SWJe:l AI!We:l ~u!daa}l uO!lez!Ja4leaM leluall SUO!leN pall U! sa:lJnosali
Page 2 RAIN February-March 1980 (~__M_ED~IA~---,) Community Media Handbook, 2nd Edition, by A.C. Lynn Zelmer, 1979, 430 pp., $15.00 from: Scarecrow Press, Inc. P.O. Box 656 Metuchen, NJ 08840 "The media is the message". . especially true when trying to work within the framework of a community where you want to involve the community as well as inform it. This handbook is written with the philosophy that all media, commercial TV and radio included, are adaptabk to a more appropriate, community scale. " Most librarians and media personnel arc trained according to a school of administration that puts expert opinion and the convenience of the institution ahead of the community or the customer." Hopefully , if the community being served actually operates the media center, this attitude will not develop." The book is, as stated, a handbook, and it covers a very broad field of topics related to information transfer and communicationfrom simple slIde show and lecture presentation to video and film technique. For anyone with a message to get out, this would be as good a place as any to start developing an effective plan of action-and who knows '-street theater or a good slide show may be more appropriate than an expensive and complicated TV broadcast. The point is that when it comes to communication we don't have to hire professionals to do it for us. (At $15.00, however, I would suggest recommending it to your local library as a good resourceireference book.) -Kiko Denzer Audio-Visual Guide 1979-80, 40 pp., $2.00 from: Mobilization for Survival 3601 Locust Walk Philadelphia, PA 19104 215/386-4875 This is a handy guide to audio-visual materials that should be usl'ful to conference * **........ ~access * organizers, community groups and teachers. SlIde programs, filmstrips and documentaries on a wide range of issues are lIsted by subject, with complete information on length, date, rental or sale fee, and distributor addresses. Categories include nuclear and alternative energy, labor and liberation struggles, multinationals and milItarism. -MR The Conserver Society: An Annotated Resource Guide, 80 pp., 1979, $3.00 from: Saskatoon Public Library 311 23rd Street East Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K OJ6 Canada A few years ago the Science Council of Canada, in an attempt to deal with the impending problems of limited resources and economic disparity facing Canadians, proposed the concept of the"conserver society." Though based primarily on energy conservation, the " conserver society" concept embraces all facets of life and advocates a complete reassessment of our present way of living. This annotated bibliography lists and describes books, films and periodicals concerned with energy conservation and renewable energy technology, all of which are available at the Saskatoon Public Library. Outside of Saskatchewan, however, the booklet's value is somewhat limited since, with the exception of a list of public and private organizations involved with conserver society projects, the only access provided to the materials described is their card catalog number in the Saskatoon Public Library! Still, it's a good example of a wide-ranging bibliography with lot5 of good listings. Perhaps more significant is the fact that it is being distributed in conjunction with the opening of the Saskatoon Energy Conservation Information Center- an inspiration for folks starting energy info centers in their own communitiesl-MR "Starting and Running an Energy Infonnation Center," 24 pp., Oct. 1979, from: Oregon Department of Energy 102 Labor & Industries Building Salem, Oregon 97310 503/378-8327 Toll free: 1-800/452-7813 This is a usefuJ publication for anyone thinking of starting up an energy information center, describing what it's lIke and how to go about it in great detail. It was written for ODOE by the Mid-Willamette Valley Energy Information Center, and includes an appendix on their own experience as well as reference materials on specific energy technologies, how to plan a workshop (on solar greenhouses or solar water heaters) , and fundraising. -MR . RAIN Journal of Appropriate Technology RAIN is a national information access journal making connections for people seek.ing more simple and satisfying lifestyles, working to make their communities and regions economically self-reliant, building a society that is durable, just and ecologically sound. RAIN STAFF: Carlotta Collette, Mark Roseland, Pauline Deppen, Jill Stapleton , Dawn Brcnholtz, John Ferrell RAIN , Journal of Appropriate Technology, is published 10 times yearly by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a non-profit corporation located at 2270 N. W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503 /227-5110 . Copyright © 1'J80 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Typesettillg: Irish Setter Printillg : Times Litho
THE PAST s:: .. ~ E c "" ~ !: i:i. Ll 1 'C A Capitalist Romance: Singer and the Sewing Machine, Ruth Brandon, 1977, $10.95 from: J.B. Lippincott Company E. Washington Square Philadelphia, PA 19105 Isaac Merritt Singer could hardly be called a conscious advocate of the women's suffrage movement. During the Civil War, the nation was shocked to discover that he was maintaining a number of " wives" simultaneously, and he no doubt would have been equally shocked had he discovered that any of these ladies was a follower of Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Yet, ironically, Singer and his fellow sewing machine manufacturers may have had as much to do with improving the status of women in nineteenth century America as the suffragettes did. The challenge facing Singer and his competitors was a formidable one: to convince millions of women (and their husbands) to purchase a piece of machinery which was not only expensive, but which actually threatened to provide the ladies with a small measure of leisure time. That the devil frequently found work for idle hands was well known , but for the men of America, an even more sobering prospect loomed: a cartoon of the time showed a sewing machine salesman exclaiming how the machine was so efficient that "there's nothing left for the ladies to do now but to Improve their Intellects!" Indeed, the manufacturers, whatever their personal beliefs on the subject, found it in their best interests to encourage women to look upon themselves as capable and self-reliant. Women were employed to demonstrate and teach the operation of the Singer machines, and Singer advertising pointed out both the benefits of added leisure time for childrearing and the opportunities for independent income which could be realized from taking in sewing. If the initial cost of the machine was a problem, the Singer Company was ready with yet another revolutionary idea : easy monthly installment payments! Unfortunately, this fascinating glimpse at the sewing machine's impact on women's lives and attitudes is overshadowed by author Ruth Brandon's greater concern with the technical development of the machine and with the R-rated details of I.M. Singer'S private life. The book provides enjoyable reading throughout. but it is hoped that Brandon or some other writer will soon give the " women and technology" angle of her story the kind of detailed attention which it deserves. - JF ~, ....