R IN APRIL I 1981 Reagan Era Environmentalism H'eat Pump Water Heaters Richard MerriU on Bioregional Agriculture Volume VII No.6 $1.50 No Advertising
Page 2 RAIN April 1981 RAIN Journal of Appropriate Technology RAIN is a national information access journal making connections for people seeking 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: Laura Stuchinsky, Mark Roseland, Carlotta Collette, John Ferrell, Kevin Bell. Linnea Gilson, Graphics and Layout. 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 © 1981 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing : Times Litho Cover Photograph : Mehmet Bayhan L E T T E R s ATIENTION!! ATIENTION!! Due to some horrible screw-up with our computer mailing service, several subscribers have not been receiving their magazine. Others have been getting two or more copies. Please tell your friends that RAIN is alive and kicking. And let us know if you're having problems receiving the magazine. Thanks. Dear RAIN : We very much appreciated your complimentary review of our Engineer' 5 Guide to Solar Energy. There is one comment, however, with which we take issue, and that is that the volume is overpriced. The development of the Engineer's Guide was a major financial undertaking for Solar Energy Information Services (SEIS). It involved a collaborative effort of a number of people over a period of many months. In view of our high development cost and high marketing expense, the Guide has been fairly priced. (It may be interesting to note that we are not " crying all the way to the bank" -we are just crying!!!) Warmest personal regards, Justin A. Ben~ny San Mateo, CA Dear Rainmakers, We at Vocations for Social Change (VSC) would like to thank you for the kind review that you gave the 1980-1981 Boston People's Yellow Pages in your January issue. It is true that we are more political than most of the People's Yellow Pages in the country, and on this account we have been accused of being leftovers from the '60s, but from the way things are beginning to look we seem to be harbingers of the future. Thanks for making one of the most important magazines around happen. Pax, Tom Spriggs for the Vocations for Social Change Collective Boston, MA Dear RAIN , We saw your article in the December 1980 issue of RAIN Magazine on CA.N .'s Wom en'5 Energy Tool Kit . Thank you for the nice coverage! The marketing of the Tool Kit is in full swing now and we thought you might like to inform your readers that they can purchase a copy of it from CA. N. for $4.95 plus $1 .50 for postage and handling. If you do decide to do an article listing the price of the Tool Kit, would you tell your readers to make out their check or money order to Consumer Action Now and send it to Consumer Action Now, 355 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017. We'll be sure to keep you posted on future CA. N. programs that we think may be of interest to you . Thanks again. Sincerely, Laura Denman Communications Manager Consumer Action Now New York, NY
April 1981 RAIN Page 3 ACCESS AGRIBUSINESS Animal Factories, by Jim Mason and Peter Singer, 1980, 174 pp., $10.95 from: Crown Publishers One Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 If Gandhi was correct in his belief that " the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated" then we are in real trouble. Consider: • veal calves are kept as anemic as possible so their flesh will have the desirable pale color. Their desperate craving for iron drives them to lick at nails or any other metal around them; • cement dust may soon be used as an additive in cattle feed since tests have shown it to produce fast weight gains; • several American universities are working to produce a truly global industrial chieken- one without any troublesome feathers; • total confinement systems fo r pigs produce such stress that the animals are frequently driven to bite each other's tails off Frances Moore Lappe showed the absurdity of a food system which pushes many pounds of vegetable protein through an animal to produce one pound (If meat protein. Jim Mason and Peter Singer take matters one step further by showing the absurdity (and misery) from the point of view of the animal which ~ustgo through a " total factory system" which completely alters its normal life cycle in a topsy-turvy technocratic quest for " efficient" food production . It stands to reason that animals raised in such an environment will not be as healthy as animals raised naturally-and they're not. It also stands to reason that agribusiness logic will dictate that such animals will be pumped full of antibiotics to compensate for this deficiencyand they are. Anyone for a vege-burger1 -JF COOPERATIVES "Futures" for Energy Cooperatives by the U.S. DOE, 1980, 104 pp., free from: Ms. Kathleen M. Healy DOE Conservation and Solar Energy Forrestal Bldg., Rm. 6B-205 Washington, DC 20585 For those who have been looking for more information on how to fund and develop an energy co-op, here's the book for you. " Futu res" is a collection of both funding and technical sources with profiles of energy coop projects across the country. There are 26 federal programs listed, some of which you may already be familiar with, and others (like the Small Hydroelectric Cooperative Program of the Idaho Dept. of Energy) which may be less familiar. The I1sting for each program is accompanied by current budget From Animal Factories information, descriptions of purpose, and