe you can carpool or share rides with someone. Rent? Sometimes you can trade fix-up or maintenance work for a rent reduction, but the big help of helping out is to help you build your way out of the rental market. A new car? Wrong market again. A used car, yes. Repair and maintenance, surely. Taxes? The more you move out of the dollar economy, the less you have to earn and to pay taxes on! In our own case, I would estimate that we've reduced our cash needs by more than half over the last few years, and should cut them in half again in the next couple of years. But dollar savings aren't the most important reward. It's often a lot easier to do things with four hands instead of two. It's usually more fun helping someone do something, where you don't have the responsibility and can just do the doing and not the worrying and figuring. It's fun to be in on felling trees, building walls, making things happen. It's fun growing new skills, learning how things are done, and what things actually are worth in sweat time, money time, and work time. And not having any skills to offer is not a problem for long. Two willing hands and a little sweat helping someone who knows how is the quickest and easiest way to learn skills. _ Many current attempts at structured barter arrangements, barter "banks" or trading clubs fail to recognize that one of the real benefits of "helping each other out" is that when it operates among friends or neighbors, it doesn't need any immediate return of a favor or any kind of accounting procedure other than that little flag in the back of your head that finally says, "Hey, I've helped him a lot, and he hasn't done anything in return. Let him fix his own roof!" If accounting is needed, money works better than most barter banks- that's what it was designed for! Helping out works partly because it's all between friends, or you become friends in the process, but also because each person views the helping out very differently. The helper probably wanted an excuse to get out of the house anyway, probably had fun helping, and probably had forgotten how desperately floundering it felt before when he or she needed that particular help themselves. The "helpees," on the other hand, think they've been given a lot more than they have, because they needed the help, probably didn't know how easy it was to learn or perform the assistance they were given, and probably believed the helpers knew what they were doing! That difference in perceptions is an important social glue. Over a period of time and helping back and forth, it frequently ends up with everyone feeling they've gotten back a whole lot more than they've given themselves. [ have that feeling of gratitude and thanks towards many of our neighbors and friends, and have discovered that many feel the same illl reverse. The used water heater we were given meant another trip to the dump for our neighbor, but to us it was the equivalent of $100 and the heart of a future solar water system. And so it goes. In any case, most helping out is just that. It rarely is tied to getting something back, though eventually things come full circle through the oddest of routes. One of the great benefits of economics where people do matter is that they force you to get to know people and get to understand people. You have to learn that George won't ever turn down your request for help, though his back is killing him this week and you shouldn't ask him. Or that Ali!;e has a wealth of skills for cutting bureaucratic red tape. And that Sam is always dependable in a pinch. And somewhere along the line you begin to learn the true costs-both economic and social-of an economics where people don't matter. ,
Page 6 RAIN April 1979 TOOLS .~ The Recycling, Use and Repair of Tools, Alexander Weygers, 1978, 112 pp., $6.95 from: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 450 W. 33rd St. New York, NY 10001 What do you do with a discarded hacksaw blade? Well, it's quite obvious to Alexander Weyers- you make a miniature chisel out of it. With some imagination and salvaged metal objects he demonstrates how you can construct a wood turning lathe, reshape a worn file and recycle a metal lathe. As with his other books, The Makillg of Tools and Tbe Modern Blacksmitb (Raill, Feb.! Mar_ '76), the step-by-step instructions arc well illustrated. It will be necessary to have access to a machine shop and forge to duplicate many of the processes described in the manual. - PC The Complete Book ofHome Workshop Tools, Robert Scharff, 1979,438 pp., $15.95 hardcover, from: McGraw-Hili Book Company 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Learning to work efficiently with tools is not l'asy. You have to make mistakes, skin your knuckles, and waste some time and material as you increase your skills. You might learn a little more quickly and painlessly by combining "hands·on" experience with freljuent reference to an authoritative tool " encyclopedia." This book ~erves that purpose. It thoroughly descri bes, in a serious and factual manner, the proper use, maintenance. sharpening and afety of all hand and power tools. Especially helpful arc the separate chapters devoted to each typc of st:nionary power mol such as drill p re~c;es, jointers., and table saws. - JP TOOLS for Homesteaders, Gardeners, and Small-Scale Farmers, Diana Branch, editor, 1978, $12.95 from: Rodale Press Emmaus, PA 18049 An outstanding access tool for hard-tofind implements and equipment for small-scale agricullure- the result of a collaboration between Rodale Press and [TOG. It grew out of and supersedes [TOG's Tools for Agriculture. to which a mass of new information has been added. In addition to U.S. and international product listings covering a wide range of scale of use, it contains a wealth of evaluative information, essays on costs of horse farming, how to buy used equipment at auctions, pros and cons of various vintage tractors, etc. Covers tools for cultivation, draft animals, tractors, equipment for seeding, planting, harvesting, cleaning and processing grains, tools for adding organic matter to soil, woodlot and orcpard management, livestock equip-, ment and tools for fish farming. A welcome, educational and valuable tool in itself for anyone concerned with small scale agriculture. -TB WORK Community Jobs Clearinghouse, monthly, 12 pp., $24/yr. institutional, $121 yr. community-organizations, $9/yr. individuals, from: The Youth Project 149 Ninth Street San Francisco, CA 94103 If you're looking for a job or internship in a social change area, this is the best single place to go for a national cross section of social change career opportunities. The Clearinghouse promotes access to community work as a profe~~ion at the same time supporting the development of effective community organizations. Very worthwhile, and nicely designed with jobs listed by region. - LS III I GIl OIW&:I lIA hitch lOT tll}~I,,~ horus 011 tll}O 14nd~m dUe ha"aulS CUlling all hool tnin1s uupt 011 turns. Resources on Employee and Community Ownership: U.S., Canada and Great Britain, 9 pp., revised June 1978, $.75 for postage and duplication from: Center for Economic Studies 457 Kingsley Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 A fine sourcelist leading to 60 groups and individuals, 25 publications, and 7 films on various aspects of employee/ community ownership. Definitely well worth the minimal price! -LS Environmentalists for FuJI Employment (Australia) Newsletter, send donation of $15 to: John Andrews EFFE 672B Glenferrie Rd. Hawthorn 3122 Australia EFFE Australia's first newsletter has come out, with a list of a growing network of contacts in Australia. Anyone in that part of the world would do well to make connections with this quickly growing nerwork. (See Rain, Dec. '78). - LS r:.. E:. "" ~ ~ ~ rJl ..i ..c .", ~ ..i .", OIl :l ~ E Q ==.. Q.... rJl ....l 0 0 E Q ./:
Worker Participation-Productivity and the Quality of Life, Worldwatch Paper 25, Bruce Stokes, 1978,48 pp., $2.00 from: Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 1·lere's another look at workplace issues, a bit expansive, in the Worldwatch style. What's good, though, is learning to distinguish the various approaches intended to improve the lot of workers- from job enrichment schemes to employee involvement in management decisions t actual worker ownership of capitaland the real political implications of each approach. Throughout these alternatives runs a common theme that topdown innovations are usually destined to fail, while success follows those worker participation options that imply worker control. Needless to say, the range of issues here is vast, and there are worthwhile examples to learn from in ail areas: whether the redesign of workplace environments in Scandinavia, the pervasive workers' councils involved with self-management in Yugoslavia, the de-segregation of labor and capital in European board-rooms, or the Pacific Northwest's own worker-owned plywood co-ops. In retooling our overextended industrial economy, hopefully to something more decentralized and equitable, we need to sort out which of these strategies push us in the right direction-and which push us aside. Food for thought here. -SA SMALL BUSINESS Neighborhood Economic Enterprises, Neil Kotter, 1978,44 pp., $3.50 from: National Association of Neighborhoods 1612 20th St. N.W. Washington, DC 20009 The pamphlet presen ts a simple framework for understanding possible forms of neighborhood-based business enterprises. Don't expect an in-depth analysis of the subject from this booklet. However, it does provide information on where you can find the answers in the form of a bibliography on housing, a.t., neighborhood organizations, ete.; a resource list of individuals, groups and agencies offering technical assistance; and a profile of 67 operating community economic enterprises. - PC .!!l Q ~ ... Q.. .; C>.. ~ ~ 1>0 c ~ ~ u h~"""'-!~~ pump -is U> distribu.te rain ~ (, wa.ste w&ti:r to garael1 .g Shopsteading Department of Housing and Community Development 222 East Saratoga St. Baltimore, MD 21202 Contact person: Paul Gilbert, Commercial Revitalization Coordinator When I was living in Baltimore four years ago the city was earning a reputation for its successful "homesteading" project. Similar to the "homesteading" concept, an innovative program called Shopsteading has been developed to revitalize deteriorating neighborhoods. For $100 and an agreement to renovate and reopen stores and offices, a business person can buy a shop building. The city offers low-interest long term loans to assist rehabilitation efforts. To date $750,000 worth of new investment has been generated by the first 15 shopsteaders (six blacks, 2 Hispanics and 4 women). (From The Workbook, P.O. Box 4524, Albuquerque, NM 87106 ; students $7, individuals $10, institutions $20) - PC April 1979 RAIN Page 7 Future ofSmall Business in America, a report of the Subcommittee on Antitrust,Consumers and Employment, House of Representatives, 95th Congress, Second Session, November 9, 1978, free from: U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 The myth is that large corporations produce most of the jobs. The reality is that small businesses have accounted for virtually all new employment created in the private sector in the past eight years. The largest firms as listed in the "Fortune 1000" generated only .8 percent of new jobs. This statistic is included in the above house subcommittee report, Future ofSmall Business. Besides its role as a job creator, the report examines small business's current status and the problems it faces with TV advertising, federal paperwork and a discriminatory tax system. What becomes obvious is that small business's share of the pie is declining due to increased economic concentration and monopolization by large corporations. However, not only small business is hurt by this trend. Consumers paid approximately $175 billion in overcharges flowing from the monopolized 1/3 of the U.S. economy. Not surprisingly, recommendations to remedy the problem emphasized the need for vigorou~ enforcement of the antitrust laws. -PC
l Page 8 RAIN April 1979 Letters Council for Sustainable .Growth and Appropriate Development Dear Rain Staff, I am writing to let you know that there has been incorporated here in NM a "Council for Sustainable Growth and Appropriate Development" whose , purpose is to push for policies favorable to the development of an ecologically viable economy" within our state. The thought is to focus not so much on specific technical solutions (as in the fields of solar or "appropriate technology") as on cultivating within our state an understanding of the nature of an ecologically sound economy and productive system, based on renewable and biotic resources; of the population-distribution, settlement, land use, distribution and transportation pattern, etc., characteristic of such an economy; and of polic.ies which may impede or assist in the evolution of such an cconomy. Sincerely yours, Peter van Dresser 634 Garcia Street Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/982-1375 Dear folks, In the Feb'/Mar. Rain you printcd a letter from Marcus Oliver asking about trailer weatherization. Several months ago I met a fellow named Wayne Gathers, who works with the Office.of Community Energy of the Department of Community Services in Pennsylvania. His organization is prcsently conducting a fairly detailed study on the effects of different weatherization treatments on mobile homes. As I remember, he has got seven mobile homes with varying amounts and different kinds of retrofitted weatherization and will compare them with the performance of an unweatherized mobile home, as well as with each other. Their agency has put quite a bit of money into instrumcnting these homes, and designed their own microprocessor to handle the data, I think. Wayne was very interested in sharing the findings of his study with individuals or groups who could benefit from them. For more information write to; Wayne Gathers P.O. Box 156 Harrisburg, PAl 7120 7171783-2576 Yours, Bill Zocllick Oklahoma Solar Energy Assoc. Board Vice-Chairman Dear Rain friends, Winter weather has almost stopped activities in the Ozarks. January 1979 was the coldest January in recorded history with several sub-zero days. But the weather has been extreme everywhere- just as climatologists predicted. The back-to-the-land movement picked a hell of a time to happen, but things could be worse. With over 70 percent of Americans living on 2 percent of the land, rural life still has some advantages to balance out ice, snow and mud. Some answers to Rain (Feb'/Mar.) inquiries. Jim Copia may want to get in touch with Windy (Mark Dankof£) of Windlight Workshop, Rt. 2, Box 271, Santa Fe, NM 87501 , 505/471-2573. I'm sureWindy is doing more than any school when it comes to wind/solar e1ectrici ty. To answer Marcus Oliver's questions about weathe(izing trailers: 1 work with the weatherization program in northwest Arkansas, and we have started insulating trailers with styrofoam board. Use on~ or two inch styrofoam with aluminum foil. By gluing the styrofoam directly to the trailer roof, you can cut heat loss/gain both in winter and summer. Write to Insul-bead, Gravette, AR, for details. And finally, anyone out there using low voltage, low wattage home-grown electricity either wind or solar, please contact me so we can swap ideas. Include a stamp or something to help cover postage. Peace, Joel Davidson Dutton, AR 72726 Rain, Have heard some concern about results of steel brushes to clean creosote out of prefab chimneys (metalbestos-type). Apparently the inside steel is quite thin. But what are the alternatives? A pine tree or burlap bag doesn't do much of a job on creosote and a metal chain would probably be like a steel brush. Any thoughts or ideas? Warmly, Kal Winer Box 25 Burkettville, ME 04540 To my knowledge, no damage has ever occurred to prefabricated chimneys through the use of chimney brushes. Prefabricated cbimneys first appeared following World War II, and none of the brands (Pre-Jet, Metalbestos, Vitraliner, Belvent) I'm familiar with have ever failed. It is more likely that the life of the chimney would be reduced by frequent chimney fires. Bill Day SOLAR "". !" itu loll e ~ Eclipse, Bryan Brewer, 1978, $5.95 from: Earth View, Inc. 1629 Madrone Drive Seattle, WA 98122 We didn't get this in time to review in last month's magazine, so by now the Eclipse is history, and this book won't help you see it or save your retina. But if your curiosity got aroused, this is a delightfully informative account of the science of eclipses, and the human . havoc the mystery of their appearances has caused, without losing a sense of the beauty and wonder of the event. -TB A Bibliograpby for tbe Solar Home Builder, by Dr. Donald W. Aitken, 1979, 38 pp., free to California residents, $1.00 to out-of-state residents from: Office of Appropriate Technology 1530 Tenth Street Sacramento, CA 95814 A very' comprehensive annotated bibliography of books compiled by the director of the Center for Solar Energy Applications at San Jose State U. for OAT. Organized functionally as well as by level of difficulty from newcomers to experienced professionals, this lovely publication is easy to use if you're not addicted to indices, as one does not appear. Aside from the absence of a couple of periodicals, this otherwise thorough bibliography will warm your little taxpayer's heart! -LS Portland Sun 3334 S.W. 1st Portland, OR 97201 503/241-0317 Attached solar greenhouse and solar water heating construction workshops are happening on a monthly basis through November in Portland through our good friends, Portland Sun. If you'd like to be involved in a workshop as a participant or sponsor, contact Marnie McPhee. Participants learn about solar energy, greenhouses and basic construction as they build. And sponsors-someone whose house is the site of the workshop-receive a beautiful living space which also heats the home and produces nutritious food. Nice exchange! - LS
Solar Information Service Citizens for a Better Environment 88 First St., Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94105 415/777-1987 CBE is cataloguing solar water heating system s in the nine S.F. Bay Area counties, so if you have or know of systems, contact them at the solar hot line phone number above. Also you may call the hot line if you desire information on solar energy. - LS National Solar Heating and Cooling Information Center P.O. Box 1607 Rockville, MD 20850 Toll free 800/523-2929 The latest bibliographies and lists we rece.ived from this center are amusing and interesting. Here are some highlights of lists that they have available: "Car Washes with Solar Systems," " Sojar Fire Stations," " Apartment Bl.\ildirigs with Solar Systems," "Bibliography on Solar Communities," " History of Solar Heating and Cooling," "Solar in Foreign Countries," "Ware' houses and Factories with Solar Systems." There are numerous others; write t.o them for a publications and price list. Their toll-free hotline for information on solar energy is expanded to include Alaska and Hawaii: 80012234700. - LS NCA T Bibliographies: Wind, Solar, Organizing Community Gardens, Economic Development, Building and Energy, and Alternate Waste Systems, 1978, 6 to 14 pp. ea., free from: NCAT P.O. Box 3838 Butte, MT 59701 These annotated bibliographies are "not intended to be exhaustive, but to identify useful, introductory-level publications" and they do a fine job of that. - LS Solar Project Catalogue The Center for Renewable Resources has received a federal DOE grant to develop a national catalogue of solar projects. The center will be subcontracting with state grassroots organizations to network and compile the information. To find out your state rep contact : Center for Renewable Resources 1028 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Sources of Funds for Solar Activists, outlining funding strategies and potential foundation and federal money, is also available at the above address. - PC Creating Solar Jobs: Optivns for Military Workers and Communities, MidPeninsula Conversion Project, 1978, 69 pp., $3.50 from: Mid-Peninsula Conversion Project 867 W. Dana, Suite 203 Mountain View, CA 94041 Almost every weck I talk to someone who wants to change jobs. Often the dissatisfaction with their employment comes from the feeling that their work not only doesn't contribute to the quality of life but actually impedes any progress in that direction. There exists a real need to help people trying to make the job shift, whether it is away from a nuclear power plant or Nestle Corporation. Studies such as Creating Solar Jobs help the conversion process by identifying the available options. The report examines the skill transferability of defel~~e industry employees to solar devel Jpment, production and installation. In addition to this section on options for military workers, two other chapters are included. The first examines four solar technologies (active and passive heating, photovoltaics and wind) analyzing their commercialization capability, job creation potential and skills requirements. I recommend reading the section in conjunction with The Job Creation Potential ofSolar and Conservation (Rain, Feb.lMar. '79, p. 20). The last chapter focuses on community solar development. It stresses the need for coalition building and outlines a variety of programs for developing neighborhood owned energy businesses. Important ideas if a decentralized, publicly accountable renewable energy system is going to be established. -PC April 1979 RAIN Page 9 The Citizens' Energy Project will soon be distributing summaries of the 20plus government studies analyzing the proposed Solar Power Satellite Tech· nology. If you are interested in reviewing these summaries, contact: Ken Bussong, Citizens' Energy Project, 1413 K St., N.W., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. The Solar Greenhouse Slide Series, by the Solar Sustenance Team, 1978, 20 slides and cassette narrative (approx. 112 hour) $15/set, all seven sets $90 from: Solar Sustenance Team Rt. 1, Box 107 AA Santa Fe, NM 87501 This organization has been doing a great job holding solar greenhouse workshops in New Mexico. More recently they have trained people from around the country to duplicate the workshops in their home states. Relying upon their practical experience and expertise, the Solar Sustenance Team has produced a series of seven slide shows (design, construction, horticulture, insects, solar greenhouses, and community and attached solar greenhouses). The community greenhouse set, which I previewed, was very good-its information clear, concise and educational. A greenhouse as a neighborhood enterprise could generate income for additional community programs by growing cash crops like herbs, teas and spices. The slides are an excellent tool for organizing community support for such a project. -PC The la~gest c~mmunity solar greenhouse (6000 sq. ft.) in the country is loc!lted in Cheyenne, WyomIng. U,SIng .312 55-gallo": drums for thermal storage, temperatures have not dipped below 40"F In thIS totally passIve solar heated structure. The greenhouse contains an office, storage, bathroom and methane digester which produces heat and sludge. Community citizens actively participated in the design, construction and operation.
- --- -- Page 10 RAIN April 1979 ,1/ ,1/ -O~ -0 /1' / 1" \\\\\ \\\\\ (cool. ( o,() C".(IT1« O«) --------~~~----- ~'--" K\\\\S\\\\\SSS'&S1 ~~ (l) Tht ~fKl::lb tht "'-'r~, tilt .~ A.. ~lf-arnpll~(n9 (6tatL"9 :;tJI'fOce hc>t.. l~a.-r' Tht w:nmu19 rnclioI1 ~'!> 9lVU1/j .....,r11'\t!... aif 0<.(' O<-ptlnd6 cr1!.at,"9 Or] i.nd.,lqnce. "11 Upwort! rTlo<TltnLum. -(tK M>~ -rn~ utltblQrtce £,<lcI1.Uy t>tCO ~~ wm ~'«-':> ~ " ' I::u~' upon wnodt u"5~ble. rnor't. rapid motio" devdOf"" : f he"" ~;pt"',} ~tch~~-"'< '; J product cl q.J l<k. t.~~ nnd Q ..)cf'\:>~ o~ r Q~t " l t ::,,--, not ttl<)" ~~cd 'pho~ I')9t"np~~ ~ The Air Currents of Two Classic Passive Solar Homes Natural climatic behavior, while increasingly recognized as both highly ordered processes and a powerful tool for building climate conditioning, is so complex, silent, invisible and foreign to our traditional awareness that quality understanding might secm beyond reach. In my view, high quality undertanding of the intricate cyclic interactions of conduction, radiation, convection and material properties, in response to the daily sun cycle, is available through direct observation of these natural cycles. The highly energetic yet well protected indoor climates of passive solar homes create air currents which tend to be highly distinct and individualistic. In this, passive solar homes seem to be a new feature on earth and provide a first opportunity to observe protected yet uninhibited natural climate behavior. Two solar homes I've observed, Karen Terry's house and First Village Unit No.1, display individual current patterns of such beauty, clarity and consistent order as to suggest some traight-forward means by which the repetitive patterns of discrete currents can be engineered. They also can serve as a measurable expression of the t-hermal harmonies between the building and the environment. The drawings which follow show reasonable first order approximations of air currents and current patterns. The true behaviors in these homes, though sometimes several orders more complex, are generally as distinct and individual. In Karen Terry's house I not only found beautiful patterns, I also found a natural pumping process which pulls cold air uphill and warm air down. In First Village Unit No.1 I found a much more complex order \vhich, among other things, neatly drew the hottest individual currents away from the coldest surfacc (contrary to the normal direction of hottest to coldest) by involving them in a figure eight convection loop. A Discrete Air Current One critical aspect seems to be how currents invent themselves without any obvious suggestion, i.e. turn themselves on at a time when they don't exist. This concept has a variety of very interesting spin-orfs. The following sketches show major stages " 1 / -0 /1" f I ~. ")\' ~t I t ~""~~~~\."J @ 11t~ t1Joh 01' VlQr'm a'" "'l'~ tht. coole.. ,,0-' <I r>:l ~p ulknq the Y'ot1~",t lltr t r'" in a dletart.:e 'Pmtir19 a plume U1 -tho:: Ct:rl~. I~.,al c ULulatLort 'n f.nt>: rtJSI1. .,,"kl '" 0 5 tht >111(11) - = 1 I~XJn:Jaty ~rech~. in the self-invention of an air current (1 through 6). A second crucial aspect is the way air currents travel by means of n continuous unfolding of a central core which rushes to the front, splits itself and the air mass and remains relatively stationery on the outside 'surface' as the rest of the current passes by. This and other sorts of similar orderly behaviors are generally characteristic of passive thermal air currents as con tasted with the familiar disorderly qehavior of forced non·thermal air currents. The easiest place to observe simplified versions of these orderly flows is in doorways and along floors of any building where there is very commonly found a smooth and well defined river of cool air flowing steadily in one direction or another. Such observation is necessary for those who wish to attempt design with air currents. Karen Terry's House (Santa Fe, NM, designed by David Wright, Fig. 7) Karen Terry's house is a direct gain solar house. It is composed of two parallel north-south insulated adobe walls which step up a south facing slope, spanned on top by alternating flat roof and tilted glazing and joined below by three floor le\'els. The floors and the bankos between floor levels are high thermal mass elements. The house works quite well, being comfortable throughout at most times and requiring use of the heating stove on only ten to fifteen days a ycar. No operable insulation is used. The first hint that something unusual is happening in the climate of the house is that the top to bottom temperature stratification is much lower than might be expected in a twenty-five foot high room with lots of windows, even considering the thermal mass. The second hint 'comes from notic.. ing that in winter, both day and night, the cool air streams along the floor are gentle and tend to go northward, effectively up-hill. The keys to discovering the overall pattern of flows lies in the interaction of cool rushes which descend from the overhead glazing with the warm rushes which rise from warm mass below, the effect of the strong warm sheet of air which rushes up the broad smooth back wall of the house and then in that these current patterns operate COIl tinuously, both day and night, so long as thc mass surface are warmer than the air and th~ air is warmer than the windows.
- - -- Things always seem to move forward in bumps and lurches, A new insight, then lots offiddling, refining, fussing and sidesliding until someone gets another good idea. Here's a big jump for passive solar design-a beginning of understanding the principles of natural air movement in buildings in ways that it can be designed to do magic-pumping cold air upbill N V 8 BL E or shuffling precious warm air off to a secure hiding place until it is needed, Figured out by a handful of incense sticks and a heart full of curiosity-no ERDA grant involved. When you add up how little is gotten from pouring all our energy research money into corporate and academic ratholes to re- TH N G 8 discover the solar wheel, it seems we might be much wiser to give rewards to the people who have achieved the most rather th~a_n__g_ra_n_t_s_t_o_t_h_o_s_e~w_h_o__ __o_se__ __m_o_s_t_'_P_ "'o~- p_r_op th_e h_il_H_e_n_s_h_a_w_'_s__________________________________________ _my nominee for this year's reward, - TB Philip E. Henshaw / '" ,,1 / -0 / I " ~ t . .~ • -~ ~~~~~ ® -n~ .f(""" 0I,~Qt.Y.f'rvm a d"""'f1~ rd u:s OW" cl{annc.1 q>en '1:> the t'h>c.-voi.r c", e..><.hdu:,bj. 'f}p r f""r'1 ,,f' l/y cen~'- ot em rti6h C>if....... rl-;, {w ~oP ~~albv"19 fir ,-<>"'If',a ir fo pre,;,;, <:, 00rJ tJr: r.x ,~,np t'6(,\r". &\S\\\\\\SS\\\\\~ 8 .NEAKY April 1919 RAIN Page 11 ' ., ,, 1/ -0 /1" D ~ ) , --~... ~ -.-.... ~"- ~,,-SS,,-~"'-~ ~-- ~ ~ @ '/ nc. f Jild,,'9 ""v.p o~ "u' at ""(<LJ4~ empe'21(,J'~ UO <.In,;,tpble i.n :o(:(c'9'lt ~sh"F'=' arid rblb ov~radFCLf1t au' {'<:lrceI7 ,<:onLi..nlJOUu/y ~- u19 if~ te:<1UO"~ th~o\'conn~r1. Of'{w the ILnG of ti1~ W~p I=~", Pt1a fol::b o~raod ov..:... it;,df. ~ fig. 7 H,ouse I
Page 12 RAIN April 1979 The warm air which rises in central areas from heated mass would normally rise to the ceiling and then along the ceiling to stratify at thc top of the building. The down-draft from the windows falls across thc full width of the building, forming a momentum curtain which effectively blocks the normal passage of warm air from under the lower adjacent roof level. This blocking is made more effective by the next lower window seerion, which draws from the blocked warm air flow both to supply the down-draft and by pulling along some of the turbulent drag of the down-draft. Thus, each window section supports the draft action of each successive window section. The conflict of warm and cool drafts not only tends to distribute cooling action equally throughout and effectively resists the net upward flow of warm air but also diffuses the cold draft so that when standing directly under the windows no cold wind on the shoulders is felt . The back wall of the house is generally the warmest surface in the housc and because of its uninterrupted expanse forms a strong pull on the air mass, drawing large amounts of lower air upward vigorously supplying the down-draft on the first set of windows. It seems, fo r a variety of not altogether too conclusive reasons, that this is the action which tips the balance and causes a gentle net uphill flow of cookI' air. Th e total net effect, though much heat is lost by supplying the coldest surfaces with the warmest air, is a gentle feeling living space free of strong drafts and a tOp level to bottOm level nighttime temperature stratification of around five degrees, where I would have guessed there would be a fifteen- to twenty-degree difference. At night there is a pulsating aspect to this fluw as described in figures 8, 9 and 10. 1 know of no particular advantage this behavior results in except in helping makc sense of other observations and to give me the opportunity to describe clearly one of the morc extraordinary of the common behaviors I have observed. All sorts of air current patterns involve oscillating interactions composed of many transient flows. In general terms I find it intriguing to look for the rotating circle implied by any steady self-regulating cyclic action and for the cncrgy which steadil y supports its turning. In this case the circle lics on a piece of Aif CUnertt ~1<jefJ ~rer1 ~>r'y'~ youse fll~ ~(LGd0 'V 10 to 1.5 m en.; f:l\ dy rtLfJIQr graph paper rclating the prcssure in thc warm pool with the pressure in the cool current. Projecting either of these pressures onto a pressure-time graph gives the sine wave (rising, failing, rising, failing, etc.). In three dimensions, pressure, pressure and time, the curve is a helix powered IJy the steady convective cooling of the house. The cooling by convection is steady; the falling of cold and the rising of warm arc furced to alternate by the geometry. (Note: The reference hnc is not necessarily to perfect circles, sine waves nor s((:ady cooli ng.) First Village Unit No.1 (Santa Fe, NM, designed by Bill Lumpkins, fig. 12) Unit No.1 is a greenhouse-mass wall and fan-supplied roek storage type solar house. The two-story, south fac ing grl"l~nhouse is triangular, set between diagonally oriented twostory Iiving spaces. It also serves as circulation space to all rooms. The living space exterior walls arc very well insulated (7-112") and cement plastered both inside and out. There arc many nice things one can say about this extraurdinary building; there's the playfulness with which it was made and its playfulness with the sun. The thing I find most significant, however, is not its essentially 100 percent passive heating and cooling behavior, but the way in which architect Lumpkins re-interprets the normally drab meaning uf hallway lU become the central inviting gesture to both peuple and the climate. For me this focuses directly on one of the great architectural opportunities brought by the advent of passive solar design. The climate dynamics of the house are highly ordered but also highly complex. There arc several discrete individual behaviOrs nested within each other, each taking up where some other has left off. My description is limited to one series of such events having to do with the way this housc handles energy after primary gain, its odd habit of sending the warmest air currents into the safest places. This, combined with the factors which produce remarkably uniform nighttime temperatures seems to be the essential bonus factors which make this house so climatically successful; only two rooms received backup heating last winter. NU)ht-ti.n?C , Wl.n ler CeDI LI19 CDndd:.cot1'5 effected temp5. 5/"PW .":>U1 v\'()YC k~~ va nai:wrl'7 @) ~~ ® @ ~~, ~~ Vilrm Dtlft? ) l~drtl"',"9'" Q("C vlt!;~ ~r'GIc.(cl" 1 ~ t'.il:1~ .e~ntd:Lon .of trr.e CL!m!n(IX&>!!l CO A..." the \lIJ::n/m yr.:d (S 00 The mrm a l( faa I d. Re f!>e""~'!> o~ N::l(rtl aLf t;;>oild ovcr ~ ~ oc-h::Jut)tex:i. the ~i.ll up ceol ~Io~, bkxklr1,'f 4". ~law\n9 t-he Op 01 a V\Ot111 au--' pool behcnd ~ c air tt -es/::c:J~~c;.. t.bec.col L.OOI mrt-QLI\., ~r<:in.q a w,ldov a tJtro (lC) ceo! aU-- CUdbLrt. X u ax' GUd:Clln . of eGOI a;'- rc§:.servc-'? .~ ~ L-__________________________~__________________________~~________________________~I~ fig. 8,9,10
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