~ •• ;;.;e' .... ~~.) . '.'j;,• '.:-.1<,)1 ••( .' . .~< .•.r.r .~.•... .. . '.. •.J .' '~ ::..' ~I;".~ c' .. ___"',' ~. • • .....,.~ " •• ~ ~~'~: - ....- '~~ ._ --:. 0',') i·" . ~ , ~ .,.. :' I, ~ .. " ~ ~:'j ~ . ..l( ' ... o o ..c... r::.. \ ~ -/J .~ ... J7.i'~' / !: '" ',. J ~ r:: .. -, J), .t I r:: ~ o U ...,...~. ",,' I."... ", ... r:: ·~.: ., .~:.... , Z· :"', I .. . ,-. 4W.. .. r:: .. "'11: I.J f! ... I ~,' ',.""9 _,. .-:,... ... -- . .;~..... .~ .. . .(,~, "" , l ~ 1 o ..... , .' .. -~ February-March 19RO RAIN Page3 c- - BUILDING 1 A Design and Construction Handbook for Energy-Saving Houses, Alex Wade, 1980, $12.95 from: Rodale Press Organic Park Emmaus, PA 18049 When Alex Wade wrote30 Energy·Efficiell t Houses , . . YOId Can Bldld in 1978 it seemed as though he'd written the definitive solar house book-with one reservation : not all of the 30 houses had been built and/or tested. All of the houses in his new book are under wnstruction and/or compll·ted. The methods he desHibes have been tned-and they work. This book proVides the kind of nitty-gritty information needed to bUild your own house. His resource lists steer you in the direction of high quality and efficient materials, tools, deSIgners, contractors and even appliances. To top it oH, it includes a set of working drawings for a basic saltbox house with greenhouse, and the detailed materials lists and spl'Cifications to facilitate construction I But the book is not oriented towards construction of "Alex Wade" homes as much as it is focused on a design and construction attitude and style. " As an initial step in planning an energy-effiCient home, you should examine your entire lifestyle for areas in whith you waste energy," Bravo I This book ranks (with the Mazda Passive So lar Ellrrgy Book and Bruce Anderson's The Solar Home Book) among the bcs! in the field, and is a perfcct follow-up to his 30 Enf'Tgy-Efficiellt Houses, The weU stocked bookshelf should include both books, -CC
Page 4 RAJ N February-March 1980 ELDERLY& One of the basic goals in the appropriate technology movement is a more democratically energized society. Energy for all, we proclaim, regardless of ability to pay , but we have a long way to go before we attain that goal. Among those hit hardest by this year's energy crisis will be the elderly, as most of them are on fixed incomes and cannot keep up. Pathetic tales have been told of elderly persons who have their electricity or gas turned off by a utility due to inability to pay for the ever-increasing fuel bill. Fourteen percent of an elderly person's total cost of living goes towards energy payments, and for the elderly poor it is 30% (as compared to the average American family, which spends about 4%). This economic impact affects the elderly person's total standard of living. The increasing price of energy (which cannot be offset by a salary increase since most elderly citizens have retired) forces them to cut back on the necessities (not luxuries) of life. Problems such as eviction, foreclosure, inability to pay for mortgages and the great danger of utility shutoff faces the elderly renter or homeowner. Although there is much truth in the saying "a cooler room is better for the circulatory system," the elderly do not find this exhilaration in the briskness of their bedroom or parlor. More common among the elderly is hypothermia-a condition in which the person's body temperature drops to a subnormal level (often without the person's awareness). Hypothermia and other medical complications resulting from a thermostat set below a comfortable level, endangers the health and survival of many elderly citizens. This winter, as in past winters, people will die because of this problem. ENERGI1 Elderly persons also face a dramatic change in their social/recreational realm as energy prices escalate. Seniors eat less as weekly grocery trips are cut back-a result of prohibitively expensive gasoline and insufficient mass transit. Recreational and social activities at community points are painfully overlooked also, due to that inflated gallon, leading to the isolation of the elderly in their not so wann and cozy dwelling places . So what is being done to help alleviate this condition? Some energy related programs at the local, state and federal levels do exist for the elderly of our nation in the form of tax credits, exemptions, rebates and food stamps. Unfortunately, the forms to apply for these assistance programs are usually so bureaucratically complicated that many people are unable to comprehend them and therefore refrain from applying. Clearly, not enough is being done and not enough attention being given to the seniors of our country in this crunch . Why is it that modern medicine searches feverishly for the "Methuselah enzyme" when the oldest of our society are disc~rde~ andtreated with such disrespect? Once again, the energy situation gIVes us the opportunity to examine our values concerning the importance and dignity of all life. -Debra Whitelaw
1 For more info, and to find out what exists in your area with the elderly and energy, contact : Citizen Labor Energy Coalition International Union of Machinists 1300 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Washington, DC 20036 202 /857-5200 Massachusetts Fair Share 304 Boylston Street Boston, MA02116 617/ 266-7505 New York Statewide Senior Action Council, Inc. 349 Broadway, Rm . 217 New York, NY 10013 212 /925-0762 itizen's Action League 814 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103 415/543-4101 Last October The Energy Consumer carried excerpts from the testimony of Ruth Toothaker, age 65, from Maine, where she lives alone. Ruth testified before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, adding a special perspective on the conditions Debra speaks of above. " . . . Old people in this country are proud. They don't like to tell their personal business-most of us have gotten by all these years by going without to make ends meet and don't want to change now . .. . The thought of asking to get help . . . makes my stomach feel sick. I'm just not used to asking for a handout and I don't want to start now, although with the price of oil it looks like this winter I might have to eat my pride." The Office of Consumer Affairs at DOE is still our best advocate on the inside. Tina Hobson, its director, has been in many of our communities personally listening to complaints and responding to them with as much positive action as their budget allows. The Energy Consumer is the conduit for feedback and the best source of information regarding federal energy programs available, and it's FREE! Write to be put on their mailing list. -CC The Energy Consumer, free from: Department of Energy Office of Consumer Affairs Washington, DC 20585 ( SOLAR ) Solar Education Directories (by states), 1979, free from: National Solar Heating &: Cooling Information Hotline 1-800 1523-2929 800/462-4983 in PA 800/523-4700 in Hawaii &: Alaska SERI writes us that the National Solar Education Dirl?Ctory is going into its second printing with no copies left of its fi rst. They did, however, send us the Solar Edllcation Directories for Idaho-Montans-Wyoming and Oregon-Washington. The directories include information on colleges, universities, junior colleges and vocationaltechnical colleges in each region wh ich offer courses andior programs relating to energy. They seem to be fairly inclusive and are a good place to start looking for solar training from that sector.