applications procedures. The 38 cooperatives mentioned, all new or in the planning stages, include consumer and worker co-ops in aIcohal production, wood cutting and purchasing, solar greenhouse and solar hot water system installations, weatherization materials and bulk oil distribution. A brief summary report on the status of energy co-op development and a listing of U.S. Dept. of Energy Regional Offices concludes the booklet. The upcoming " how-to" manual from the Confer.ence on Alternative State and Local Policies, should be a useful complement to the information here. -LS History of Work Cooperatives in America by John Curl, 1981, 64 pp., $3.75 (plus $.50 postage) available from: Homeward Press P.O. Box 2307 Berkeley, CA 94702 Two years ago, when a fellow co-op worker and I were struggling to co-author a column on co-op history in our monthly newsletter, I would have loved to see this book. John Curl has succeeded in pulling loose the thread of cooperative history from the larger tapestry , not losing sight of its twists and turns. History of Work Cooperatives in America begins by painting a picture of 18th century society influenced by the financial greed of the Old World, Native American traditions in the New World, and the religious colonialism of the pilgrims. It continues with an examination of distinct periods of American history, focusing on cooperatives and collectives. Reference is made to a number of well-known cooperative organizations such as the National Grange, the New Harmony Commune led by Robert Owen and the Farmers Alliance (Populist Movement, late 1800s, see review this issue). Alongside these are some lesser known though intriguing groups such as the Nashoba Community, organized by suffragette Frances Wright ; a commune of blacks and whites committed to the liberation of black people; and Upton Sinclair's E.P.N.I.C. plan (End Poverty Now In California) that would have created self-sufficient "land colonies" for the unemployed (193J) . History of Work Cooperatives is a valuable historical document. The dear repetitions of history- the dream of a grassroots social change movement and the tension between those who advocate change from within and those who seek change from without-are patterns to observe and learn from . In sum, this history provides a powerful affirmation of the goals of the movement alongside a strong dose of caution for the struggles we will undoubtedly face 888m . - LS "Silo-type" egg factory, New Mexico.
-- Page 4 RAIN April 1981 REAGAN ERA ENVIRON Reversing the Progress of by Alan S. Miller If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every negative has its positive. -Saul Alinsky While still governor of California, Ronald Reagan once stated, " When you've seen one redwood tree you've seen them all." Whether apocryphal or not, President Reagan, and many of his key colleagues in government, in industry and the Congress are making sounds even more ominous to the ecologically minded. It is perhaps not premature for those concerned for a sound and healthy environment to begin to assess how the outlines of this emergent Reagan program may compare with the officially progressive environmentalism of the Earth Day decade of 1970-1980. The task facing environmentalists is to develop a new strategy for encouraging citizen participation in the formation of social policy. Will the Reagan administration in fact sound the death knell for any further development of a national environmental consciousness? What lessons can the past ten years teach us regarding the politics of ecology? The calls for environmental retreat have been sounding clearly since the Reagan election. The president has aligned himself with the earlier policy recommendations of then President Gerald Ford to severely cut back on the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Some of Reagan's ideological counterparts have been more stridently stating the anti-environmentalist case in recent months. Senator Strom Thurmond (R-S. Car.), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a primary Reagan spokesman on legal issues, recently let the ecological cat out of the bag. Speaking at a press conference in Washington. D.C.. the day after Reagan's election, Thurmond stated that one of the priorities of his chairmanship would be the dismantling of any existing environmental legislation that is in ... . . conflict with the rights of the government or of the people." On November 22, 1980, the Business Roundtable, an association of 200 of the top corporations in the nation and an ardent support group during the Reagan candidacy, released a $600,000 study condemning the Clean Air Act and essentially demanding its repeal. Exactly how these rumblings will be transformed into either legislation or administrative policy remains to be seen. It is important to note, however, that such tendencies are hardly new. Although shading a few degrees to the right of the Carter administration's environmental practice, the comments of Reagan and his friends are simply accelerating an already evident trend in government to relegate environmental quality and public health to the shadows of administrative concern. There is a real sense in which the positive environmentalism of government during the seventies can be seen as an historic anomaly. The decade produced quite a remarkable array of positive programs for both ecological and public health and safety. The Clean Air Act ---,....;-~-:----
