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- Page2 RAIN June 1979 THE LIGHTBULB SYNDROME The following letter excerpts appeared in Not A'lan Apllrt (April '79, $15/yr. from Friends of the Earth, 124 Spear St., San Francisco, CA 94105). Stories like these have been surfacing daily in the media since the Three Mile Island incident. Restores your confidence, doesn't it? - PC "Light uulbs are commonplace pieces of electrical equipment. From the moment we first turn on the bedroom ligh t in the morning until we turn off the lights at night we ar~ surrounded by light bulbs.... Sometimes bulbs burn out, but most people have no trouble replacing them ... except for nuclear engineers.... "In March of 1977, an attempt was made to replace an indicator bulb at the Drcsdcn 2 reactor. The wires twisted and short-circuited as the operator tried to remove the bulb. The resulting currcnt surge knocked out a motor control center and closed the fcedwater heater valves. The temperature of the feedwater dropped 150 degrees in 20 minutes, though the utility's safety tests had assumed a maximum drop of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in one minute. The utility contacted the reactor manufacturer, who decided that no safety limits had been exceeded, though the mode of the failure (changing a light bulb to yield a greater than credible acciden t for feedwater heaters) had not been properly evaluated. "Four months later, a technician was replacing an indicator bulb at the Millstone 1 reactor. A similar fvent sequence occurred: wires shorr-circuited" a relay flipped open, closing an oil pump which in turn stopped the reactor feedwater pump. A day and a half of repairs brought the plant back into service. "In March of 1978, a light bulb accidentally fell into an open light assembly on the control console at the Rancho Seeo reactor. That created a short circuit in the power supply to pressure, temperature, flow and level sensors in the reactor. The readings on the control gauge went haywire, sent conflicting signa'ls to the automatic controls, and forced the baffled reactor operator to scram the plant. Smart as this was, scramming the plant didn't help the confusion, since most of the instruments were not working. All sorts of things happened without their knowing. For instance, the reactor coolant temperature went below allowed limits. In all, it took over five days before the reactor could be returned to service. "Light bulb changes have even caused a blowdown. In October 1978, an attempt to change a burned-out bulb at the Pilgrim 1 reactor caused a ground, which activated an overcurrent relay and cu t off the generator. The reactor scrammed, and a steam relief valve accidentally opened and did not close until the reactor had blown down from 1020 to 330 [pounds per square inch]. The unit came back into service eighteen days later, having had major problems with emergency diesel generators two days after the initial incident." Now if they'd only used a candle ... Sources: letter from Peter Cleary to Science, 26 January 1979; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission License Event Reports (LERs), 1977-1979; NUREG 0020, August 1977; Current Events: Power Reactors, USNRC, 1 March30 April 1978. ECONOMICS I COIN, Consumers Opposed to Inflation in the Necessities (see Rain, April '79, pp. 20-21), held its first state-wide local teach-in in Maine. As a result of the workshop, the Maine Teachers Association, one of the sponsoring groups, adopted several proposals to curu inflation. Th.is included support of the food cooperative movement and purchase of locally grown food. Hopefully, these arc signs of a shift in thought from the role of consumer to that of a more self-reliant producer. A pamphlet, Citizen Inflation Action Handbook ($1 ),is available as a guide to organizing teachins. On June 26 and 27, a national teach-in on inflation and the economy will be held in Washington, D.C. For additional information on local and the national teach-in, contact: Kathy Ceronsky COIN 2000 P Street N.W., Suite 413 Washington, DC 20036 - PC :Xd@ AXE HEAD BUILDING ] ~ Notches ofAll Kinds, B. Allan Mackie, 1977, $15 from: Log House Publishing Co. P.O. Box 1205 Prince George, BC, CANADA V2L4V3 It's a good sign when any building profession Stops slapping things together and starts doing what takes a bit more work now but avoids problems 20 to 50 years hence'. AlJan Mackie has taugh t over 1000 professional log bu ilders at his Log Building School. His Building with Logs is a basic text. This well <1\ "0 C ~ ..... o ::X:~JQ ~ .c ~ o z e o .t: ~~X:~: ~ OX HEAD - ~ illustrated joinery books goes into more details on log joinery for stability, windproofing, rot-preven tion, construction ease and beauty. In process is another book of Log House Plans ($10) and one on Log Span Tables ($2.50). Write above address for dates and details of log-buildin/! courses. -TB
I The Sotar Survey, National Center for Appropriate Technology, 1979,20 pp., 754 from: NCAT P.O. Box 3838 Butte, MT 59701 This is a survey of 19 low-cost do-ityourself solar collectors designed priEmployment Impact of the Solar Transition, by Leonard Rodberg, prepared for the Subcommittee on Energy of the Joint Economic Committee, 95th Congress, April 1979, 49 pp., from: U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 If the United States committed itself to a national program combining widespread use of conservation and solar energy measures, we could by 1990: create 2.9 million net jobs; reduce nonrenewable fuel expenditures by $118 billion (free the money for other goods and services); have a total annual energy consumption equivalent to 1977. These conclusions are in Employment Impact of tbe Solar Transition, a report for Senator Kennedy's Congressional Suhcomminee on Energy. They are based upon economic projections of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and assume the use of "available or clearly achievable technologies." Assurances are given that no policy which threatens the supply of energy to industrial customers is included in the approach. The report also outlines an implementation strategy which contains a financing mechanism for obtaining the ambitious goals of the transition. -PC RAIN's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Ph: (503) 227-5110. I " Copyright © 1979 RAIN Umbrella Inc.Layout Jill Stapleton RAIN Phil Conti Linda Sawaya Vale Lansky Pauline Deppen STAFF: Steven Ames Lane deMoll Tom Bender Jeff Paine I ! Typesetting: Irish Setter Prinring: Times Litho marily by grassroots organizations. Not detailed information, but the pamphlet gives enough of an idea of the system's construction and operation to determine whether follow-up communication is desirable. The booklet includes system description, schematic drawings, costs and comments by the designers. -PC ~ Vl.. lilA WI.lIltlI ".!LUYQ~Qjl~U4YQUyqQUuA \r-w ~ . I .J '/2· f'Ho rAC6I I NIULATIIW viaLO TrW AAO(/I<M f .!! ~ Vl e CD(,6 I"'JfII..A.T~ ] Get the Sun on Vour Tube Joe Barbish, chairman of the Ohio Solar Energy Association, reports they've finally got the daily solar index on the nightly TV news in Clevelandl Viewers get a regular report of the percentage of hot water used by a family of four that could have been heated that day by the sun. The total installation cost was only about $3000. For more details, contact OSEA, 13125 Dorothy Dr., Chesterland, OH 44026. -Thanks to Acorn June ]979 RAIN Page 3 The Passive Solar Energy Book, Ed Mazria, 436 pp., illustrated, $10.95 from : Rodale Press Inc. Emmaus, PA 18049 It would be difficult to write enough encomiums about this superlative piece of work. For it reverses the recent, unfortunate trend toward high-priced passive solar books full of prettified, egotistical architectural eyewash (i.e. Crowther's silver-covered rip-off), yet devoid of the needed revelation of technical secrets that keep any designer employed. Ed tells all, or at least as much as is now known and verifiable, and does it without oppressive jargon, establishing a new and higher standard of excellence for future writers in this overcrowded field. This publication supersedes a book that only now can be called "second-best," Bruce Anderson's Solar Home Book. I recommend its use as a college text and for nutsand-bolts types who need enough numbers to build sensibly. - LJ Sun Funds Solar water heaters and greenhouses may be an attractive idea, but where can you obtain the loans to finance these improvements? Jeff Zinsmeycr from the Center for Community Change (CCC) suggested an innovative possibility: use the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as a [001 for securing community solar loans. The CRA, an antiredlining law, requires local financial institutions to serve the credit needs of their communities. In order to make the idea of solar funds more acceptable to lending institutions, neighborhood groups should label the credit "community development loans." A neighborhood survey would be necessary to demonstrate the existence of a credit need within the community. The volume of loan applicants must be sufficient to justify familiarizing a bank employee with the concepts. Upon determination of the need, a proposal requesting credit for solar loans would be submitted to the bank. Ask for a written response. In some cases confronting the lender directly will suffice. In other cases a CRA challenge will be necessary. To date, the CRA has not been used in this manner, so its effectiveness is unknown. Community groups attempting to use the CRA for this purpose can receive technical assistance from the CCC. Their newsletter, Monitor, covered the CRA in the January '79 issue. For more information write: Center for Community Change 1000 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20007 - PC
Page 4 RAIN June 1979 Dear Steven, I want to thank you for your article, "Drawing the Circle Wider." It makes many points that I have also tried to make in my book and in my talks·-the need to share our understandings with others; "the validity of each person's perspective;" the ' practicality of our ideas; and the need for an opening to the supposedly conservative American mainstream, as distinct from the traditional 1930s-60s us-against-them-type left. A couple of supplementary thoughts. When you mention that we find it difficult to identify with working people, I am not sure what you are driving at. The point I make is that we are so careful not to alienate economically lower class people that we often tend to come across in an incredibly condescending manner to them-simply assuming that they have a built-in need to jump onto the production-consumption merry-goround and never really conveying our own learned, and valid, sense that the production-consumption merry-go-round isn't really worth the bother. Also, you point out that people in the circle have not been reaching out to each other "lest they lose track of their constituencies." I think it may be more accurate to say "\est they find themselves having to compromise the interests of their constituencies." There is a split in the circle that I can't ~ Project LEO Our friends at AERO have again come up with a ll outstanding project tbat should inspire similar efforts elsewhere. Here's tbe outline. For details on their intensive II-day training .~essilJ n, see the April-May '79 issue of Sun-Times. [0 keep up on all of AERO's activities (exciting school e7lergy programs, the New Western Energy Show. energy legislation. etc.) send $15 to join AERO and receive the Sun-Times to Alternative Energy Resources Organization, 435 Stapleton Bldg., Rillings, MT 59101. - TB AERO has launched what promises to be one of the most exciting and useful projects we've undertaken in years. We are hiring eight 'Local Energy Organizers,' whose salaries will he paid with money from the state Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). One organizer will work in each of 6 towns: Havre, Hamilton, Helena, Bozeman, Roundup, and Miles City, and 2 will work in Billings. The purpose of the project is to aid and encourage citizens in learning about renewable energy and energy conscrvation, in learning about how they and lhe town are currcntly using do justice to in this letter but that I often refer to in verbal shorthand as a split between the New Age and the New Left. By this I mean basically a split between those who see themselves as standing at the beginnings of a political tradition that is beyond left and right (hardly the beginnings, incidentallyit goes back to the beginnings of American history), and those who see themselves as basically extending the socialist tradition. Those who hope to reconcile pc;ople to one another in the context of a series of life-giving ethics and values (within which there might be many different policies and economies, rcgionally delemlined), versus those who hope to replace one socioeconomic class with another in the context of a particular economic Ism. Anyway: much of the hesitancy that you speak of is a result, I think, of the fact that New Age-oriented people and groups rightfully suspect that linking up with New Left people and groups will require them to give up many of their insights and understandings, such as their advocacy of the importance of simple living and dleir commitment to reduce dependency on the government as well as on big business. My response to this split- and I detect this also in your article- is tQ pOint out that more and more people are able to ee beyond 'the cliches of the left (and the right) and that our natural allies are nOl traditional leftists but are all those mainstream Aml:!ri~ans who would move in a New Age direction if they felt they could do so without starving in the process. energy, and in beginning to take an active part in energy decisions and projects that will begin the transition of each of these communities to the use of energy conserva6on measures and renewable energies. Each organizer will work toward the following objectives: • Airr ng the establishment of a renewable energy task force in the community, composed of concerned citizens from as many sectors as possible. • Encouraging the involvement of the task force (and other citizens) in energy dccisions affecting the town: e.g. REA activities, local planning deCIsions, local initiatives, etc. • Encouraging citizens to consider- and aiding them in looking into-the establishment of one or more renewable energy facilities in the community. An important additional objective for each organizer will be to facilitate the development of a body of knowledge about the community's energy use and possible renewable energy use and conservation measures, and the appointment of a person from the local task force to " represent" the town (along with that town's L.E.O.) at a week-long energy workshop September 23-30, 1979, at Feathered Pipe Ranch in Helena. Amory LOVinS, renowned proponent of the "Soft Energy
----------------------------------- correct policy on these issues. .' • Sincerely, Jim Frazin Albuquerque, NM June 1979 RAIN Page 5 Dear Rainfolks, Potentially, at least, a majority of people in this country. (After all, if you want to reduce your taxes, then you're going to have to learn to be more self-reliant and cooperative.) Another way to put this might be to point out that there are actually two circles of social change activists. One is that of the Left, another is that of "New Age" or "third way" or "self-help" politics. As a member of the second circle, I am less interested in hassling with the Left than I am in telling John Q. Public about a politics that sees scale and consciousness as primary problems- a politics that gives priority to values such as self-reliance. cooperation, androgeny, spirituality, the ecology ethic, localization, planetary sharing, enoughness, appropriateness, and synergy. Sincerely, Mark Satin Mark 's book, New Age Politics, is due out in extensively revised form this November from Delta. In the meantime he's been travelli11g around the cOllntry, beginning to facilitate the formation of a national New Age-oriented organization. Mark can be reached in care uf 515 Clayton St. , San Francisco, CA 94117. ("Drawing the Circle Wider" was in Rain, Feb/Mar '79). e$3--' ~ --= Recalling the November issue, which contained such good stuff ilS the solid waste management article, I was, however, appalled by the article by Karl Hess ("On Shelling I tOut." Rain, Nov. 1978). That article was only less than blatantly racist by omission of standard racist terminology. I would like to suggest that his point of view as one of a privileged white is rampant with stereotypes and generally does not reflect the sensitivity Rain usually displays. A more rational approach for Karl's good intentions would be: "How can we think together, make allies and together overcome the oppressiveness of this society to all people? Karl's good intentions (and I emphasize that) were clouded by the patronizing tone (in many places in the article, not just one or two words) and would turn off any minority person. If Rain doesn't already have an editorial policy on liberation issues, which is really what this is all about, I would be happy to help you draft such a policy. Rain is a very important magazine and could make many more friends by having a ,.tPath" strategy for our country's transition to renewable energy use, will lead this workshop and aid each local energy leader in working on solutions to problems the citizens have identified. Here are some of the things our LEO's will be doing: • coordinate and cooperate with any local energy conservation and renewable energy activities initiated by state agencies such as the Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation, Human Resource Development Councils, etc., and with local projects of civic organizations, citizen organizations. community groups, etc. • Distribute appropriate materials and information. • Provide contact between town citizenry and the information materials of AERO. • Establish andlor publicize a renewable energy library in town. • Work with the town's schools and libraries. • Arrange locally for the presentation of slide shows, exhibits, workshops. seminars and other educational ac.tivities availahle in the state. • Establish and update an annotated listing of all renewable energy projects, businesses, products and activities in the area. • Survey energy attitudes, awareness and knowledge both at the beginning of the project and after a year's time. The following LEO's have been hired so far, and will be working out of the offices listed: Billings: Margie Gough, 435 South B, Billings, 59101, Home 259-9915, Office (AERO) 259-1958. Bozeman: Dale Pickard, clo Mike Fieldman, Dist. 9 HRDC, Bozeman, 59715, Office 587-4486 Hamilton: Jim Haynes, 1291 Old Darby Rd., Darby, 59R29, Office 82 1-3892 Havre: Ellyn Murphy, Box 1509, Havre, 59501, Office 265-6744 Helena: Paul Mitchell, 1837 Floweree, Helena, 59601. Office (NWES) 443-7272 Miles City: Connie Krauter, Action for Eastern Montana, 707 Main St., Miles City, 59301, Office 232-2538 Roundup: Monique Mandali. Box 216, Lavina, 59046, Home 575-2275, Office (HRDC) 323-2548 AERO-West staff person Marta Bensco assisted in the training program. and will continue her work out of Horizon House, 323 West Alder, Missoula 59801. Phone 549-0756.
ECOLOGY, FOREST ECONOMY THE SAME ROOTS· Steven Ames s ""S -a if o :> In the Pacific Northwest, it's a long way from current extractive forestry practices to the Ecotopian vision of a truly sustainable forestry economy. What we've been allowing has destroyed landforms and watersheds, eliminated wilderness and genetic diversity, and placed blind faith in environmentally disastrous chemical-intensive management techniques. Tree-mining is a dead end propposition. What we need is a forest economy which implicitly respects and nurtures the forest environment-minimizing c1earcuts, replacing chemicals with human labor, protecting diverse ecosystems. One big stumbling block in getting there has been our vision's real lack of hard numbers. Policy-makers want proof that good forest ecology won't bankrupt us. Fortunately, that information is starting to come in, thanks to the sound values and serious work of people who start with the assumption that nothing pays better than an infinitely renewable resource base. In the long run ecology is a very economic proposition. As the following reports show, it's about time we started to bank on it. -SA The U.S. Forest Service's second major Roadless Area Review and Evaluation process, ironically anagrammed RARE 11, is now completed. Of 62 million acres ofroadless and wild lands considered for continued protection under Wilderness designation, perhaps only 15 million will be preserved as such. Of tbe balance, 36 million acres are ready to be released for logging, mil1f1lg and other development. Among the rationale cited by federal officials is the "economic hazard" of creating too much wilderness. An Economic View of RARE 11, Randal Lee O'Toole, Cascade Holistic Economic Consultants, July 1978, S5 pp., $3.00 from: Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group 918 S.W. Yamhill Portland, OR 97205 It's unfortunate that An Economic View of RARE II has not been given more credence by feds and politicians. In this report Randy O'Toole has used solid economics turned around to show that logging priorities promoted by the U.S. Forest Service are more than environmentally spendthrift-they are cost ineffective. Focusing on Oregon, where 3.1 million acres of roadless land have been brought under scrutiny, this study compares the benefits and costs of development (the timber industry's willingness to pay for timber v. the costs of building roads, sophisticated logging systems and fire management) with one easily quantified benefit of protecting roadless areas (the value of primitive recreation access-demand for which is growing five times faster than demand for timber). Clearly, primitive recreation access is a non-market commodity for which people are willing to payand continue paying. When compared to net timber values and the marginal economies of second growth crops, at least 70 percent and more of Oregon's roadless areas would maximize economic benefits if allocated to wilderne~s designation. In addition, if monies now invested in roadles$ area development were spent on intensive management practices like "pre-commercial thinning" all roadless areas could be saved and Forest Service timber harvests could be maintained at no extra cost. Sadly, the Forest Service has only seen fit to recommend that 14 percent of Oregon's roadless areas be designated wilderness. They and wilderness advocates everywhere need to take a better look at the straightforward analysis this economic perspective provides. In wilderness there is value- of many kinds. Long Canyon and the Wilderness Issue, a film by Don Cambou and Tom Sturdevant, 16mm color, 58-112 minutes, $75 rental or $850 purchase from: Don Canibou/Range of Light Productions Rt. 1, Box 546 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805 free rentals to Idaho residents from: Idaho State Library Film Dept. 325 W. State St. Boise, ID 83702 In northern Idaho's Selkirk Mountains, Long Canyon remains unique. A densely forested granite canyon 20 miles north of the lumber-dependent town of Bonners Ferry, it is the last major wild area in the Idaho panhandle. Its 100,000 acres of pure, undisturbed unroaded-and therefore unloggedwatershed provides a delicate climax habitat in which endangered biotic communities continue to survive: mountain caribou feed on a rare lichen which grows only on old growth trees. Don Cambou's impeccably thorough film explores the To-Log-or-Not-to-Log controversy which has been foisted upon
this quiet place with the initiation of the RARE II process. He has coaxed classic statements from the many factions . struggling to determine Long Canyon's future : local chamber of commerce rypes, logging industry reps speaking at Forest Service pep sessions, and oldtime loggers who seem to know the most about what's going on. They tell it straight: without federal subsidization of logging roads, the industry could never justify the costs in logging a place as inaccessible as Long Canyon. "The roads cost more than the value of the timber that comes out." As a local economist adds: it is the rareness of Long Canyon's last stand that gives it value- not the 100 million board feet of lumber that would rip through local saw mills in 1-1/2 years. In contrast to such federal make-work, the Long Canyon film gives us a flavor for those who would harvest timber in a more sustainable forest economy : the old horse Cascade Holistic Economic Consultants P.O. Box 3479 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Economics is no steadfast science, but a value-implicit process-the way we go about allocating scarce resources has everything to do with the end-uses we value most. In focusing on the Pacific Northwest's regional economic base, Cascade Holistic Economic Consultants (CHEC) place high value on that economy which best serves the public interest. Their in-depth explorations of forestry and economic issues affecting public and private lands have helped demystify many complex land management questions and make them more accountable to people. Recent examples of CHEC consulting include appeals of Forest Service timber management plans based on faulry economics and investigations of problems related to nickel mining for concerned citizens June 1979 RAIN Page 7 The recent Emergency Suspemion of the use of pbenoxy herbicides 2,4, 5-r and Silvex 011 forestlands, rights-ofway and pasturelands by the EPA was a tremendous validation ofthe arguments used by antj·berbicide groups conceming the high likelihood ofpublic contamination by such toxins (see Rain May 1978). EPA has used tbe same argumems in pushing for tbis ban, which will not be official until a lel/gthy hearings process is completed. These hearings could significantly weaken the cornerstone on whicb the forest industry has rested its case for chemical intensive management practices. It is certain that economic and toxicological cost/benefit arguments that consider labor-intensive alternatives will now be paid more attention. It 's time to realize that the f orestry-based economy is simply not going to fall apart because ofa switch away from chemicals. loggers and portable saw mill operators who turn logging company waste into surplus value and leave the special places to be . . . special places. A film An Economic Analysis-ofHerbicide well worth the viewing. Use for Intensive Forestry Management, Part I: Evaluation of "Forestry Related Impacts of 2,4,5-T in Oregon" by Saving AU the Pieces: Old Growth Knapp, Greaves and Chetok, by Dr. Forest in Oregon, Cameron La Jan M. Newton, March 1979, 17 pp., Follette, Cascade Holistic Economic from: Consultants, March 1979, 144 pp., Northwest Coalition for Alternatives from: to Pesticides Oregon Student Public Interest P.O. Box 375 Research Group Eugene, OR 97440 918 S.W. Yamhill All good environmental issues must gel Pordand, OR 97205 down to economic questions at some The rapid liquidation of "old growth" point, and the issue of phenoxy herbiforests-now virtually complete on cides is no exception. With this report, industry-owned forest lands-is another the Northwest Coalition for Alternaissue that has picked up momentum with tives to Pestic.ides (Ne AP) has initiated the RARE II allocation process. Cameron a significant effort to expose the un La Follette's study adds an ecological sound economic logic often used hy dimension to the criticism of RARE II government and industry alike to proby establishing the multifarious values mote the use of such chemicals as 2,4,5in preserving a reasonable quantity of T in intensive forest management prac· old growth stands (climax associations tices. Part I of An Economic Analysis of of plant and animal communities) in Herbicide Use is a blow-for-blow cricluding their ecosystem stability and tique of a widely-quoted report released habitat diversity. But old growth often by the Oregon State Department of occurs in national forests, not candi Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service dates for wilderness, where timber is Region Six earlier this year, claiming already being harvested and the Forest huge drops in timber yields and job Service has no standardized inventories losses in the tens of thousands with the nor policies to adequately evaluate this banning of 2,4,5-T. Author Dr. Jan vital resource. Saving All the Pieces Newton concentrates on uncovering speaks to this fact and emphasizes the errors in that study's timber yield, cost need to develop an "integrated old growth system" in all National Forests. In this way, old growth stands would be strategically linked with one another in enclaves and corridors, preserving the genetic diversity essential to the maintenance of forest productivity, but not found in the surrounding, intensivelymanaged younger forests. Solid research in lay terms. in southwest Oregon and northern California. CHEC also publishes a series of Resource Bulletins on related issues (12 issues/S8 per year) and its General Forestry Papers such as the Citizens' Guide to Forestry and the Environment (Rain, AuglSept 1977). For more information on their good work, write to the above address. and employment estimates so basic that it ends up looking seriously flawed. Parts II and III of her rcport. soon to be released by NCAP, promise to provide more of the comprehensive economic perspective so sorely needed in the controversy over herbicides. For the earnestly involved activist, here is analysis neatly and clearly laid out.
Page 8 RAIN June 1979 Report on Hand Release Contracts 1978 (preliminary report), by Rick Koven and Fred Miller, January 1979, 15 pp., from: . Groundwork, Inc.-Forest Workers' Research Group P.O. Box 5447 Eugene. Oregon 97405 Hand Release generally refers to those labor-intensive management techniques that can replace the application of herbicides in the forest industry-that is to say, manual methods of preparing a site for "conifer release." In the emotional controversy over the widespread reliance on the use of herbicides, hand release methods have been grossly misrepresented, especially in terms of their cost. Extrapolated quotes of $350 to $1000 per acre are not uncommon. With this initial report, the Groundwork research group has cut into this myth, showing that the costs of employing people in the place of chemicals, though subject to site variance, averages only $106.85 per acre for contracts let on public forest land in the Northwest. The report also projects the number of workers that could be utilized in accommodating the shift away from herbicides. Clearly, there is great potential for creating new employment in the woods-and the developing workforce-which together could have a significant impact on local economies. If one also considers the qualitative factor, that using human heads and hands at ground level is more ecologically sophisticated and site specific ·than aerial spraying, then it seems like an important pressuring point to push forest managing agencies to begin transferring significant amounts of money and acreage away from herbi .l! ci .g E !ljjEj o ~ 1;:1; DI( cidcs. The hand alternative deserves the opportunity to prove that it pays. A more in-depth version of this analysis is now ill the works. WOOD HEATING NEWS Wood Waste One subject which pops up quite regularly concerns the use of sawdust and wood waste as fuel for furnaces and boilers. What seems to be a surprise is that the idea has been around for some time. From 1910 to 1946, there were many manufacturers of "low tee" furnaces. These simple devices were not burdened with expensive, high maintenance cost and gadgetry. Here are two sources of information: Saving Fuel in Oregon Homes, by E.C. Willey, Circular Series No. 7. September 1942, Engineering Experiment Station, Oregon State College (OSU). Rating and Care of Domestic Sawdust Burners, by E.C. Willey. Bulletin Series No. 15, June 1941, Oregon State College (OSU). Research concerning particulate air pollution is sorely needed. The economics of wood combustion are so favorable that the northern statcs are finding vast numbers of wood appliances replacing or supplementing conventional oil and electric heat sources. Some studies just completed ("The Impact of Residential Heating by Wood Stoves on Ambient Air Quality" by Samuel S. Butcher, April 1978) indicate a serious air quality problem may be developing. Some questions which need answers are : 1. Does replacement of fossil-fueled heating equipment with direct combustion biomass fuelcd appliances increase or decrease the chemical and/or particulate content of our immediate air space? 2. Will the inefficient (often a heat loss factor) use of masonry or steel heat exchanging fireplaces materially increase the use of other polluting sources of domestic heat? 3. Consumer questions concerning better understanding of the connection between creosote, air pollution and heating efficiency. Many commonly accepted ideas have been verified in recent research. It seems almost a disgrace, however, that the weight of the academic community is nceded to point out these axioms of wood burning: 1. Wet or green wood burns less efficiently, creates more atmospheric emissions and accelerates creosote deposit in chimncys. 2. The method of operation of a wood stove is a major determinant related to creosote accumulation and potential air pollution. The energy crisis we all face dictates a need for groups such as the Solid Fuel Trade Association, Wood Energy Institute, and the Fireplace Institute. To be effective in promoting use of renewable energy, these groups should endeavor to maintain the respect of government as well as those of us in thc private sector. A positive consumer orientation of these influential groups will rcquire an image of integrity and reliability and for the benefit of the entire nation should be influenced by the aca· demics and consumerists within our society.
That's Not All, Folks .. . Despite recent successes in the herbi· cide struggle, there are several Dioxinrelated compounds that have yet to be banned, including 2,4,0 and Atrazine. What's more, chemical companies are indiscriminantly introducing substitute herbicides (Krenite, "Round·Up," etc.) which have not been adequately screened for their toxicity. Along with continued massive spraying, inadequate monitoring of health impacts on the locallevcl, and the fact that alternatives to chemical management have not been truthfully represented, the work to promote an ecologically sound forest economy goes on . . . NCAP continues its good work in the Northwest. It is now over 2,000 people strong, with 15 member groups representing a four-state area. News of this network and its activities can be found in its new newsletter. NCAP, P.O. Box 375, Eugene, OR 97440. (Thanks to Marla Gilham) Back to the gut issue that motivates us to change: deadly Dioxin, "tbe most toxic molecule ever made by man. .. We would do well to remind ourselves that chemical forestr:>, is fool's gold- we are reaping large bounties today fvr a harvest ofwoes tomorrow. Here are two new views of the dilemma- one long, oTle short-that leave no doubt that change is imperative: The Pendulum and the Toxic Clo1ld: The Course of Dioxin Contamination, by Thomas Whiteside, 1978,205 pp., $4.95 softcover, from: Yale University Press 92A Yale Station New Haven, CT 06520 An investigative and journalistic devel opment of the perils of herbicide use, The Pendulum and the Toxic Cloud .focuses on dioxin- from its sin ister debut as a military defoliant in Vietnam Whiteside explores the trauma of Seveso, Italy, where a cloud contaminated with carcinogenic and bioaccumulative Dioxin from a factory explosion in 1976 has caused endless and painful complications. The possibilities of Dioxin and Dioxin·like contamination transcend herbicides: it san be found in paints, paper varnishes, fungicides, flame retardants, treated wood products and more. Says author Whiteside, substances contaminated with such toxins need to be treated as long-term chemical ha7. ards comparable to those created by the presencc of low-level nuclear radiation. Fascinating, disturbing reading that is too real. June 1979 RA IN Page 9 "Herbicides: A Faustian Bargain," by Carol Van Strum, pp. 22-25, CoEvolution Quarterly, Spring 1979, $3.50 ($I21year) from: The Co-Evolution Quarterly P.O. Box 428 Sausalito, CA 94965 Carol Van Strum is one of the founders of Citizens Against Toxic Sprays in Eugene, Oregon. He.r anicl~ in CQ's section on genetic toxicity IS alarming and level-headed at the same time. " Herbicide use amounts to little more than an open ended experiment, in which nOt only human health and survival are at stake, but the health, productivity, di· versity and ecological balance of one of the last great renewable resources on this continent, the forests of the Pacific Northwest ... these forests have over millions of years evolved the most efficient possible use of their native soil, climate and terrain, and it is nothing short of arrogance to suppose that we can improve it." Carol's overview steers you through the dilemma to the only real solution: forest management mllst be cbanged dra.w'cally, with forest ecology reinstated as the ultimate economic value Special Request I am looking for information about wood-fired refrigeration . Commercial and domestic units were manufactured in this country between 1850 and 1925. Please send any available information to Bill Day, 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210. Several New England stove manufacturers are experimenting with dis· tribution of their products here on the West Coast. Some manufacturers are carefully choosing a small number of .quality dealers while others are experimenting with a "shotgun" approach. Soapstone stoves are mentioned in "Fire on the Hearth" by Josephine Peirce, 1951 ; however the new Hearthstone is the first one I have ever seen. The exterior of the stove is a beautiful dark green polished stone, while the frame and elaborate interior fittings are constructed of cast iron. Hearthstone Stove Co., Northgate Pla7.a, Morrisville, VT 05661. The Waterford Ironfounders Ltd. is expanding their product selection with the addition of a combination fireplace-stove (Model 103) which should be available this fall. Stove copying may soon bccome a lost art in the far east. Many U.S. importers whose scruples allow them to sell junk stove copies may meet their "Waterloo" this season. Only a small portiull uf those imported last year were actually sold to consumers. It is reasonable to expect that prices of "Taiwan Wonders" will be quite mini· mal as importers dump them on the market this fall. Hearthstone W(X)d Stove Wood Furnaces and Boilers, Larry Gay, 1978, $1.00 from: Garden Way Publishing Charlotte, VT 05445 This booklet is an informative introduction to Wood Furnaces. Mr. Gay points out that "Few wood furnaces sold today are well known quantities." One exception is built by the Sam Daniels Co., about which Mr. Gay use.s such adjectives as "simple," "rugged dependability," and "cheap." The Wood Energy Institute Annual Meeting held March 22, 1979 was the scene of poLitical maneuvering which effcctively produced a new organization. The influence of environmentalists, consumers, and the academic communi· ty are no longer well represented on their board of directors. Many people now refer to WEI as the "New Oregon Stove Club" due to the fact that a large percentnge of the board of directors hail from such a. geographically small por' tion of the nation. Despite efforts of moderate factions within WEI, Pr~ident Andrew Shapiro was able, through the sale of $15.00 memberships at the door of the meeting room, to maintain control of the organization. It was revealed during the annual meeting that some unsuccessful money raising activities of Andrew Shapiro may compromise the position of WEI in lobbying for llltcrnative encrgy legislati on .
Can communities develop local solutions to the energy problem? Future Power, a program created by the Rocky Mountain Center on the Environment (ROMCO) was designed to test this idea: Three diverse communities were selected to participate-an affluent urban middle-class neighborhood, a low-income rural Hispanic community, and a prosperous rural town. Local citizen steering committees coordinated activities ranging from energy information fairs and seminars to solar greenhouse and water heating workshops. The success of the program varied with the parrjcipating groups. The rural Hispanic community experienced a sense of power. Solar units in the area in two years increased from 8 to 200. In con ~ trast, the urban middle-class neighborhood, content with the status quo, failed to respond to the volunteer, action style of the project. ROMCO comments revealed that despite the higher-thanaverage education level of the residents a feeling of political impotency existed. There was a "striking lack of imagination and initiative in generating new ideas." Three very good booklets documenting and critiquing the program are available for $3 .75 from: ROMCO 1115 Grant St. Denver, CO 80203 -PC It's Your Move: Working with Student Volunteers-a Manual for Community Organizations, Action's National Student Volunteer Program, 58 pp., 1976, free from: Action/NSVP 806 Connecticut Ave. N.W.; Rm.1l06 Washington, DC 20525 800/424-8580 (ask for NSVP on Branch 88 or 89) Having recently recruited some volunteers for RAIN, I have become acutely aware of some of the problems ont: must deal with when dealing with student interns. This booklet, from the folks at Action, addresses these problems and provides useful suggestions on how to avoid them. Contains various checklists and sample forms which would be helpful to organizations planning to tap the tremendous resources of student volunteers. - YL MONEY FLOWS WHERE HEARTSTRINGS GO Having given up the joyful ':lsk ofD.C. watching fo" more constructive things, it was interesting to see in Acorn that the National Science Founation's Board of Directors recommended to Congress not to allocate any funding to them for a. t. Good to see where their values are at after all the hoopla ofspending at least a million dollars of our time and money to get people around the country lined up for the non-existent dollars. A clearer sense ofgovernment energy priorities can be found in the following excerpt from an essay by George Sa/zrna11 in Science for the People, Marchi April '79. (Science for the People is published bi-monthly, $7lyear from 89 7 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.) -TB An article appropriately titled "Run for the Money" (in the Sept.-Oct. issue of New Roots) reports that $1.2 million will be granted in the fiscal year 1979 (FY79) for the entire region consisting of the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It is estimated that only about five percent of the several thousand proposals anticipated will actually be funded. Since the allocations are to be proportional to the populations of the individual states, the rotal national figure should be just about $6 million. Small is in this case not only not beautiful, but parsimonious in the extreme. The Research and Development (R&D) part of the DOE FY79 (this is turning into alphabet soup!) budget is S5 .4 billion . Thus the DOE is spending just a bit over one-thousandth of its R&D pie for a.t. When one keeps in mind that this is the only technology which would not promote continued corporate control of energy supply and distribution, then it is manifest that the DOE expends nearly all the resources at its disposal to maintain corporate capitalism. Let's see how the R&D pie goes. The part of the DOE R&D budget for ails aspects of nuclear power amounts to S3.2 billion, just over 59 percent. Then, in descending order, fossil fuels energy takes S6.7 hundred million, 12.4 percent; solar S4.4 hundred million, 8 percent; conservation S3.9 hundred million, 7 percent; geothermal,S 1.6 hundred million, 3 perc.ent; biomass $42 million, 0.8 percent; hydroelectric $28 million, 0.5 percent; and finally, last and least, a. t. $6 million, 0.1 percent. Although it is true that some of the other R&D categories may have limited spin-off contributions to a.t., it is clear that the intent of the funding allocations is to support large corporate interests. In order to distribute the a. t. small grants the DOE is establishing a sizable bureaucratic grant review procedure involving active participation by a.t. activists. The overall picture which emerges is that of the federal government taking, through taxes, at least S1,150 per person, most of which will come directly from us, and then to signify its desire to help us achieve local community self-reliance through the development of a.t., "giving" us 3([ per person of "federal money" through a highly competitive process that itself will consume much time and energy of a. t . ac t ivists.
June 1979 RAIN Page 11 ~tlnntl Decisions concerning the type of product manufactured by a company, its marketing techniques and the price range have traditionally been made by management. An exception is the worker owned and controlled corporation where employees are both labor and management. However, most company employees' influence on corporate policy has been limited to collective bargaining over terms and conditions of employment-wages, hours and benefits. Some progress has been made il1 the area of occupational safety. The idea of employees evaluating a product based upon its social usefulness would be considered heresy in most corporate executive circles. Well, the shop stewards of the British multinational corporation Lucas Aerospace are challenging those assumptions. Faced with the possibility of mass layoffs in 1976, they responded positively by drawing up an alternative corporate plan. The Lucas Aerospace Combine Shop Stewards Committee recommended that the company diversify through the development of socially relevant products. The criteria being energy conservation, ecologically soundness and labor intensiveness. The Lucas Company management refused to consider the proposals. The film, We've Done It This Way,. Haven't WI', interviews members of the shop steward committee and documents the resistance of the .lucas managers. Since then, a new plan, Turning Industrial Decline into Expansion, has been drafted by the shop stewards under the auspices of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU). The CSEU, unlike the original shop stewards committee, is officially recognized by the company. The report which is described in Undercurrents (April-May '79, $9/yr. from Undercurrents Ltd., 27 Clerkenwell Close, London, E1 ROAT, Great Britain) examines three areas-the Lucas Aerospace Corporate strategy, the social cost of unemployment and alternative products. Two of the report's points are particularly applicable to plant layoffs in the United States. First, the economic cost to society of people not working (unemployment pay, loss taxes, retraining, etc.) is about the same as keeping someone employed. Second, public subsidies to corporations in the form of regional development aid, investment grants and deferred taxes should not be considered handouts, but should be subject to some sort of democratic accountabili ty . In recognition of their initiative, the Lucas Combine Shop Stewards have been nominated for the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. Currently, a joint unioncompany committee is carrying on discussions auout the proposals put forth in the plan. The issues raiscd-the right - Responsible Work Alternative Corporate Plans The following steps are for developing your own alternative corporate plan, from Voice of the Unions Newspaper (38 Corbyn Street, London, N43BZ, Great Britain, $5Iyr.) - PC From the experiences gained so far, there seem to be a number of steps which are gone through in developing workers' plans: • Researching into the corporation's markets: Government customcr/sales subject to political pressures) /Overcapacity?/Outmoded products?/Unsafe or unheal thy products? • Researching into the organization of production : Increasing overseas production?/Concentration of "best" products in unorganized greenfield si tes?/"Self-fu lfilling" down turns in productivity? • Researching into the corporate financial strategy: Transfer pricing?/ Management-induced "losses" in UK plants?/Substitution of labor with capital equipment?/Concentration of productive resources in a few lucrative areas starving rest of organization? • Researching into the labor process: Labor displacement by plant or "rato ~ useful work and corporate and worker responsibility for the products made -are crucial and deserve mort: attention in this country. To follow up on these ideas, wri tc for : We've Always Done It This Wa11 Haven't We? , by ATV Televisio~, Great Britain, 1978, 16mm, color, 52 min., rental $70, donation from: California Newsreel 630 Natoma St. San Francisco, CA 94103 Turning Industrial Decline into Expallson, available for 4.50 pounds trade unions, 10 pounds others, from: CAITS, NELP Longbridge Road Dagenham, Essex -PC Great Britain tionalized" working methods?/Automation and systematic de-skilling?/ Work fragmentation?/Expropriation of job skills by computcr systems)!Increasing workpace and stress? • Researching into social needs: Local community nceds- no bus spares) /Substituting a better·designed product (e.g. bakery workers' campaign for real bread)?/New designs for Third World, non-obsolescent"durables". etc.? Obviously not all of these "stages" are necessary in all cases, or at least not in the early stages.
Page 12 RAIN June 1979 byTom Bender I. Sitting down to write this morning, I've become aware that my perceptions have made another distinct shift over the last few months. Seeing a full-page "definition" of a.t. in a government proposal, I flashed back to Schumacher's four-word definition - simple, sustainable, small and non-violent. I realized that my own sense of "appropriate technology" had shifted to "what follows naturally in the absence of special conditions favoring largeness, concentration and exploitation." A.T. does not need our close attention now. It will flower whenever it is not crushed. It is the favoritism towards bigness, and its causes, that now needs our attention and action. The words of Frances Moore Lappe and Joe Collins ring ever clearer-"The introduction of any profitable technology in a society riddled with inequality only worsens that inequality." What must now be dealt with is not legislation and subsidies favoring a.t., but correcting and removing the regulations, subsidies, practices and beliefs based on exploiting people, resources, and our future for the benefit of a few. A token federal solar tax credit is fine, but in its next breath Congress turns around to deregulate oil and hand the oil companies a $45 billion windfall. A battle of subsidies and legislation is a battle of power, and without enough of us knowing how we're being milked and bilked; who's doing it, how and why; how power flows and is exploited in our society; and how to create alternatives, we don't have a mouse's chance in an elephant dance to have any effect. What we're concerned with is a good society and how to obtain and sustain it. Our development of technological alternatives has revealed two important things. It has shown how technological choices have been exploited by decision-makers to serve the benefits of powerful and weal thy interests. And it has made it clear how tech.nologies have been developed and the institutions of our society reshaped specifically to further the domination of wealth and power. Nuclear power has been consciously promoted to provide subsidized energy to continue automation and elimination of jobs to undermine unions. Below-parity farm price supports have been shown to have been a specific action directed to force into bankruptcy small farmers without access to tax favoritism of large farmers. Health insurance has made the doctors wealthier, not the patients. Credit buying has raised prices by almost 20 percent-that's quite a service to the shopper. We have had the livelihood of a third of our farmers taken away by legislative edict. We have had citizen leaders assassinated by our government's FBI and CIA agents. We have supported fascist dictators and murdered democratic leaders of other countries. There is much that does not show in our newspapers and TV, and much that needs fundamental change. A single company (GM) has the power to blackmail the railroads into purchasing their locomotives or lose the shipping of 40 perc~nt of all autos built in the country, and to repeatedly buy off anti-trust suits by the Justice Department. Fifty companies (that's the equivalent of one per state) now control 90 percent of the profits in food manufacturing in the U.S. The largest two-Unilever and Nestle S.A.-are not even U.S. companies. That concentration of power is a threat to every citizen. Ironically, that power represents and has been built by our own money. We are having our land, our livelihood, and our freedom taken from us and given into the hands 'of an elite and unscrupulous minority who have shown again and again that they seek only their own benefit and are callously indifferent to the rights and needs of others. But in the flowering of every dream lies the seed of its own downfall. The maturing of Corporate America has made its culmination ever more apparent. And in the act of ruling America, the rulers have shown their hand. With visibility comes understanding and reaction. Already strong and healthy manifestations of alternate dreams are emerging that can reo store balance to our society. Our first task is understandingas free from our own preconceptions as possible-both the realities of what exists and of what can be. And with it comes our main task, the construction and evolu tion out of the different beliefs, understandings, dreams and fears that each of us hold, a truly democratic, egalitarian and sustainable society that raises our spirits rather than our debts. The debates and feelings that run high between Capitalism and Socialism and Democracy and Communism and Left-Wing and Right-Wing and Broken-Wing are largely manufactured . and hollow struttings, seeking small differences where sameness predominates. A bureaucracy, whether corporate or governmental, is still a bureaucracy. Do they differ, or do they share being a problem? Is Capitalism or Communism better to live under, or have they both dismal records of being merely concerned with materialistic expansion of our society? Are the huge farmer's co-ops that have squeezed other farmers out of business any different than Corporate America? Is or isn't there a fundamental difference between a Ma and Pa grocery, a Plaid Pantry and a co-op, all of which sell at the same scale and prices? Is making-a-living self-employment Capitalism the same as making-a-killing Corporate Capitalism? If a RightWing group grabs the issue of controlling government spending before a Left-Wing group, does that make the idea suddenly evil? What differences are there between a nationalized industry and a government-regulated monopoly? Our simple ideologies don't work. Any institutional system grows lax and sloppy and fossilized over time-regardless of its ideology or initial behavior. A renewal process and change from one institutional form to another seems essential, as in any living system. A mixed political/economic structure, keeping alternatives alive and flourishing side by side, is probably valuable to keep each element lean and strong. Citizen participation always seems to fall off when problems are under control-why not? Red Bologna would have no pressure to be exemplary if all of Italy was Communist-would it continue as well with its problems largely solved? The success of the Revolu tion in China has bred new problems, as has the success of Capitalism in the U.S. When we talk of politics, we find it hard to talk in the same breath of art, poetry, music, dance, architecture, gardens or beauty, yet the political/economic structure is the structure that makes the other achievable, or even thinkable.
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