-CC ( WIND) Wind Power: Recent Developments, edited by D.J. De Renzo, 1979, $36.00 from: Noyes Data Corporation Mill Road at Grand Avenue Park Ridge, NJ 07656 The Noyes Data Energy Technology Review Series taken as a whole have a few drawbacks, not the least of which are theIr prices. Beyond the price constraint, there are two other tendencies thl'y have that you should be aware of before running OUt and buying them. These books make certain assumptions about the technical background of their readers. That is to say, they're not for beginners. By the same token, even engineers and others with extensive background might prefer books which start more generally and work their way to more specific information. These books are, for the most part, nonjudgemental reviews of the latest material passing through the U.S. patent offices. Keep that in mind-they' re good references for that kind of information. The Wind Power book covers much of the technical research going on at Lockheed and Boeing having to do with structural stress factors, and work being done for these two corporations at MIT and Georgia Tech. It's from that perspective that the economics of wind are explored, but there's also a chapter on rural self-sufficiency and the economics of that scale. Probably the best info in the book covers the wind characteristics for different regions and the two chapters on rotor design and blade specs for into the wind and vertical blade systems. -Gail Katz Gail Katz has a background in carpentry and is an engineer with n double degree in electrical arId mrchnnrcal eng i llee rr n~ . F{'bruary-March 1980 ~AIN Page 5 r v. ... ~ <: -'" '"' E .g ( COIVVV1U\JrfY ) Communities Here are two gUIdes for residents beginning to equip their arsenal against threatening neighborhood developments. Deanna Nord Rebel Residents: How They Fight Developers, by Carolyn R. Logan, 76 pp., $4.95 plus $.59 postage from: Western Search Inc. P.O. Box 334 Seahurst, WA 98062 This book vividly illustrates tht' important fact that anger and self-righteousness are no match for the money and expertise of an unwanted developer. Outlinmg political subtleties and describing various strategies, this guide portrays thl' effectiveness of thoroughly examining an issue. You should know who you're fighting as well as who and what can help you. WhJ1l' focus109 on the firslhand t'xperil'nce of Kings County, Washington, organization, this knowledgl' can certainly be applied to the problem in any area . -ON Insurance Redlining: A Guide for Action, 14 pp., free from: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, DC 20410 Imagine a red line drawn around your neighborhood, banks and insurance companies who never cross that line. That's redlining. Insurance rl'Cl.lining is a crucial issue for our cities. This is particularly true for "older neighborhoods which contain a diverSIty of people and property" and arl'as that are integrated and transitional. Thl'sl' neighborhoods are labl'k'd " high risk ." However, many consumers an.' not versed in the types of insurance coverage available, the relative costs, insurance terms, and rate systl'ms- all of which this short handbook explains. The book also outlines the basic strategies of investigation and confrontation of insurance rl'dlining and pomts out that "there have been indications that lenders' decisions to redline a neighborhood are sometimes based on signals they receive from the insuranCl' industry." A useful handbook for any group fighting this industry bias against our urban neighborhoods. - ON
Page6 RAI February-March 1980 AConnrsation wnh Winona laDuke Last July some 2000 of us participated in the National Gathering of the People, in an attempt to help protect the Black Hills of South Dakota from coal and uranium strip-mining. The Black Hills, site o{ one of the oldest geological formations in the U.S., is also a sarred place fo r many Native Americans. One of the speakers at the Gathering, Winona LaDuke, is a founder of Womrn of All Red Nations (WARN) . When Winona was in Portland in December we arranged the following discllssion at Rainhouse. -MR RAIN: Maybe you could start by telling us a little about the history of WARN (Women of All Red Nations), how and why it got started. WLD: OK. Traditionally the men and women in our nations each had roles. Women are considered to be the backbones of Indian nations because the responsibility for future generations belongs to the women. Now, through history we've had a problem called "colonization" where everything got really messed up over time. And it got to the point where in the past four or five generations the women have become really colonized and are trying to fall into roles that aren't traditional. Also, there's a really high rate now on the reservations of alcoholism, of poverty, of Indian men getting put in prison. So the American Indian Movement (AIM), which was founded in 1968, realized that there was a direct need to have a core group of women that were working with AIM as part of AIM. That's what the Women of All Red Nations is, but in a way so as to bring back the traditional role of women in the Indian nations and in the leadership and guidance of AIM, and to combat this colonization. WARN was founded last year (1978), in September, in Rapid ity, S.D., by about 200 women. Since that time we've grown a lot and have a few thousand people in both South and North America that are involved in WARN now . RAIN: I just want to clarify one thing you said. You said that the goal of WARN is to restore the traditional position of Indian women in Indian culture? WLD: Well, that's part of it. One of the major things that's happened to us is the way the family structure and the relationships in the family have been broken down. So that's where we start out as WARN, right there with the families, and fighting what happens to women especially, like the sterilization of Indian women. One out of every four Native American women has been sterilized. That's not traditional, but we aren't talking about just traditional things, we're talkmg about our survival as a people as a whole. In addition to this, and aside from fighting against the exploitation of uranium which affects women first (the radiation), we are forced to understand the link between repression of the people and theft of the resources. The government targets the men, like Leonard Peltier, and puts them into prison. They create distractions while stealing our resources. Leonard Peltier is a prisoner of the national energy policy. So that's