MENTALISM a Decade of 1970, now being attacked by the Business Roundtable, is estimated to have saved at least 14,000 lives. It has certainly made life more livable for millions. Unemployment is from 0.2 to 0.4 percent lower today than it would have been without environmental policy legIslation. More than a million new jobs have been created by environmental programming at the cost of less than 25,000 jobs. But the possibility of any long-Tange continuation of an official governmental concern for ecological health is not in the cards. Much of the hope of the environmental movement in recent years has been focused on providing legal remedies to ecological insult, but such efforts are generally out of step with the more traditional role of the courts in America, which has been to protect pnvate property and individual rather than community rights. Since the primary cause for both pollution and natural resource exploitation is the economically appropriate effort of industry to maximize profits undera free market system of production, the courts can hardly be expected OVer the long run to take actions inimical to the welfare of the system of industrial production operative in~t.is country. Since the prospect for any near-range structural change in the government which might balance things out a bit and affirm the rights of nature and people over property and profit seems remOte at best, it is important that CIlVironmentalists understand this basic limiting factor hindering government in such efforts. The first step in constructing an alternative environmental program is to look at some of the strategic errors of our past. It is still possible, in spite of governmental inertias past and present, to construct a real movement of political ecology in America. Government in this country has long understood the wisdom in the old saw that " if you can't beat 'em, Join 'em." In fact, there has been a rather large-scale effort in the last decade to co-opt the environmenta! leadership. A host of mora! and political dilemmas have arisen from this effort. Almost from the very beginning of an organized environmental movement, government has sought to join the movement in order better to contain it. Those with short Mark Anderson April 1981 RAIN Page 5 memories rnay forget that it was, after all, Richard Nixon who verbally supported and financially underwrote many of the events of the first Earth Day in 1970. Given that this Was no more than an effort to distract attention from the war in Vietnam, it did establish a pattern reinforcing an already evident anti-ideological stance of environmentalism which has continued to this day. The cutting edge of the environmental movement sel;'lllS to have passed in the past decade crom those who understood the commonality of concern of radicals of all soTts-environmentalists, Iiberationists, people struggling against war and poverty and sexism and racism-to the more privileged managers In the bureaucracies, the conservationist environmental organizations, and the universities. The combination of the class nature of the movement coupled with its Cll rnmt leadership has made the ideological di mension of environmentalism even less important to its adherents. Good theory is always the foundation of positive change. In an era when the distinctions between Carters and Kennedys and Reagans and Andersons are probably much less than we think, ideo!ogical beginning points ironically become increasingly important lor those who wish to effect change. Given the relativizing effects of politicians, bureaucrats, industrial managers and the self-perpetuating tendencies of the machinery of government, conceptual clarity in the midst of the insistent demand for moderation and conformity becomes a first principle. It is still possible to construct a real movement of political ecology in America. It should be clear to most people that there are real ideological differences in the environmental movement. Not surprising!y, for instance, Third World and working class people have traditionally had little interest in involVing themselves with the sta'ndard brand ecology groups that are rightly perceived to have little concern for or sense of identity with the problems of working people. Too often an apolttica! environmentalism has proVided a diversion from the important task of building political power along existing class lines of American society. [t is true, as earlier critics have noted, that some segments of the ecology movement have tried to shift peopl("s attention from existing issues of power and class struggle to visionary models of a society gently tuned to the imperatives of nature. Ideological clarity by no means implies that politica! ecologists need to be concerned for constructing massive theoretical frameworks. [t simply means that we be concerned for the development of common-sense kinds of guidelines. Who should control natural Tesources and how? How does an organization go about coalition building? What should be the social and political grounds fOJ coalition building" What are the primary and inescapable socia! and economic goals around which the strategies should be built? What are the priorities for education and action toward which the organization should devote maximum energy? How is it possible to utilize the strengths of the organization and minimize the negative effects of its weaknesses? As Saul Alinsky used to tell students enrolled in his organil.ing seminars: "Serious organizers establish early on who they can work with. They are clear about identifying potential friends and real enemies." Without clarity of purpose, such identifications become virtually impossible. cont.-
Page 6 RAIN April 1981 The nature of modern social organization makes problem-solving within government almost impossible. Too often, bureaucracies have no option but to drift with the tide of events since issues requiring immediate attention are realistically understood to be beyond the scope of correctable action. By the time policies at management levels are finally formulated, the issues themselves have often changed and require quite different answer formulations . President Reagan himself is now struggling with the task of making an unresponsive bureaucracy sensitive to the needs of his administration. It is too easy for comfortable reformists to construct postrevolutionary fantasies. Kirkpatrick Sale has coined a new word for the governmental lexicon. Prytaneogenesis is the damage actually generated by the operations of government. Sale describes a process well known to most people; the larger governments get, the more likely they are to become autocratic, corrupt and wasteful. Rather than solving problems, government begins to create new dilemmas. Social ecologists, therefore, face a dilemma of substance. We do not wish government to bow out ot the critical task of furthering environmental legislation. Neither, however, can we have much confidence that government will-regardless of who is in powerdo much to extend its present limited concern for environmental quality. Other means must be found to enable the continuing concern of millions for ecological health to be realized regardless of the vagaries of domestic politics. Ever the pragmatist, Saul Alinsky's counsel to always look for negatives in positives and the good in the bad needs reaffi rmation today. Are there positives that can emerge from the environmental negatives of a Reagan administration? Perhaps the most self-evident truth is that environmental organizations will have to become more self-reliant, learning all over again how ill advised it is to place more than the most modest hope in either legal processes or the stated intentions of government. The task facing environmentalists in the future is to develop a new strategy for encouraging citizen participation in the formation of social policy. Although always a promise in our less than perfect democracy, citizen participation has always been much more of a myth than a reality. Organizational imperatives today leave critical decision making in the hands of an ever-decreasing number of people. At the same time, however, the more complex a s~iety becomes and the more technical the issues it must face, the mQre critical it becomes that [M~W ~(Q)~~~ ~[M U~~ ~~~~~~[M ~(Q)(UJ~~ Along with the Clean Air Act, the Reagan forces have let it be known that high on their environmental hit list are policies of the EPA and the Federal Trade Commission that interfere with industry prerogatives. Tartan-topped Republican Sam Hayakawa, California's sleepy senator and a Reagan confidant, may well represent the new environmental wave of the Reagan future. In line for the Senate Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Environment, Soil Conservation and Forestry, Hayakawa is dear about where he stands. Opposed to the earlier Redwood Parks legislation and Alaskan Wilderness Protection, condemning any kind of environmentalism that might in any way slow down industrial growth, Hayakawa essentially believes in turning over the forests to the loggers and all natural resources to those who can stimulate economic growth. More revealing, however, in terms of America's short range environmental future, was the elevation of James Watt to be head of the Department of the Interior. Director and guiding spirit of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, the most ideologically conservative of the anti-environmentalist organizations, Watt is now the boss of the people he has been fighting for years. Famous for supporting virtually unlimited commercial exploitation of America's natural resources, putting Watt in Interior was environmentally akin to putting the fox in charge of the chicken house. Some of the new Secretary's more important engagements in the past three years have been the following legal efforts: an attempt to limit federally protected wilderness areas, support of the state of Colorado's efforts to circumvent compliance with the federally mandated Clean Air Act, lawsuits to block the efforts of the Bureau of Land Management (a division of Interior) in enforcing grazing restrictions on federal lands, and to reintroduce the legal use of poisons to kill predators (in spite of overwhelming evidence that predator poisons kill more non-predatory wildlife than pest species) . Rounding out the Reagan environmental team, and powerfully symbolizing the President's intended new directions for the '80s, is Ann McGill Gorsuch, the new head of the EPA. Although Gorsuch, a corporation lawyer and member of the Colorado State Legislature, does not have much of a track record on environmental issues, a colleague who has worked with her suggests that she is a logical Reagan choice. Totally opposed to any environmental regulation which might limit the freedom of American industry, Gorsuch is a member of the small group of ultra-conservatives in the Colorado legislature known as the "House Crazies" for their not always tempered positions on attempts to regulate the private sector. Ardently supported by Joseph Coors, the Colorado brewer who has long fought for total repeal of all EPA regulatory procedures, Gorsuch should prove a companionable counterpart to Edwards and Watt. Most surely she will attempt to make EPA policy guidelines consistent with procedures of the New Task Force on Regulatory Relief headed by Vice President George Bush, and with the President's February 12 recommendation that the Occupational Safety and Health Agency withdraw all regulations requiring labeling of workplace chemicals. It is probable that she will be sympathetic to the mounting assaults on other EPA guidelines regarding auto safety standards and emission and noise controls. -Alan S. Miller
April 1981 RAIN Page 7 some method be developed for the free expression of choice. Value questions-those arising from informed and objective analysisare central to any society that gives even lip service to citizen control over decision making. Indeed, the more complex a society becomes, the more urgent is the need for this kind of popular planning. With the advent of a new anti-ecological national leadership, the nurturing of a new generation of grass roots, citizen-based organizations becomes a necessity. The positive emerging from the Reagan negative is the hard reminder that we no longer have an option to the tough and often controversial work of local organizing. In a mote profound fashion than ever before, ecology has now emerged as a truly "subversive" science, calling into question not only the technological practices, but the underlying values of the society. As always, the questions of ethics-the development of a systematic framework for analysis and the setting of standards for human conduct and action-are best dealt with by ordinary people facing up to the realities of survival in their own time. While governments can sometimes help to define such questions, they can rarely do much to implement a viable ethic in the national consciousness. Americans-reflecting back on the limitations of a Carter environmentalism and teetering on the edge of a Reagan redux-should find some comfort in the knowledge that ultimately power does rest with the people so long as the people are prepared to work to effect the changes governments tend to ignore. Those of us who feel that more decentralized public control over resource management and the means of production are requ.irements for ecological survival need to make our beginning points clear. Environmentalists may find it uncomfortable to have to think about the need for both ideological reformulation within the environmental movement and the requirement for a new standard of self-criticism within it. Those persons who are essentially content within the existing economic and political orders (including perhaps a majority within the environmental movement) may resent the suggestion that we take our conceptual beginning points more seriously. What seems incontrovertible, however, is that much of the malaise of the age-non-limits to growth, underdevelopment and overdevelopment both domestically and around the world, poverty and disease, militarism, inequities within the global production and distribution systems, the double disadvantages for many of racism and sexism-all stem from the same social causes as the ecocrisis. No one of these probleins can be solved apart from sound political and economic analysis and appropriate strategies for action. People who are concerned for the development of a more politically mature environmentalism will not content themselves with simply joining the nearest conservation group. They may do this, but they will become increasingly concerned for the struggle around what Andre Gorz has called "non-reformist" reforms, those efforts to resolve the contradictions and structural imbalances in the social order which lead to environmental disturbances. The old American idea that the pursuit of private gain will inevitably result in benefit to the society at large is , in spite of Reagan, the refuge of only a very small coterie of true believers. This means that those of us who feel that more decentralized public control over resource management and the means of production are in fact requirements for ecological survival need to make our beginning points clear. This does not mean endorsement of the whole positions of the ideologues of either left or right. It' is too easy for comfortable reformists to construct post-revolutionary fantasi6. It does mean carefully assessing who are one's friends and enemies, when compromise is possible and when it is not. The second decade since Earth Day will surely see a continuation and a reinforcement of some of the negative emergent trends of the seventies: bureaucratic co-optation of environmental leadership, efforts to focus on single issues and opposition to the necessary process of linking environmental issues to other social problems, and ever more direct assaults on those entrenched environmental programs which threaten the profits of American industry. If such efforts can push us back to our roots, however- to local organizing, to the building of powerful community coaiJtions, to the development of broadly conceived social strategies and a more careful delineation of first principles-then the Reagan era may prove after all to be less an obstacle to the emergence of a national environmental consciousness than many are now predicting. When Thomas Becket faced his tormentors in Eliot's Murder In the Cathedral, he stated, ''The last temptation is the greatest treason, to do the right deed for the wrong reason." Only by being reasonably clear about both our environmental ends- and the political means to achieve biospheric integrity-will we be able to guard against the relativizing tendencies of those who seem increasingly indifferent to the possibility of nature's death.DD Alan S. Miller teaches Conseroation and Resou rce Studies at the University of California , Berkeley. He is currently involved ill the development of a new Institute of Political Ecology in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Page8 RAIN April1981 DO-GOODER DIALOGUE Last November we ran Laura Stuchinsky's "The Do-Gooder Dilemma: Inappropriate Technolo8Y Tmnsfer," Otl the problems involved in aiding devl'ioping countries with their technical support needs. Below are some responses to that article and a comment from Laura. Dear Laura, Before I get to the subject matter of this letter, let me say that several of my colleagues and I at ATI appreciate the crisp perspectives presented each month in RAIN. I personally have been a RAIN habituate since I worked with Farallones in its early days. However, I feel a need to register a response to your article on the foibles of foreign aid which appeared in Last November's issue. Essentially your article appears to reflect a lack of awareness of and/or sensitivity to the approaches and actiVIties of ATI and other organizations (VITA and !TOG) mentIoned. I do not feel that it is constructive to make a blanket association of oUI eHorts with the frequently cited negative consequences of " development assistance" -donor manipulation, consolidation of elites, and technological irrelevance. It may surprise you that ATl provides flexible program support (0 pTogressive indigenous organizations in the Third World. The relationships we have developed with rheseorganizations arc predicated on an analytical approach almost identical to IFDP's Ten Questions to Ask about a Development Project. Critical i~sues such as empowerment of the poor, democratic decentralized management, and participatory processes are frequently evoked in the context of our work. I have few qualms with the substance of your critique. I wish, however, that you (and the folks at lFDP) would take the time to more thoroughly examine the institutions you appear to dismiss out of hand. The foreign aid system you so rigbteously indict may in fact contain alternative undercurrents and individuals with integnty, who need all the support they can get. I would welcome further dialogue with you in the near future. Regards, Thomas Fricke McLean, VA Dear Laura, I really enjoyed your article in the November issue of RAIN on international development; it was stimulating. You raise issues that we raise ourselves, particularly in our training of development workers. Sincerely, Christopher Szccsey oordinator of International Programs Farallones Institute Rural Center Occidental, CA Dear RAIN: Laura Stuch1nsky's characterization of Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) and other development groups in your November 1980 issue implies that we promote " appropriate technologies" without considering social justlce or the real needs of poor people, This just isn't true. Fir~t of all, VITA was not formed during the past decade, as Ms. Stuchinsky writes. It was started in 1959 by a group of scientists and engineers who wanted to share their technical expertise with poor people in developing countries. Long before "small is beautiful" or "appropriate technology" had become fashionable, they realized the possible impact that vanOlla small-s('IIle technologies could have in helping ordinary people abroad. VITA has responded to more than 35,000 technical inquiries since then. Its worldwide network of 4,000 volunteer experts, internationalstaff, and extensive library (mabIe it to provide useful information on almost any development-related subject. Our emphasis has always been to prOVide information and promote technologies that will help the poor. We have close ties with hundreds of community groups throughout the developing world, and have devised many workable solutions with them. We know well that cultural and social questions are as important as techn ical ones. At the same time, we consider it presumptuous for us to only respond to inquiries or project requests tnat come from countries that are somehow more " socially worthy" than others. Ms. Stuchinsky implies that we should help only those who are actively promoting social change or revolution. But who is to make those judgments? Her? Us? The CIA? And even if we did have a list of "acceptable countries," how are we to know whether the individual writing us is a true believer or just a bureaucrat? It is a hopeless task, and one ,vith great potential for arrogance and self-righteousness. We are proud of ou r record in responding to the real needs of people as they express them , not in telling lhem what they need or ought to be doing. It is not our place to shove our good intentions down the throats of others, nor to make development hit lists that preclude us from helping thousands of people who find themselves srruggling with governments that neither they nor we like. Best wishes with the magazine. We may not always agree with what is printed, but it is always interesting and provocative. Henry Norman Executive Director VITA Mt. Ranier, MD
April 1981 RAIN Page 9 Dear RAIN, I would like to congratulate you for the hard-hitting combination you offered in your November issue: a review of Aid As Obstacle and the article, "The Do-Gooder Dilemma." I have been working in development very much at household and village level for the past fifteen years in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. My experience echos your strong emphasis on the political dimensions of technology generally and A. T. in particular. I don't believe one can overemphasize the political in this area. But let's be clear about the meaning of " politicaL " First, in the international power arena it is very clear that A.T. can be used just the same as energy-intensive, centralized, precision technology in the process of entangling underdeveloped countries ever deeper in dependence on former colonial and present-day technology-exporting countries. This process is a complex and sometimes subtle one, but the effect is always the same: dependency. How else are we to understand the role of such an agency as the international department of SERI acting as a go-between linking "potential customers" in Jamaica with the affiliates of major U. S. energy corporations who now " happen" to be producing A. T.? They " happen" to be producing A.T. because it has become profitable, and they are "selling" it in the same ways and with the same dependency-perpetuating consequences as any other "product." On the national and local levels within the Third World country it is clear that any technological change which raises productivity of land or labor or cuts resource costs will tend to accelerate the process by which the gap between rich and poor increases. Village electrification had this effect in India. Who denies in the face of hundreds of studies that the Green Revolution packages had this effect? Without the structural changes in power and control over resources you refer to, AT will widen the gap at village level. To turn away from these consequences and say, " we can't deny our A. T. assistance to regimes that don't guarantee such social and political preconditions" or, "we just want to reduce the burden on the poor with our A.T." is at best professionally irresponsible. I would, in fact, go further than your article in suggesting one question all technology transfer, including A.T. transfer. Following on from the notions in Aid As Obstacle, I think our major task is tryi:ng to ensure countries like Mozambique, Nicaragua and Grenada time to evolve their own social reality (and A. T. in the process). We can do that by challenging militarism, military industrialism, and the New Right offensive here at home. Yours sincerely, Dr. Ben Wisner Madison, WI Dear Laura: Congratulations on a good critique of A.T. in "The Do-Gooder Dilemma" (RAIN, Nov. 1980). There are certainly many so-called A. T. groups who do not get beyond the hardware stage of thinking. There are also many "Beltway Bandits" around Washington who use the terms"A. T." or "basic needs" to win large contracts from government agencies. And, there are many development agencies who recognize the failure of " trickle down" development but are unable to change their own structures to become "appropriate . " But, your analysis tends to give too much weight to political solutions just as some A. T. critiques (e.g. " Paper Heroes" by Witold Rybcynski) gives too much weight to hardware solutions. There is, in fact, no political system which does not have its share of poverty. Your examples, "Cuba, Tanzania and Nicaragua," are notable failures, as are Vietnam, Libya and Mozambique, which are ohen touted by the political left. Even China has shifted its development strategy to one of hi-tech, industrialization and modernization. There is leeway within any political system for appropriate technologies to ease the burdens of the poor. There is a place in the A. T. network for the ITDGs who see their role as developing small and intermediate scale technological options. There is a place for the VITA's who leave the choice to the requester and do not push only small-scale solutions. There is a place for the development agencies who are attempting to redirect thei r programs to aid the poorest of the poor. There is also a place, as you correctly point out, for the too-ohen-neglected non-governmental agencies who are best equipped to work at the grass-roots level. There is a greater need for all of us do-gooders to listen to what the poor say they need and help them obtain it rather than to assume our own definition of basic needs. And, a point you overlooked, there is a need for affluent Americans to eat fewer bananas, use less oil, stop drinking tea, reduce our consumption of rubber, and, in generaL leave more of the world's·resources for broader distribution. The point is, we are in an era of transition toward a New Age. Everyone of our institutions needs to be, and is being, reformed. There are many, many roles to be played and functions to be performed. We need to help one another fill the different niches, not just criticize them for trying. Our views are not too far apart. You tend to be more up front with your political push. I tend to see that as only waving a red flag for the establishment who want to shout "conspiracy," " socialist," or any other label they think inappropriate. Keep up the good work! Bill Ellis, TRANET Rangeley, ME Dear Friends, Thanks for the candid responses to my November article, " The Do-Gooder Dilemma: Inappropriate Technology Transfer." ObViously the concept of technology transfer eVokes strong feelings on a number of levels, the themes of which are clt·arly demonstrated in your letters. I still maintain the need fora political evaluation of technology transfer. Welcome or not, the results of our efforts have political, social and economic ramifications. Many groups seem willing to talk about the cultural impact of technologyI but rarely are the broader questions of social organization and power structures examined. My intent was not to invalidate well-intentioned efforts but rather to point dut that good intentions and ideas can be used counter to their original purposes. While it is true that we cannot define'the needs of the poor, it is important that we examine who and what does define those needs. More often than not, the poor do not have the power to define the development process, as their own needs are in conllict with the interest of ruling powers. Along With good intentions, we have responsibility for the long-range impact of our work and influence- on the poor as well as on those in power. Tanzania, Mozambique and Nicaragua were given as examples of countries that are striving toward greater democratic participation and eqUitable distribution of resources. Though they have not resolved their numerous problems of development or poverty, I have recognized them for the struggle they are undertaking to ensure a higher quality of life for all , not just a select portion of the population. O nly time.willtell how well their goals are realized. Clearly, the question of appropriate and inappropriate technology transfer will not be resolved here or now. Hopefully through continued dialogue we will be able to work toward better understanding and cooperative effort. Sincerely, Laura Stuchinsky
Page 10 RAIN April 1981 ACCESS ENERGY --~ ~~ WISE (World Information Service on Energy), U.S. Office: 153616th Street N.W. Washington, DC 20036 With its offices in nine countries and its global network of grassroots contact people, WISE serves as an international switchboard for information on the nuclear industry, the anti-nuclear struggle, and renewable energy alternatives. Access to the switchboard is available through the bi-monthly WISE Magazine ($7.50/yr. individual; $15.00 institutional), an exceptional resource, both for news and for network building. If you're involved in any branch of the safe energy movement, get to know WISE-and let WISE get to know you! - JF "Wood: An Ancient Fuel with a New Future" by Nigel Smith (Worldwatch Paper #42; January 1981, $2.00 from: Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20036 In the first paper of the Worldwatch series, published in September 1975, Erik Eckholm described how concern with dwindling petroleum reserves was overshadowing another energy crisis with a more immediate impact on a third of the world's people: population was outpacing tree production resulting in "soaring wood prices, a growing drain on incomes and physical energies in order to satisfy basic fuel needs, a costly diversion of animal manures to cooking food rather than producing it, and an ecologicalIy disastrous spread of treeless landscapes." Averting catastrophe, Eckholm believed, would require both a new environmental ethic and treeplanting efforts on a massive scale. In "Wood: An Ancient Fuel with a New Future" Nigel Smith reiterates many of Eckholm's concerns and underlines the need for ambitious reforestation, but he also notes some recent hopeful trends which could eventually alleviate t.he crisis and lead to a bright future for wood in an era of fossil fuel scarcity. Fast-growing trees, such as the leucaena, which can reach a height of sixty feet in six years, are being used increasingly in reforestation schemes, and more efficient stoves, like the Lorena, are making better use of existing wood resources in the Third World. The experience of South Korea over the past decade has shown that when local people are made aware of the benefits of reforestation and are included in the planning of tree planting programs, progress can be rapid. Local support comes more readily if reforestation schemes are deSIgned to serve such additional purposes as securing soil to slopes and ensuring adequate supplies of clean water. Agroforestry projects combining food and fuel production on the same land base are particularly attractive. While many countries struggle to ensure adequate wood supplies for their most basic needs, others, which are particularly well endowed with forests, are already looking to wood's potential as a replacement for fossil fuels in industry and transportation. Sweden plans to use more of its forest r.esources to generate electricity and some U.S. companies are shifting factories to the Northeast to be near a ready supply of wood fuel. As petroleum prices climb, methanol (wood alcohol) is drawing increasing attention, and several countries, including Canada, the U.S. and Brazil, are refining the technology for its production. Clearly, wood's global potential as an energy source is substantial. Just as clearly, that potential will not be fully realized unless the barriers alluded to by both Eckholm and Smith are vigorously challenged and overcome. