REDEFINING LOCALITY, p. 6 A.T. and COMMUNITY POWER, p.14 FINDING GOOD WORK, p.10 () Ancil Nance
Page 2 RAIN October 1979 WOOD STOVE NEWS: . onwinter coming, fireplaces by Bill Day Colder weather in the next few months will mean that your woodstove or fur- •nace will be asked to perform faithfully for another winter. To achieve that expected performance, it is wise to perform a few simple maintenance chores before the season begins. A good cleaning and inspection can be accomplished by wire brushing and vacuuming the stove interior. If you are interested in efficiency, then note that one-eighth inch of soot inside the stove walls decreases heat transfer approximately 30 percent. Potential problems discovered early will not likely become critical. Stoves which have developed air leaks, have also begun to lose heating efficiency. Leaky stoves or fu maces tend to develop "hot spots," become overheated, and often will deteriorate much faster than normal. Welded steel box stoves whose doors or door frames have warped should be returned to the dealer or manufacturer. If the warranty has expired or is unenforceable, I suggest you replace the unit with one which is both repairable and more efficient. Listed below are some common chores and examinations to perform. Common sense dictates that your chimney needs an inspection and cleaning unless it was done following the "7879" heating season. All chimneys deteriorate over a period of years. Masonry chimneys tend to lose mortar and need minor repair. Prefabricated chimneys tend to be affected by chimney fires and should be examined occasionally to determine that the steel liner has not "sagged" or become distorted. InandtheDOE structions for cleaning chimneys are found in: Chimney & Stove Cleaning, by Christopher Curtis and Donald Post, 1977, Garden Way Publishing, Dept. 1717, Charlotte, V'f 05445, $1.00 postpaid. Bill Day's Consumer's Guide to Wood Stoves, RAIN, journal ofAp- , propriate Technology, 2270 N.W.--1-rving, Portland, OR 97210 ($2.00 plus 20 percent postage and handling). Observation 1. Place trouble light inside stove in darkened room. Examine door and door frame for light leaks. 2. While trouble light is inside stove, check for light leaks around seams and joints. 3. If the appearance of the stove is rusty or pale grey-white. • During the past few years, I have seen a great many government funded "research" or "development" projects. A great many of these are simple duplications of existing work published in the 1920s, '30s or '40s by engineering experiment stations at "land grant" colleges. One of the worst yet is titled "Analysis of Heat-Saving Retrofit Devices for Fireplaces" authored by Robert D. Busch and Richard Irland, published March 1979 by the New Mexico Energy RAIN Institute. This report features inaccurate statistics developed under unscientific conditions.: misleading conclusions which could encourage use of inefficient fireplaces as sensible heat sources, with po mention of possible consumer safety problems resulting from the use of the devices studied. On the other hand, a previously published document, "Measured Performance of Fireplaces and Fireplace Accessories" by Jay Shelton, $2.00, 36 Hawthorne Drive, Williamstown, MA O 1267, is the most useful and accurate study presently available. • The Department of Energy, at this time, seems to be encouraging (perhaps at the expense of other options) industrial wood fuel use. The domestic consumer is completely ignored in the budget planning of_three of the four Regional Solar Energy Centers. Federal Mode of Action to be Followed Replace door gasket if light is visible. Some older stoves did not use gaskets, and a good seal cannot be achieved. Maintenance of newer welded,stoves must be done by the stove dealer or manufacturer usually under the implied or limited warranties. I consider stoves one to five years old with warped doors or door frames to be defective. Fill any gaps by applying furnace cement . (usually a clay, asbestos and water mixture) from the inside. No special tools are needed. Wipe off any excess cement which appears on outside of stove. Remove rust with a wire brush or emery cloth. Do not sandblast! Apply stove polish or high temperature silicone finish. DOE thinking seems to be at odds with the stated wood use policy vocalized by President Carter. Recently, the President endorsed the use of wood heating stoves and is sponsoring a 15 percent income tax credit to encourage their use. Skyrocketing sales of wood burning home appliances are an obvious reflection of the positive economic benefits now available from wood fuel. If the DOE policy makers were awake, they could direct and promote the curJ our!J.al ofAppropriate Technology RAIN is a national information access journal making connections for people seeking n:10re simrk and sati_sfying lifestyle~, working to make their communities and regions economically self-reliant, building a society that 1s durable, JUSt and ccolog1cally sound. RAIN STAFF Phil Conti Pauline Deppen Debra Whitelaw Del Greenfield Tad Mutersbaugh Yak Lansky Jill Stapleton-Layout CONTRIBUTORS Steven Ames Phil Hcnshaw Tom Bender Steve Johnson Typesetting: Irish Setter , Printing : Times Litho Cover: Ancil N ancc RAIN, Journal of Appropriate Technology, is published 10 times yearly by the Rai~ U ~brella, l~c., a n?n-profit _corporation located at 2270 N. W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210. Telephone: 503-227-5110. Copyright© l lJ79 Ram Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission.
' I j 11......L.... ' l., l J '- j 1 1 1 • 1· 1 11 I 1 . rent stampede of wood fueled appliance buyers in such a way that the use of these alternative energy products is safer. Present marketing does not include durability standards. Safety testing is performed by a variety of agencies or laboratories using a multitude of sometimes ill-conceived standards. A positive direction toward greater pmduct durability, encouragement of safe installation, and promotion of extens~ve consumer education projects could be a positive, beneficial undertaking directed by the DOE. II ENERGY II The Politics of Energy, Barry Commoner, 101 pp., 1979, $4.95 from: Alfred A. Knopf 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 In this world of critical analysis, it is hardly unusual to hear anyone and ~ everyone commen't about the contemporary energy predicament. Politics and energy issues have become one and the same, reaching the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of all. But for one to offer a "solution" amongst the critical crowd is a true event. Dr. Barry Commoner, in The Politics of Energy, offers us all such a rarity. This book is a factual, realistic and semi-philosophical account of how the United States' perplexing energy situation (based on nonrenewable energy resources) has materialized, and how the U.S. can relinquish itself from this dangerous addiction (through a future society based on renewable energy resources). After presenting some energy related political rhetoric, Commoner goes on to prove that symbiotic (yet controvers::d) relationship between politics and economics. "All of the harmful consequences of the nonrenewability of the energy sources on which we now depend arc economic," fueling inflation, reducing the standard of living, hindering new industrial investments, and aggravating unemployment. "Here, then, is the real meaning of the nonrenewability of an energy resource. The problem is not that it will become totally depleted, but that it will become too costly to produce. We will exhaust not our oil but our ability to pay for it." Commoner's suggestion is to "switch from nonrenewable energy sources to renewable ones. This would eliminate the interactive link that drives the cost of nonrenewable sources exponentially upward, for if an energy source is renewable, producing it has no effect on the accessibility of further supplies." Commoner, advocating solar energy for this renewable energy system, puts out the following plan: 1. Energy sources to be related to the regional resources; 2. The energy using task to be supplied with the appropriate energy form; 3. The energy generation to be satisfied by a localized, decentralized technology; 4. Energy transmittance to be satisfied by the above three whenever feasible. Since all is possibl'e "in theory," Commoner goes on to piece these abstractions of the future into the realities of the present. The initial calling is for an increase in the production of methane, since it is completely interchangeable with a present fuel: natural gas. Methane also satisfies the most salient components in a healthy national energy system: it is a liquid fuel; after hydrogen processing, it can store initially produced electricity; it can be transferred and stored. Commoner, in The Politics of Energy, offers us the momentum and layout for the future solar transition. Being skeptical towards panaceas, I can still advocate and support this feasible, well thought-out plan. Knowledge and effective debate skills will be increased by all, after absorbing this book, amongst the critical crowd. - DW .. ~ L. - ... .:.... ► • ... r, ~ ...... ..: ~ - -- .. u ~ ,~ II.. . . . ... ... 1 - l _..., ... - __.[j ' l.,,il A Citizen's Party? Convinced that it'll take a lot more than words in books, Barry Commoner is now-heading up The Citizens Committee, a unique coalition of activists seeking to build a long term political party ("not a third party, for we reject the relevance of the two existing ones") around the crucial choices facing American voters in the coming years. It's an eclectic platform they're pulling together, bravely attempting to overcome all those old Left battlelines to suggest the building of a new American consensus based on a wide range of political convictions: public· control of energy industries and guaranteed jobs, housing and medical care; decentralized, renewable energy sources and community owned enterprises; military cutbacks and a halt to nuclear power; environmentalism and feminism; and more. If there is a clear adversary, its the large corporate interests which now dominate the economic landscape: "O,ur system today no more resembles free enterprise than a freeway resembles a dirt road . . . Beholden to no one but stockholders, beyond the control of most governments, protected by the myth that they are merely small business writ large, large corporations unaccountable to us increasingly shape our lives .. . a whole lifestyle - energy-intensive, ridden with cancer-causing pollution, fueled by advertising - has been given to us. It is a lifestyle we did not choose for ourselves ..." It's a quiet beginning, and an extremely ambitious goal, but here are the seeds of a Citizens Party of unique potential. What do RAIN readers think? Is there a place for it in our scheme of things? Let us know. -SA For more information contact: The Citizens Committee National Office 1737 DeSales St., N.W., No. 300 Washington, DC 20036
- • 'J . :,, ,,.,·~ . , -... ..... Q eople and The City of Portland, Oregon, with the guidance of Mayor Neil Goldschmidt, recently passed an Energy Conservation Policy which, when implemented, should reduce energy consumption in the city by 30 percent or m,ore by 1995, representing a financial savings of over 162 million (1979) dollars annually. over a year, a "Discussion Draft" was written and the proposal was brought to the people for input. The city held a number of workshops where people were encouraged to comment on specific aspects of the policy, ask questions of the committee, and to make specific suggestions for amendments, etc. After two such workshops were held in different parts of the city, two days of formal hearings were held where people were able to make their feelings known and their . suggestions became part of the record. As an ~ffect of t_his process,· new objectives were added-e.g. mak!ng recY_cltng options mandatory for all garbage collectors in the city, This plan has already been hailed as the most comprehensive and innovative attempt by a municipality to save energy yet devised. Official recognition of Portland's plan has been high- from Walter Cronkite right on up to Jimmy Carter-and· requests for information have been.coming in b):' droves to the City Energy Office. After one takes a look at this plan, one can sec why it has been so popular. . A most important part of the plan-and my favorite feature--is how it was drafted. A group of local citizens who were appointed by the City Council volunteered over 3,500 hours certain sections of the policy str_~.ngthened-e.g. _requiring the commercial sector to prepare energy audits not 7ust on heating and cooling use, but industrial processes as well, and many other small items included, which 'increase the overall effec" tiveness of the plan. . of work to develop this document. This committee represented neighborhoods, utilities, industry, organized labor, environmental groups and elsewhere-quite an unusual wor~ing group! The perspectives these people added truly made it an effort of the community. After the committee h:id met for We here at RAIN, as well ,as many other groups throughout the city, have been getting numerous calls for information about this important document. Because of this great interest, we have decided to outline the general goal and individual policies of the plan. Even so, this listing does not inelude the many pioneering objectives of the different policies, inclu_ding such things as the establishment of Local Improvement Districts to help finance neighborhood power facilities, help for El=:11:::::=:I =E=N=E=RG=Y====-11 Energy and Downtown Revitalization: The Austin Opportunity, Renewable Energy Resources Commission, Austin, Texas, August 9, 1979, from: Ray Reece Renewable Energy Resources Commission 516 Terrace Drive Austin, TX 78704 Typically, urban revitalization projects are grand attempts to bring big development and big bucks to the center city. While such efforts are usually unresponsive to housing and community development needs, it's now becoming apparent they are oblivious of progressive energy planning as well. When new office/commercial complexes move in, replacing old businesses and residential areas, they tend to reinforce the city's most inappropriate energy-use patterns. High gloss development is noticeably out-of-touch with conservation and renewable energy goals - and it's starting to look very vulnerable on these grounds. In Austin, Texas, such a prospect has spurred members of the city's Renewable Energy Resources Commission and its advisory citizens' groups to urge that the city instead take 'advantage of known conservation measures and renewable energy sources to make its proposed downtown revitalization project a national model for energy-conscious urban redevelopment. With the establishment of a Model Energy Development Demonsti;ation District (MEDDD) they estimate that energy consumption could easily be reduced by 50% over conventional development approaches, while having many other positive impacts on the city. The Austin Opportunity is a straightforward report to the city council which outlines how a MEDDD·can be implemented, along with the multitude of concepts that could be incorporated into an energyconserving downtown strategy. This preliminary report, one of the first of its kind, signals the beginning of a dialogue critical to any major city caught between the desire to revitalize and the absol~te necessity of cutting back on energy use. It also identifies a new kind of political tangle: The MEDDD proposal, for example, did not just appear in a vacuum. The American City Corporation - a subsidiary of Rouse Corporation, developer of Columbia, Maryland and. two major shopping malls in Austin - has already completed a conventional revitalizati0n plan for the city, slating large areas of downtown Austin to be levelled for an office/commercial mega~block. Existing urban renewal designation would give the developers legal authority to condemn these areas, and a group of investors would be drawn together for the project. A few city officials are pushing hard for the Rouse approach to revitalization. Not surprisingly, references to renewable energy in'this plan are nearly non-existent. Instead, it relies on such increasingly energy-inefficient features as developing a convention business trade in Austin, and moving peoplt around on exclusive monorails. The Renewable Energy Resources Commission, on the other hand, has • become the advocate for the alternative MEDDD approach, taking advantage of the crucial time factor to generate
October 1979 RAIN Page 5 2. All buildings in the City shall be made as energy efficient as is economically possible as determined by costs of conservation actions and price of energy. The retrofit of existing buildings for the purpose of energy conservation shall be accomplished through voluntary actions initially, with mandatory requirements imposed five years after the adoption of the policy. Retrofit programs and the requirements must be cost-effective, comprehensive, and have the most equitable impact possible on all sectors of the community. 3. The City shall develop land use policies which take advantage of density and location to reduce the need to travel, increase access to transit, and permit building c~mfigurations which increase the efficiency of space heating in residences. . local oil distributors in finding alternative business to help offset the reduction of business through conservation, encouragement for transportation companies to establish terminals within the city to reduce energy consumption and encourage small, independent trucking firms, and many other worthwhile intentions. 4. The consumption of nonrenewable resources for residential and business use.shall be rt;duced by encouraging the application of renewable and alternative energy sources. S. The consumption of nonrenewable fuels for transportation shall be reduced through actions which increase the efficiency of the transportation system operating within the City. These actions will encourage individuals to choose the method of travel which is the most fuel-efficient for the purpose of the trip; promote the energyefficient movement of goods; and provide incentives for the use of fuel-efficient vehicles. The Energy Conservation Goal of the City of Portland is to: Increase the energy efficiency of existing structures and the transportation system of the city through policies and programs which encourage conservation of nonrenewable energy resourct;s, while maintaining the attractiveness of the city as a place to live and do business. In order to accomplish this goal, the following six policies have been adopted 6. City bureaus shall reduce energy consumption by investing in energy conservation opportunities and changing operational procedures to the most energy· and cost-effective extent possible. as the Energy Conservation Policy of the City of Portland. 1. The role of the City is to ensure the accomplishment o.f the goal. All of the energy policies are to be policies of the City and depend on City action. The City shall implement conservation actions directly within City government and encourage conservation actions by the private sector. This shall be accomplished through education, incentives, and mandatory actions. The City's efforts shall include promoting conservation; informing all sectors of available programs and conservation techniques; developing financial incentives; advocating the support of the City efforts at the state, regional and federal levels; and regulating conservation actions where appropriate. The City shall evaluate indicators of energy consumption to assure the effectiveness, comprehensiveness and fairness of private sector actions. Clearly, the Portland plan is a 'momentous event- one which is sure to inspire others to draft their own. Due to the heavy volume of requests, the City of Portland is making copies of their plan available from the President's Clearinghouse for Community Energy Efficiency. This office has been set up at the White House to assist local officials in preparing their own conservation plans. Copies of other communities' efforts as well as technical assistance are available from: public support for energy conservation, including substantial backing among Austin's city council. Still, there's a lot of work to do: educating key city planning and development people to the full-scale possibilities and implications of energy-conserving downtown redevelopment, and seeking out Federal financial backing for their innovative concept in order to begin making the proposal more comprehensible. In the long run, if MEDDD·flies, a tougher challenge looms: making progressive redevelopment happen in a relatively conventional investment context, providing enough openings for small, local investors Willing to be innovative. For now, the main objective is to get Austin city cou~cil to approve MEDDD designation for 'downtown. This would, in effect, put the developers' plan back at ground zero. • For better insights into the basic components of the MEDDD plan, and how it proposes to deal with Sl?ecific energy sectors in the context of downtown revitalization, write for a copy of the above report. And stay tuned for further developments. -SA President's Clearinghouse for Community Energy Efficiency Suite 185 400 North Capitol St., N.W. Washington, DC 20001 ...,.~_....._....._....._....._........,....,._.._,._......~ -YL ~r.,rr....-P"'r.,.......-r Sources Sought: Renewable Energy Policy Analysis The Department of Energy seeks information from organizations with capability to perform innovative planning, research and analysis for the development of renewabl,e energy resources at the local, sta~e, and regional levels. Renewable systems that are efficiently matched to local needs in scate and thermodynamic quality, and that can be locally developed and controlled are of primary interest. Capabilities to perform planning, research, and analysis arc sought for a broad range of factors- economic, environmental, administrative, technical and others-that affect the use of renewable energy resources. Such analyses would account for local variations in resource availability, climate, .economic activity, and end-use demands. Analyses . would emphasize inexpensive systems that might be locally implemented in the near-term, and frequently would require involvement of state and local governments and public participation. Organizations are invited to send a brief (not more than about 5 pages) description of their interest, capabilities, and experience in this area of work to: U.S. Department of Energy Division of Advanced Energy Systems Policy Room 6E-068 AA Forrestal Building Washington, DC 20585 Statements should describe specific areas of interest in local renewable energy systems development, background and experience of principal staff, and organizational resources and capabilities. Statements should be sent by October 30, 1979, or within 30 days of the publication date of this notice, whichever comes later. This notice invites expressions of interest and capability. Responses will be used to assess program feasibility and to aid design of future programs. DOE will not award contracts or grants on the basis of this notice, or otherwise pay for information solicited. A summary of the responses to this notice will be available to the public upon request. -Lee Johnson
Page 6 RAIN October 1979 NewAwareness, NewRegions and futile efforts to balance sudden changes. The way demand exceeds supply is not smooth. New habits for change are surfacing. by Phil Henshaw The new habits we're developing as we become more and more sensitive to the vicissitudes of the thirsty tank are changing our overall felt impressions of, and actual' relations to, our greater landscape. Some places are now becoming further away; and some places are becoming more familiar. One of the sharpest new distinctions is a new definition of distance-one not apparent as long as fuel was plentiful, but now likely to be of permaoent interest no matter how expensive or restricted fuel supplies become. It's the distance Just two years ago the country was shocked by the reported possibility that demand for liquid fuel would exceed supply by as soon as 1982. No one had a feeling for what that meant or what our response would be when it came. Now, three years earlier than the earliest predicted date, we've found that the way in which supply fails to accommodate demand is in unpredictable and disquieting surges of broken expectations of free travel 'on one full tank of gas-generally two to three hundred miles, a maximum of one hundred fifty miles in any one direction. Suddenly this summer, the towns and recreation areas beyond a half tank's distance from major population centers have felt an unfamiliar pinch, while ones within range are busier than ever. Having gone through the minor or major trauma of filling up the tank, one still feels free to zip out of We hear so much talk nowadays about political crises, the need to be r::eshaping our values, uniting for political action, innovating new kinds of technology. It can all become an-overwhelming blur at times. And always, it comes down to a tricky question of where to best invest our precious time. The heavy imperatives compete for our attention with the daily rhythmsearning the bread, making a home, being with friends or just being. Yet these are the things that make life grow, and go on. They also have their roots in the context of "place." Such localized rituals can prQvide us with an appropriate focus for framing those bigger-than-we-care-to-imagine problems-and give us a scale of involvement that nourishes solutions we can relate to. ' In piecing together this issue of RAIN, we saw some recurring threads of thought present themselves in our various contributors. So we've strung their diverse ideas together to see what patterns emerge. Regions that are tangible. Localities that have per~eived boundaries. Neighborhoods of familiar faces. I think it was Peter Warshall of CQ who once asked his friends if they could identify the watershed they lived in. A truly great question for raising water consciousness! And there are so many related probes: What weather patterns define successful gardening in your city? How far can you travel before you're no longer on home turf? Who are those people living down the block you saw at the co-op grocery? In each case sensing place is a tool for focusing on the next, best move ... and dealing with too-big problems can begin most appropriately at our own back doors. -Steven Ames ReneDubos on. Neighborhoods Local Climates by Steve Johnson The effects we are having on climate on a global scale is one of those notions that's hard to keep in mind all the time. When I first got wind of the news that such climate change was apparently occurring as a natural, possibly cyclical pattern, and also due to the effects of industrialization, I was convinced this would be one of those large and dramatic shifts that could bring about necessary social changes. But it's hard to keep in mind. It mostly feels normal. Now and then I realize my folk wisdom concerning climate-and that of old timers more well-founded-doesn't always hold as much water. It's difficult to talk with assurance about what ' ·,r; . I
f . the city, but there's a nagging feeling about trying to go very far beyond. It's not that you can't or don't ever fill-er-up on the road. It's just that it isn't the same old nonchalant thing. Once out of the urhan__gas hassle, it just doesn't feel like part of the trip to be reminded of the need, look fo~ that open station, or watch the pennies fly by on the pump. We seemlo clearly prefer travel free of worry, and are tending to rediscover the luxuries of our own home ground rather than continue the old habit of looking always just a bit further. There are still lots of choices. That 150 miles out and back opens up seventy thousand square miles of area to explore with wheel freedom. We probably haven't really looked at our city's "neighborhood" much, where there's lots to find and get involved with. I think that's a switch, 'a real change in direction, if you will. Instead of always looking to see what's "beyond," we seem to be turning-slowly perhaps-but turning to see what's "around." When you see this pattern as just one more part of a general turning inward, of regional community forming, of the progressive trend of adapting to local climate, lifestyle and resource conditions, the nature of the city's home-base can be seen taking shape. To me, it's suddenly obvious, though still soft-edged and changing, that America is complete. The physical building thing we've unwittingly been pursuing for the past three hunone can expect in a given season. But trying to keep the larger climate in mind is like trying to keep aging, death, time in mind. One toddles along, only occasionally thinking of such ... I was brought up in a very small village of 45,0 people. So perhaps being brought up in a highly integrated village in France made me aware of a kind of biological aspect of human nature which is essential for the d<:;finition of neighborhood. Most people cannot relate to a very large number of peopk. What is the optimum number is very difficult to decide. But there have been experiments on that. The experiments ask, It's only if we become sufficiently stable that we can rediscover some principle of integration that will solve the problems of our cities. This will be through the neighborhoods ... how many persons,can you remember? How many can you identify sufficiently well, so that if you see them you will not only recognize them but know what to expect of them? It's not that you like them or dislike them, but to some extent October 1979 RAIN Page 7 dred years is what we have now achieved-the becoming of a large, closely grouped family of "regional neighborhoods" of large communities, neighborhood regions measured by what opportunity is conveniently within reach in a single motion and shaped by local adaptation. In somewhat the same way a pedestrian community takes shape from the opportunities within convenient walking distance, the definition of our overwhelming notions. Perhaps, as with the method described in The Canadian Alternative (RAIN, Aug./Sept. '79), which concerns the geography of the urban environment as a complex interaction between human needs and values, one has to relate the immediate to the far away, the small to the large, the obvious to the hard-to-see and invisible: At the small end of the picture, there's our very own, sub7 jective climate. Inside our physical envelope is the most precious climate of all. We perform our own weather modification by what we eat, by what we wear, even by what we think and feel (you know, "he was hot under the collar"). Just beyond our physical envelope there's the shelter we construct to modify the climate we live in. Persons living 50 feet apart in different structures can have entirely different climates in their homes depending on the materials of the shelter, walls-to-window ratio , orientation to the sun, placement of trees, hedges, and so on.. The microclimate that exists up to 4 feet above the surface of the earth, as defined in the classic Rudolf Geiger study, The Climate Near the Earth, is yet another step out from the you know what to expect of them. The -numbers are never over a thousand. Beyond that, it becomes difficult to remember .. . there seems to be a limited number to whom we can relate. In cities, it's very djfficult to formulate that principle of limited numbers in a precise manner. Nevertheless, I have seen it in New York City. I have seen neighborhoods become reestablished. Tpere arc streets where people know each other well enough so that when they walk, they recognize the people who belong there. I have seen block parties being organized. I see a spontaneous attempt at recapturing this kind of relationship .. . Unquestionably, from the beginning, human' beings lived in small limited clusters. The New Stone Age, about 10,000 years ago- villages that we know of- had about 500 persons. So, it seems, in some way there must be something in the human brain that limits the number ·of identifications we can make. The human brain doesn't change, biologically, so somewhere we still have that limitation. And, I suspect, it is reflected in practically all social organizations.
Page 8 RAIN October 1979 regions cont. vehicular neighborhoods is being refined by a mor.e sharply defined convenient driving distance. Just as pedestrian neighborhoods change shape as our freedom to walk changes, so do vehicular neighborhoods. As the range of travel shrinks and our attention turns relatively inward, the number and diversity of neighborhoods necessarily expands and personal ,care intensifies. Spending more time in our neighborhoods and discovering, operationally speaking, that it's all we have, we'll necessarily come to a clearer understanding of our communal living room. Perhaps for seeing it more clearly, we'll begin treating ours (and others') that way. The distance of one tank of gas serves as an interesting focus on this crystallization of new regional awareness. . What is the shaping of this new regionalism likely to be guided by? What personal and social energies will lead it to find its place in the local environment? Who are our scouts? Is there anyone who has taken a special interest in finding healthful new ways of fitting in, in this becoming world? Well, supposedly that's us, those involved with appropriate technology. A.T. is what works, right?-all the way down to the roots of the whole system. But what about all those people who can't yet relate to composting toilets, canning berries or saluting solar collectors? They are still integral parts of the a.t. of the city-parts that center we can take in examining different climates. Related to that and one step further are the climate differences that might occur in a city from neighborhood to neighborhood, or in a more natural setting, the climate differences created by changes in the shape of the landscape. It's an important step to take. Our perception of our local climate usually takes place a step beyond this kind of neighborhood area. We think of neighborhoods cont. Now, the industrial revolution in Europe brought an enormous migration of people from the villages into the cities, concentrating them around large factories. That brought about the most awful human destruction one can imagine. I have no doubt that the immense human tragedies of the late 19th century were in large part a consequence of the total disintegration of the prior social structure caused by bringing people together who had not learned to function with each other. And we have been suffering ever since. New York, or any other large city, still suffers from an influx of people with this problem. It's only if we become sufficiently stable that we can rediscover some prin'ciple of integration that will solve the problems of our cities. This will be through the neighborhoods... . I am convinced that the social support of a person is the most important aspect of human life. By social support I mean have found their niches, that depend on each other, that we depend on, and will still be part of the city as it finds its appro As the range of travel shrinks, our attention turns inward, the number and diversity of neighborhoods expands. priate spot in the new landscape. In discovering that the appropriate response to the environment is really the interest of the whole community and no longer just a special segment of it, will a.t. retain the same meaning it was held? In an important way, I think it will. A.T. is not centrally the specific discoveries we've m_adethose elegant solutions to elegantly framed problems. It is the knack for elegantly framing the problems. A.T. should not serve so much as a model of technology to further develop as it should serve as a model of learning to further develop-not the simple and elegant things to be,found-but ways of looking at complex relationships of things to find in them their natural elegance and simplicity. It won't be quite so much the political work or the selling of a.t. which is of real value, but more that we've richly shared ways of finding-of looking directly at the whole of our particular worlds and seeing what they're good for. . _ What's a city truly good for?, With its complexity, its class systems and social and political segregations that seem to block climates cont. ourselves in a climatic region that usually incorporates hundreds of square miles, even thousands. But in effect, we are often indoqrina~ed into believing climatic regions exist on some sim_ple level of data as that provided by the chamber of commerce. If you ask an outsider what he thinks of the climate in Oregon, he will most often say it rains a lot. In fact, two-thirds of Oregon is one of the driest regions in the country. And the the whole set of forces that relate the per~on to the environment. And when I say environment, I mean physical and social, in which that person lives. I think our society is horrible in completely ignoring that. Increasingly, I am writing about, talking about and preaching about it. There is very little social study about the effect of this "environment." But I introduce it into all aspects of my life. If I become interested in energy, -then I say the most important aspect of the energy problem is that we must not create a more centralized society where human contacts are completely broken up. So I say, let's think energy in terms of social units where people can once more become identified with the place where they live-where human relationships are not lost. For me, it's very clear. .. . Excerpted from the JulrAugust Community Service Newsletter ($5.00 yearly from Community Service, Inc., P.O. Box 243, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387), originally appearing as an interview in the December 1977 issue of Neighborhood, a publication of the New York Urban Coalition, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. ■
the opportunity in b~irig composed of many non-communicating but mutually supportive parts? The simples't and most basic thing is just to look to the whole system to see the boundaty~crnssing·relationships·that develop, fostering th.ose w~ care to. We might even do this sort of thing strongly enough to have it become a new method for planning--:planning by·6bserving relationships and opportunities. This kind of planning would be a discovery process in knowing the whole of a city and its many interests so that it could respond well when times for choice arose, rather than attempting to force present convictions on the future. From this sort of planning might evolve new attitudes towards things such as zoning or resource and land development. We could evolve a way to replace ordinances which tell us how some ill-informed authority a long time ago thought we should act within a set of guidelines for how to understand what healthy action is. With a broad enough scope, any development or resource use which enhances the breadth of opportunity for the future might be allowed; any which restricts, not allowed. We would continually develop new and more creative ways rather than be stuck in tracks apprppriate • largely for some power play decision-moment of the past. There are lots of other possible trends that parallel and contribute to such a new approach of asserting an interest in meaningful city-wide communication, how does it come to a unified and healthful response to its regional neighborhood? How can we use our skills and interests to help our cjties ·find small proportion of land influenced by the great ocean, the maritime climate region, is predominated by areas \hat get rainfall roughly on a par with the most highly developed areas in the U.S. The areas that actually receive rainfall greater than 40 inches are few and represent a very small proportion of the overall land area. In fact, the predominant effect of living in the maritime northwest "is not so much the rain as it is the gray. Most of the region is under something like a 70 percent cloud cover for 9 months of the year. When people complain about the rain, in most cases one could easily substitute the gray. It grays a lot in the Northwest.· A lot of our awareness of climate is influence·d by this kind of mass hallucination, based on broad summaries of climatic conditions that do not take into account local variations. Just in Portland, there are dramati'c variations in rainfall amounts ranging from 27" to 64", depenJing on where one 'Iives. Persons living in the east part of the city are much more under the stu'pendous effects of the Columbia Gorge, which cah bring in gusty hot and dry winds in the summer, and frigid dry air in the winter. Then there are the u~ique climatic conditions created by urban environments themselves. An average American town with a population of 1000 or more creates a heat island. A large metropolitan area will often have a nighttime temperature 8 to 10 degrees warmer than those in surrounding rural areas. "What to Do about Urban-Generated Weather and Climate Change," (by Stanley A. Changnon, Jr., American Planning Association Journal, January '79) is a good summary October 1979 RAIN Page 9 the breadth of future opportunity. Not only the whole en- ,vironmental movement and a.t. efforts, but also basic economic and behavioral forces drawing us in this sort of direction. The localizing of travel is one. New business investment patterns are another, where profit margins are becoming less important as the unpredictability o'f high-profit, non-renewable energy supplies become worse. This is guiding business •to more frequently choose the dependable lower profit, ten-year pay-back of renewable energy development over the undependable high profit·two-year pay-back for non-renewable energy development. Again, the trend is toward considering breadth of future opportunity as a basic value. Who knows-one thing may lead to more things to lead to others. The taking hold of things to come is a learning pro.cess. While the exact shapes of things to come and the specific opportunities we'll find remain unknown, one thing is clear: we will have choices to make and will make them better for seeing all our relationships more clearly. As our communities begin to let go of their illusion of isolation from the environment, a.t. 's feeling of separateness and isolation from an unresponsive society will begin to let go as well. As our individual communities form and re-form and take hold of the challenge of building from what America has built for them and making it home, so will the rich way of a.t. discover new environments to take hold in. ■ A lot of our awareness of climate is influenced by a kind of mass hallucination based on broad summaries of climatic conditions that do not take into account local variations . of some current research on the unique qualities of urban climate, like the six-year-long METROMEX project, an exhaustiv~ study of the climate of St. Louis. The study uncovered such ·astounding effects as the fact that the east part of the city has higher summer precipitation, 10 percent more clouds, 30 percent more rain, 50 percent more heavy rainstorms and 100 percent more hail than nearby rural areas. The conclusions drawn in this article don't really speak to long-range solutions to urban-induced climate change, but take a more accommodating view that speaks to how to plan around known effects-like warning farmers to stay clear of the easter~_,<.;dge of the city unless they don't mind being struck by 100 percent more hailstorms! More complete information on the METROMEX study is available from Stanley A. Changnon, Jr., Department of Geography, University of Illin'ois, Urbana, Illinois. ■
Page 10 RAIN October 1979 How to find Good Work, E.F. Schumacher, preface by George McRobie, 218 pp., 1979, $9.95 hardcover, from: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 10 East 53rd St. New York, NY 10022 Good Work, E.F. Schumacher's last gift ofgood work to us all, contains as ever his talent for cutting through the clutter, translating into universally compelling terms the clear strength of the economies of human scale. But Good Work is especially personable because its narratives are adapted from the many speeches made by Schumacher during his last tour of the United States. In its pages, the man is speaking to us, and he surely has his finger on the truth. Here is that rare animal, a book so lucid and direct that it's best read aloud to a friendtrue-believer or doubting Thomas-to fully appreciate its insights and uplift. A pleasant surprise in Good Work is the addition of Peter Gillingham 's epilogue. It fs, he says, a testament to Schumacher's positive impact on a typical confused, hesitant and self-doubting human. Peter adds spark and helps to localize Schumacher's oft-repeated advice for finding and creating· good work: 1) Inform yourself 2) Support others who are already at work. 3) Initiate where you can and how you can. Excerpted below are some of his down-to-earth interpolations. - .S'A by Peter Gillingham Good Work ... get an atlas and some colored felt pens, and spend weekday evenings for three months marking up the atlas to connect real people with real places. The world will look entirely different to you. Whenever you learn about some interesting project, think of it as part of a specific mini-economy in terms of what is produced and used, where and how it is produced, and what: part it plays in which secto~ both of the mini-economy and of the specific local economy. Think too of the other corners and other "markets" in that mini-economy, whom it could buy from or sell to (or barter), where needs and opportunities may coincide, where you might go to work. Use your purchasing power selectively, both to inform yourself and to support good work in being. Think about how a given purchase or transaction serves to strengthen the metaeconomy or the exhausting economy, how it can be targeted to strengthen something or someone you want to support. Remember Gandhi's remark that if your village barber gives a bad haircut, instead of going to Madras for a haircut from a city barber it is better to patronize the village barber and persuade him to learn how to give a better haircut. All of these things take effort as they become conscious, deliberate economic acts; they also take on reality in your own mind and give meaning where none existed. Pay dues to the half-dozen groups closest to your place (where you are or where you might want to mo:ve) or to your specific interests as you start to identify them through daydreaming. Get yourself invited to one of their work weekends. Do anything that needs doing on the first day; it may be rough or boring, but you thereby pay your dues so you can spcn.d some time the next day poking around and asking questions. Find out what things they wish they could do next "if only." Think constantly in terms of mini-economics, local economies, and diversifying personal and family microeconomics (your own and others'). Identify where you might provide or help find the "if only" for them. Add more pages to your notebook, and mark up your atlas some more as'your own map of reality, conceptual and factual, starts to feed on itself and to grow and reach out. • Remember the three different groups of homecomersthose who remain within the macro-institutions, those who work on them from the outside, and those who go off into the meta-economy- and realize how much they need to work with each other (the second category often provides valuable skills for reducing constraints in any sector or "market" of a minicconomy: getting county commissioners to give a variance or change,a regulation, for instance). You will need to understand the strengths and capabilities and mind-set of each to help bring them together where you can. Don't be put off by the number of people whose professional expertise causes them to focus on a problem rather than on the potential resources to solve it or prevent it from arising in the first place; that is one of the problems with professionalization. And don't be put off by the extraordinary number of people with good motivation and underused vital energies . whose initial idea of the way to make a constructive contribution is criticism. Keep in mind the lethal summary of our whok situation that Hazel Henderson encountered in a bona fide serious question after one of her talks: "Where do you get federal funding for projects in self-reliance?" Our unconscious dependence on or at least in deference to large organizations, the legacy of the assumption that nothing effective happens except through their participation, is in our bloodstream. Self-immunization
takes prolonged and constant attention to unexamined assumptions, questioning, clearing away, letting the new anc_i stronger emerge. Combine your informing and supporting activities with others as you find them, pooling information and resources, ideas and energies and questions. You can contribute up to 10 percent of your income to existing nonprofit organizations (or new ones you form). You can invest more money and have it deductible by "losing" it in some kind of business enterprise that is pointed toward becoming a viable part of some corner or some sector of some mini-economy-so long as the endeavor makes basic economic sense and is making progress toward break-even. Good, imaginative, and principled lawyers and accountants love to help on projects like this, where the government subsidizes your work whether they like it or not. ... I would add another component to Schumacher's urgent dictum "Take back the value added," namely "Take back the imaging function." By imaging I mean that aspect of imagination which seeks a resulting action in the real world. As much as humanely possible, the crucial imaging function must be conducted by those who will actually make the entrepreneurial leap from thought to action, venturing their energies and resources and often their working livec;. Professionals and specialists typically think that it is a regrettable waste of everyone's time when people "have to reinvent the wheel." The essential fact to the contrary is that professionals, specialists, and experts (few of whom, we might note, also have responsibility for any real action or risk-taking) have eliminated the imaging function, when going through that imaging process is an essential precondition for the mobilization of thought and action and self-discipline required to carry through anything ofsubstance and complexity, most parti.cularly any real business or any other productive economic process. In the case of the urban professional or other knowledge person who is trying to find or create his or her own good work-or at least the part of it that comes from diversifying one's personal or family micro-economy- in a rural area or a smaller community, then that is where the imaging must be done. Going beyond the assemblage of experience and information to the formulation of actual what-if working hypotheses, which are tested until one of them gains enough weight and validity to be put into action-this all requires a focus on place, people and local economy and mini-economy in the actual environment where the work will take place. One of the best ways to stoke the imaging fires is by means of County Self-Studies. The idea is to look at the county as if it were an independent island republic. What do we produce .here? What do we consume or use? Where does it come from? What could we prodµce that we don't produce now? How could we meet more of our own needs? How can we diversify the local economy? The County Self-Studies are usually conducted by selfselected pick-up groups of local people who together want to generate a picture of their local reality and potentials based on meta-economic principles and geared to locating new enterprises. The area doesn't specifically need to be a county. There should be a large enough mass of land and people to provide a diversity of mutually reinforcing conjectures, yet it should be small enough so that people can meet together frequently and bear the expense out of their pockets. Sometimes a useful study can be made on the basis of a Congressional district. There is an enormous amount of information available from the federal government a~rcady "broken out" on a district basis; because of reapportionment each district has about half a million people and therefore what has been done in one district may have direct usefulness to people in October 1979 RAIN Page 11 another. Most important, perhaps, the project has a built-in interested audience of one, its member of Congress, for whom almost nothing generated from his or her own constituents is ever hand-tailored to his capacities to act. The past of the locality and its economy can provide enormous resources of experience and information and ideas. These are "tailings" that can be "mined" by the present generation for concrete and relevant possibilities for economic activities that, for instance, once went on in this area but went out of business in the 1930s because of competitive advantage as transport costs rise... These County Self-Studies are not antiquarian exercises. They aim at stockpiling past experience and present knowledge and imagination and conjecture in order to provide raw ma· terials for the imaging processes of those people who must actually make individual decisions to take one particular possi· bility and run with it. They must be kept open and compre· hensible to the ordinary public. They cannot be institutional· ized or put into the hands of paid professionals; even academics and professionals and other sources of knowledge who yearn to help must learn to be "on tap, not on top." Existing prototypes suggest that teenagers and retired people between them often provide the best staffing and direction for such studies at minimal financial cost and with minimal institutional structure. The idea is to look at the county as if it were an independent island republic. What do we produce here? What do we consume or use? Where does it come from? What could we produce that we don't produce now? How could we meet more of our own needs? Once the imaging of the potential "entrepreneurs"-based in part on the raw materials stockpiled by the self-studies-has led to concrete decisions and commitments, another type of locally generated and directed institution can come into play. George McRobie, Schumacher's closest longtime associate in Britain, has been taking the leadership there with John Davie in helping stimulate and encourage the formation of what they call Local Enterprise Trusts. Herc, by contrast with the self-studies, there is a slightly higher level of professionalization, though still the maximum resistance both to salaried staffs and elaborate institutional structures. People working through Local Enterprise Trusts generally have some concrete experience in small or large business, government, or a relevant profession such as law or accounting. Their role is to bring to bear capital and professional, technical and specialized help when the actual venturers need it and ask for it. Such a Local Enterprise Trust is often nonprofit but con· cerned with helping both conventional for-profit businesses and other patterns of enterprise (such as production coopera· tivcs or worker-owned or community-owned corporations) to succeed and flourish. It is frequently able to invest locally generated capital in such an enterprise, lend assistance suffi· cicnt to help make the enterprise a success, and then conclude its "grassroots investment banking" role by letting itself be bought out at an early Stage and returning the capital thus recouped to a revolving fund for the assistance of newer enterprises. The dynamic underlying the whole thing is the process of people taking back the imaging function. ■
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