what the women are fighting. And to insure that the women are getting stronger and stronger inside AIM, inside our liberation struggle, that's what WARN is about. RAIN: I'm wondering what kind of response you get from nonIndian feminists in this country. It seems to me that some of them might greet you with open arms while others might be very resistant to a movement that's trying to restore values of the family . . . WLD: That's exactly true. An important distinction between us and many people in the women's 11)0vement is that we view ourselves as an integral part, almost a representation, of the earth. The earth is our mother-a woman. As women are exploited, so is our mother. And we must fight both battles simultaneously. So we get into disagreements about those kinds of things and . what the role of women inside a movement is. And we don't separate ourselves from our men because we can't afford to . RAIN: Has WARN had much contact with the women's health movement? WLD: One of our major concerns now is radiation. This is a really big problem for Indians, a really big problem. On Pine Ridge reservation in September of this year five women were buried and they all had either breast or uterine cancer. Our belief is that if we're not sterilized by the Indian Health Service we're sterilized by the radiation. RAIN: Can you give a little background on the uranium mining? Are you talking about right on the reservation or on federal land lying next to the reservation? WLD: Well, historically speaking, it seems like they always found uranium on the reservation. RAIN: Well, did the federal government have mineral rights written into the treaty? Or did they make an agreement with the tribal structure?
February-March 1980 RAIN Page 7 photos by Carlotta Collelle "The Navajo nation has exercised its right by deciding to literally give away all its water to the energy companies!" WLD: By the trl'aties we had the right to have our own government, like we always had. But in 1934 they established governments on the reservation under the Indian Reorganization Act. They were subject to the approval of the Department of Interior, and those are the guys that sign the mineral leases for Indian reservations. Well, at that time they didn't have the technology to l' Xploit uranium-they didn't know what it was '-but they were into gold and oil and natural gas and things like that. And the found those on the reservation so they got the tribal councils lI) sign the leases for that, 'cause the people were poor, and they thought it would be a good idea at that time. There was a lot of that kind of development. You could see that in Oklahoma, specifically, where the Indian land base is totally eroded because of thl' Oklahoma oil rush. That's where the oil companil's started. Well, in the atomic age the first place they found the uranium was Great Bear Lake in Canada, which is the land of the Dene nation-that means "people" in their language-then the U.S. dl' cided it would "go domestic" for uranium, atoms for peace, etc. They came down here, and the Atomic Energy Commission contracted out about 25 some projects, uranium mining, at that time. There were some like at Edgl'mont, S.D. , whIch are the legal lands of thl' Lakota, or Sioux nation, and some in southern Oregon and near Spokane. Colorado had a lot of them-there's a lot of Union Carbide operations there. Then of course there's the Southwest. So they started all these mining operations thl'n, and I would say about half of them were on the reservations. Now, what happl'nl'd is that a lot of them closed down and a lot of them expanded. So, we found out that in the Southwest is wheH' the biggest expansion was, in what's called the Grants Mineral Belt. The Southwest, in the area where those four states cross, the Four Corners aH'a, 350,000 Indian people live there. It's the biggest concentration of Indian people in the Northern Hemisphere. That's where they found all the resources. Somehow, when it started out they were mining just on the resl'rvation, the Navajo (Dine) reservation, and at Laguna Pueblo just due cast of Navajo. There Anaconda openl'd up a " small" uranium strip-mine opl'ration in '51 and now they've got the largest uranium strip min.. In the world. (In the free world, actually. Its only competition is in Namibia.)Though thert"s uranium in other places, they chost' to operate it on the reservations. For t'xample, in 74,100% of all fcd
"In '74, 1000/0 of all federally controlled uranium production came from Indian reseroations." ru ll y ntr lied uranium production came from Indian reservations. Since then they've gone kind of crazy in Wyoming, one could say. There's a lot of mining there in Wyoming, but still. for th most pan, we predict that about 80% of federal uranium production comes from Indian lands now. And since the U.S. is the majur pruduc r of uranium, what it looks like on a world scale is that Indians are the No.4 producers of uranium in the world (that's combined U.S. and Canadian Indians). RAIN: What do they get out of it, financially? WLO: As of 75, Indians were being paid $.60/Ib . for uranium whICh was going for $30 /Ib. on the market. That's because the federal government's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) negotiates these thmgs. Now the pri e has gone up and Indians are getting still, I think, $.601Ib. for uranium, 'cause most of the contracts haven't been rene otiated- the BIA has the right to authorize renegotiation or not. In the outhwest we have a situation where there's the most corruption of any Indian res rvation, on the Navajo reservation. n the Hopi reservation also. Peter MacDonald is called the shah of Navajo . Between him and the Hopi Tribal Chairman (Maraccess = "MFS 1980 Timeline," free from local groups or Mobilization for Survival 3601 Locust Walk Philadelphia, PA 19104 21 5/386-4875 The MFS Thi rd National onference last Denmber in Louisvil le, KY (" Survival in the 'SOs-Building a Unified Movement" )' produced an ambitious timeline of actions and outrc(}ch for the coming year. with these major fo i: April 25-28: OALITION FOR A Na NN e l E R WORLD-Activities in Washington , 0 , with parallel actions in PhoeniX, AZ. Lobby Day, Teach-in, March & Rally, ReligiOUS Service, and Nonviolent ivil Disobcdience at the Dept. of Energy. tin Sekaquaptewa) they sold out the whole reservation. I know that they're energy resource rich, but we can see that they're victims of the system as well. RAIN: Well, some of the more northern tribes are being very wary about coal rights, aren't they? WLO: Right, like Northern Cheyenne. If Indian tribes in the western U.S., not including the west coast area, exercise jurisdiction to their water rights, for example, there wouldn't be any water in those states, 'cause legally all the water belongs to Indian tribes. Now that's not a bad thing to say, and it's not like Indians are gonna steal it all, but under the foremost doctrine of water rights, the "Winters Doctrine," Indians have the rights to that. Now in the Southwest in particular, the Navajo nation has exercised its right by deciding to give away its water, literally give away all its water, to people like New Mexico Public Utilities, Kenecott Copper, KerrMcGee, Exxon; that's where all the water in the Southwest is going to, to the energy companies! If Indian tribes wanted to exercise jurisdiction, they have the legal rights to exercise that jurisdiction, under international law and under national law. RAIN: What you're saying, then, is that if the Indians wanted to they could stop the whole synfuels program, right, 'cause that takes tremendous amounts of water. WLO: If the Indian Tribal Councils could be pushed into looking reasonably at the situation they could stop a lot of energy development, just because of the water rights. But because people like Peter MacDonald are in there, there are now in the area of the Navajo reservation 36 operating uranium mines, 6 operating uranium mills, 4 coal strip mines averaging between 22 and 40,000 acres, and 5 coal-fired power plants. And on-line are up to 6 coal gasification plants. .. . They could stop that if they wanted to. RAIN: And Peter MacDonald gets written up in all the major national magazines as the great Horatio Alger story of the Indians! WLO: That's right. He just got appointed to the National Petroleum Council. He's like ... he's the biggest man in the Indian country. But the only way he's got his power is because he leases out his land, and there's a lot of local opposition to him because, if you're living in the area that Peabody Coal wants to strip mine, and you have to move, then you get really angry. It's like the older women-that's where you see this stuff about WARN-y'know, the older women are the ones that are leading the struggle down there in the Southwest. The women are the traditional leaders at Navajo. In September of this year Katherine Smith, a 65-year-old Navajo woman, was arrested for shooting over the head of a fencing crew. The fencing crew wanted to force her to relocate off her land. That's what provides the gUidance for the younger people in a lot of ing MacDonald. ===================================p=la=c=e=s,=i=t'=s=t=he:s=e:o:ld:e:r:w:o:m==e=n===th:o:s:e:a:re==th:e:p:e:o:P:le:t:h:a:t:ar:e:r:e:s'ls:==tApril 26-Fall: NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT SUMMER - Grass-roots campaign to highlight disarmament during the election period. July 18-26: BLACK HILLS SURVIVAL GkTHERING, South Dakota (see box). - MR The Trilateral Connection (poster), 1979, $3.50 from: Black Hills Alliance P.O. Box 2508 Rapid City, SO 57701 Winona LaDuke calls them "the supreme Wasichu ." The Black Hills Alliance considers them its Number One enemy. Just what is the Trilateral Commission? Lynne Lahr and others in the Black Hills Alliance spent hours poring through Moody's Corporate Index , Standard & Poor'5 Register , Who's Who and a number of other sources to find out. What they came up with is an indispensable resource illustrating the links between U.S. Trilateral Commission members, the federal government, and multinational corporations, foundations, banks, industrials, transportation and energy companies. The Trilateral Commission formed in 1973 and meets on the average of every nine months ;n one of th e Trilateral Commission countries , which represent North America, Western Europe and Japan-the industrial nathms. David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzesinski were tile commission's founders. The stated purpose of the organ; zation is "world I'co'lOrnic order." - MR
February-March 1980 RAIN Page 9 The thing about Navajo is, you look at every other reservation and th~ land base has been eroded. They always steal land from Indians. But Navajo's the only reservation where they ever gave it back-consistently' Like, every ten years they'd give back more land, and that's why it's the biggest reservation. That's because they put in such effective puppet government. It was established by Standard Oil in 1922. That's how they got the Tribal Council started. So they didn't even have to take it away! They could just give 'em more, they did such a good job! So that's a lot of what has to be fought . RAIN: Do you feel the relationship of WARN and other Native American groups with anti-nuke groups is really solid? Or is it more like ''I'll do you a favor if you do me one?" WLO: I think that there's a lot of potential there, but I think it's going to require that both parts do some learning. I think we understand a lot about America and the way American people are, 'cause we spend a lot of time looking at it! But Americans have never been forced to look at themselves-they're always moving, they never have to look back. What we see with the American no-nukes is . . . Americans are always responding to a crisis situation, like the Vietnam War, and now we get to no-nukes. All of a sudden they decided that nudear power and weapons are a bad idea, and it's not like coal and nudear power weren't going on before, but everybody just got scared about it. So they start looking around for allies and all of a sudden they figure out-Io and behold !-Indians got the uranium, let's start talking to them! So they talk to us, and it's starting to grow, but still, what I feel like when I go to a no-nukes demonstration is I get treated like a minority-it's like they're doing me a favor to let me talk! Am I supposed to offer a " minority viewpoint" on behalf of all the brown and black people who aren't there? We understand that there's been a war going on for 400 years. Although there are few of us and we are oppressed, our power comes from a balance between our spiritual center and its manifestation in the way we fight the war. We have to be respected from that basis, respected from understanding our spirituality, the things that are part of our nations, that make us distinct. Also, in evaluating their still token acceptance of us inside the anti-nuclear movement they have to look at the whole way that they treat other people in the movement, like blacks, or Chicanos, and women! Have you ever heard of this word Wasichu? No? I'll tell you this little story. The first time a Lakota person, a Sioux, ever saw a white guy it was a starving pioneer who looked like a ghost. He was running across the prairie and he snuck into their camp in the middle of the night to steal some food'cause he was hungry. This makes sense, right? So he snuck in there and what he stole was, he didn't steal any meat, he stole the fat! Well this Lakota was rather alarmed ! He couldn't understand this! So the word Wasichu, it means "he who eats the fat." Now since that time it's been adapted, and it doesn't refer to a color. It refers to a state of mind . And that's who we have historically identified as the enemy, is the Wasicllll . Peter MacDonald, like some others, has been made into an honorary Wasichu . It's the same thing. And those are the crazies that run things, those guys. These people like no-nukes or environmentalists, a lot of times they look at a symptom . A nudear power plant is a symptom, is what it is. Weapons bases and all those things are symptoms .. . y'know, none of that stuff is gonna hurt you unless it's got uranium, and that's where it's got to be stopped. That's what feeds multinational corporations, is resources. And that's why, when you're talking about New Mexico, it's the No. 1 uranium-producing state in the country-and the Navajos are the ones that produce it. You' re talking about coal, you're talking about copper, silver, all this stuff that feeds those companies comes (rom those places, and that's what has to be stopped if you want to stop this monster. You gotta stop what's feedin' it. They can invest millions of dollars in a nuclear power plant, but if they can't feed it, it's just a museum piece. "Wasichu (wo See schu), it means 'he who eats the fat.' It refers to a state of mind." Black Hills Survival Gathering, July 18-26,1980. Contact: ranchers, professionals, union people, ordinary citizens, etc. Black Hills Alliance The Third part will be on alternatives, realistic pl'opll'-controlled P.O. Box 2508 alternatives, especially ones that we could apply in South Dakota, Rapid City, SO 57701 rural areas, rural and urban areas. We're bringing in people who have the skills to put those things together and who know how to WLO: There's three things that ilre going to come out of it that'll be put up pilot projects. We're inviting a lot of people, we l'xpect a lot really important, and I think important for everyone, not just Inof people to be there. The whole gathering should bl' self-sufficient, dians or people with the Black Hills Alliance. The first thing is a like the one last year. We want to have it that way, haw peopll' forum on genocidal policies against land-based peoples, which inwho know how to build underground houses, etc. , (orne out there cludes Indians, farmers, ranchers-anyone who tries to survive on to that. thl· land. It's gonna be construction of windmills and stuff like that , to The second forum is a tribunal on multinational energy-developshow people how it can be done , and how easily it can be done, and ing corporations. We'll be gathering testimony on environmental impacts, sharing experiences in dealing with them, and trying to that's really important. Y'know, if you ride around in South Dakota, there's windmills just sitting there, not being used ' It's really find out who specifically (which person in which company) is makimportant to get people understanding why those things arc so ing the decisions affecting the hills. This information will be pregreat to use. sented to a jury of the people, with people from all walks of Iife
Page 10 RAIN February-March 1980 letters DearRAIN, There are a couple of points that were raised in the last issue to which I would like to respond. Your comments in " Raindrops" about the importance of thinking hard about what kind of movement appropriate technology should bl'<'Ome reminded me of a David Morris article that has bothered me ever since I read it in a recent Solar Age. David argued that we ought to get serious about energy conservation by beginning to legislate "t'nergy quotas." He argued that energ waste ought to be recognrzed as anti-social behavior and treated as such. An attractive idea in a way- but, gosh, does it ever fly in the fal:e of the nolion uf decentraliling n..rgy decisions. It seems to me that the solution that David is propusing does not grow from the philosophi al underpinnings of what I take the movement to be. But, is there really anythmg approximating a commonly held philusophical pOSirion that binds people involved an appropriate or community technologies together? If not, we're not as strong as we'd like to think. RAIN has always been the journal where these matters of philosophy are discussed. I hope we see even more of this discussion . Your review of The Sun Betrayed was a dandy , and relates to the problem of philosophy, strength, and direction. And it was able to tell me why I always end up depressed and disoriented after reading through an issue of Solar Engineering. I won't do it any more. On to other things. Tom Bender, in his review of Why Trade It In? , contributes to the notion that the automobile repair business is fundamentally a " scam. " As someone who has spent a lot of time working as a mechanic, I'd like to take issue with his contention that flat rate manuals are set up as a way of putting something over on people. When used properly, flat rate times provide a reasonably good guess as to what 11 job will take. It is also true that many garages, particularly dealerships, use the books unfairly, charging, for example, for the time to replace a differential grease seal and charging for the time listed to replace a pinion bearing, which operation already includes replacing the seal. But that is a function of the nature ~f dealerships, where the shop foreman answers to the owner, and the mechanics "just work there." Go to a little, one- or two-man shop, where the mechanic is the foreman is the owner is the guy who deals with you . And don't give him hell just because he uses a flat-rate book. Chances are that he'll be charging you enough to meet expenses and take a little bit home, not by any means getting rich, and if he arrives at that amount by using time estimates from a manual, so be it. If you are driving an old car that you are keeping alive, despite the fact that every bolt is rusted solid, getting away with paying the flat rate will often be to your advantage. Then Tom and Lane teamed up to write an interesting article on population. Which contains a sentence that bothers me: " Centeredness can be found in meditation as well as in huge tracts of preserved wilderness." The implication is that one can view the importance of preserving wilderness in the face of pressures created by increased population in terms of how necessary wilderness is to man, and to his psychological well-being. Boy , is that anthropocentric' The notion has its roots way back in the book of Genesis, where God gave man dominion over the earth. Do Tom and Lane really mean to say that? I'm more inclined to think of wilderness not as something that was put here for my use, but as something also used by Grizzlies, Canada Jays, Trout, and lots of others I like almost as much as I like kids. Finally, where has Tom been buying his Ivory soap and having to pay $3 a pound? The other day I bought three 4112 -ounce bars of Ivory for $.79, which comes out to $.94 per pound. Or has Proctor and Gamble taken me in too? Good news from Oklahoma. Our Department of Energy has hired someone to look after the solar programs who has had experience with hands-on workshops and who has, in the past, shown a commitment to low-tech, decentralized applications. His name is Ron Marlett. A nice change from their past tendency to hire ex-executives from large corporations and ex-military people. Any magazine that can provoke so much comment on a single issue is doing its job. Keep up the good work. Bill Zoellick Sunspace, Inc. P.O . Box 1792 Ada, OK 74820 "Is Population a Problem?" (January RAIN) by Tom Bender and Lane deMolI, elicited more response than any single article we've published in recent months. We'll be printing some of those and a reply from T(lm and Lane in tire April isslle.
February-March 1980 RAIN Page 11 Folks, When I read in your November issue that you'd netted only $822 in donations over a year's time I asked myself, " Is that all7" Since then I've been trying to come up with something. When I read 10 minutes ago that you needed a typewriter ... well, here it is. I buught it six months ago for reasons I won't go into, but in any event haven' t been able to justify owning it. Especially now that I know of a good use to which it can be put. Keep up the good work. Regards, Bruce Campbell Seattle, WA New typewriters do not in th e mail everyday come-we're still a little overwhelmed. We've been using it steadily since it first waltzed in the door with our mailman. It's hard to believe we got along with our one old one up until now' A million thanks from all of us! -RAIN Dear Rain Staff, I was pleased to learn that you had decided that the best way to introduce Mark Roseland to your readers was to sneak him by. While he was here in the College of Science in Society we genera Il y tried to keep him hidden, too, so as not to give the wrung impression about our program. As for his being a " new face from the east," I wish to assure you that not all faces in the east are like his . But then perhaps you were merely suggesting that he needed one. My sympathies, Jeffrey J. W Baker Wesleyan UniversityiCSiS Middletown , CT A HarderLook Dear RAIN , I think Lloyd Kahn's comments are very typical of the comments made by people who have not seen well-deSigned earthsheltered houses in terms of the desirability as places to live. As for the psychological effects, most earth-sheltered houses have at least as much window area as normal houses although this may be grouped on one window wall (as in any passive solar house or typical apartment or cundominium). Only the blank areas are covered with earth . His points on do-it-yourself earth-sheltered houses are well taken. This can be a dangerous area for the non-professional sincr earth loads are heavy and waterproofing must be given careful attention. Nevertheless, it is possible to build earth-sheltered houses which are dry, quil:'t, comfurtable, blend in with the environment, have very low energy consumptions (1.0-1.5 BTU/sq. ft. /Heating Degree Day for well-deSigned houses) and have a high thermal mass which works well with interruptible sources of energy such as passive and active solar. This energy performance is natural and will continue for the life of the structure. Such structures have very low maintenance requirements and are relatively immune from normal natural hazards such as tornadoes, hail damage, etc. This results in reduced insurance costs often being available. Our center presently has temperature monitoring equipment in an empty earthsheltered house in Minnesota . This house has only a refrigerator turned on in a 2400square-foot house. After the house had been empty for over a week in sub-zero temperatures the house ranged in temperature from 50° to 56°F at approximately midday . The previous three days had also been cloudy. I believe this kind of performance without any supplied heat in the northern climate changes the question of the availability of heating fuel from a question of survival to a question of comfort. Earth sheltered housing is not without its problems, but to dismiss it in the fashion of Lloyd Kahn's comments does not do the concept (nor his perceptions) Justice. Ray Sterling Director, The Underbround Space Center 11 Mines & Metallurgy 221 Church St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 This letter is in response to Lloyd Kahn's artide " A Hard Look at How-To." Some years ago I visited the domes he helped build , that launched his Domebook windfall , and it was evident that he should have taken a harder look at how-to. It was a rather bizarre experience to be sitting in our home (which is a 24' diameter 3/4 geodesic dome) reading about how domes were found to be unacceptable. We have experienced winds in excess of 110 mph without a budge, winters with more than 100 inches of rain and snow without a leak. We've stayed warm on the coldest nights and relatively cool when summer days were above 110°. But this is what you'd expect of a well-designed, well-built home, whatever its type. The dome skin went together quickly and allowed us to get in and finish it when we had the time and materials. It was a difficult structure to shingle, flash , fenestrate and finish , but that's not surprising since it's ruund. It forms a beautiful, secure, warm and enlightening space that is certainly worth all the hard work that went into it. We have a small orchard, vineyard and garden which supply most all of our lll'eds, year-round , and our strawberry patch (rl' member the strawbrrries) produced as much as 40 qts. at a good picking. This food is raised organically on remote, hilly land, fertilized with manure frOIll our poultry and livestock . We have two milk cows, some sheep and beef cattle and raise meat for ourselves, some relativ('s, and sell the rest to pay fur land taxes, feed, etc. By growing a broad variety of fruits , vegetables, meat, milk and eggs, there is always a good crop uf some things and often a poor crop of others. This year, for example, no pears or peaches, but loads of grapes, apples , plums, almonds and berries. Water is tight, so we learned frum Israel ways of stretching it using drip irrigation techniques ; we developed our own springs to supply it powered only by gravity . In the summer when the grasshopper plague was devouring our plants and trees, we achieved a balance by turning loose 100 'baby chickens and ducklings to feed on them . I don't know, there's nothing new about this, for us it's what a farm is all about . . self-sufficiency through hard work and harmony with natural furn's. We produce our own hot water with a coil in our woodstove and a solar panel, both systems driven by thermosiphon . We drain the panel when the nights get frosty. We forgot one night, and popped a small hole in it. Copper is easy to solder. In summer a solar oven which we built produces 415°F and bakes our food ou tdoors. We live in a rrmote mountain area and have provided our uwn electricity for 71h years with a wind-driven gelll'rator. We have a good site for wind power and , like building a home or a garden, it takes active participation ; in other word s, hard work and for some, like me, mastt'ry (If the fear of being atop high towl'rs. But our experience is that windmills are an awesome, inspiring and beautiful source of power, in the proper context Batt('ril's store our power and motors with brushes, in AC-DC. Tools and appliances USl' it directly , as do lights . An inverter is only used with our record player. Our winddriven generator has supplied us with most of the power to do cabinetry, paneling, flooring, rtc. in our dome, as most of uur power tools are AC-DC. It has lit our hOllle thrse many years and providrd thl" light for my drawing board . Quality, enduring construction wh's good design, guod detailmg, good Jl13terials and good execution. It always has. Thl'rl' are no universal answers, each problem generates its own solution. And "it's the singrr, not the song." Jonathan and 0' Malley Stoumcl1 Miranda, CA Tht.' author notrs that he is all orsallie arcllitat. His projects incillde barns (llld residenC!' s in New Ens/and , the N(}rthwest and Hawaii. He received two desigll awards ill tile '/978 passive solar awards [(},lIpctitioll from th e Departmcllt of Ellcrgy £llld .From HOI/sillS alld Urban Developmcllt.
Pagt'I2 RAIN February-March 1980 At the risk of beating the "corporate control of everything" issue to death (small risk), I'd like to say a few things about that frighteningly fast-fading American institution, the family farm. Small farms in this country seem (like the foods th ey produce) to be FAMILY FA taken for granted. Not too many of us worry about farmers or farm policil's although th ey affect the price and quality of the foods we cat as w,,11 as the economy as a whole. With the current trend away from small farms and towards fewer , larger farms, the control of the food mMkct becomes more and more concentrated. The potentilal for monopolistic food pricing grows as corporations such as Cargill and Del Monte own not only more of the land bu t more of the total food production and distribution industry. These giant corporations also manage to collect more than their share of govl'rnment policy bendns for their efforts. Minnesota Congressman Richard Nolan, in his address before Congress Feb. 2,1978, stated, "Good-sized efficient family farmers are leaving our small communities by the tens of thousands because government land policy, government price policy , government tax policy, government marketing policy, and government extension policies are designed to enhance large corporate farmers, speculators and middlemen." Congressman Nolan's statement served to introduce the Family Farm D,'velopment Act of 1978, which has been rewritten and reintroduced as the Family Farm Development Act (FFDA) of 1980. Bridly stated, the FFDA will establish within the u.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) a Family Farm Development Service' to "focus attl'ntion on the family farmer's problems." This service would research and implement land, price, tax, marketing and extension polici,'s which will "enhance" smaller scale farm operations. Research \ovili include the "whys" of declining farm numbers whik farm sizes increase, as well as th e " hows" of reversing this trend . Other emphasis for study wili be on developing energy efficiency and alternative tl'chnologies, such as ways to improve and maintain sod productivity bio-agriculturally rather than depending on petrochemicals. But resl'arch IS only one aspect of this bill. Therl' are other changes incoporated in the plan that will have very significant effects on rural America. There arc programs to provide training to small farmers In financial as well as horticultural management of their business. There will be loan incl'ntives for sustainable agriculturl' farming, integrated pest management strategies, and the utilization of othl'f appropriate farm technologies. Evt'n tax code amendments to "help prewnt non -farm corporations and outside investors from using losses or expenSl'S from farming to offset profits earned off tht' farm." The high cost of land makes starting new farm operations prohibIliW Farmers wryly joke abou t being millionaires-they refer to their debts, not their worth. The FFDS will provide grants administl'fed by the Farmers Home Administration to '·county orcity governments or local community development urganizations" so that farmland can b" purchased for resale through a revolving loan fund. Thl'f" 's more to this bill than I've mentioned , much more . Your C()ngr,'''pl'Opk can sl'nd you a summary , or the l'ntire bill if you requl'st It . Another good sign from Washington for the small farmer is the recent USDA redefinition of the "small farm" itself. It used to be that gross sales and acreage Wl'rl' the basic factors considered in eparatlng big from small. That policy gave businesses with other non-farm Incomes an advantage while ('xcluding farmers whose gr(l~, saic-s might bl' above the $20,000 limit but whose net family Income placed them wl,lI below the poverty level. The new definition conSiders threl' bctors : I. The farm family provides most of the labor and management of thl' farm. 2. Total farm income from all sources is bl'low the med ian nonmetropolitan famil y income in the state. :). The farm family depends on farming for a significant portion ()f its Inlilme. How we gonna keep 'em?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz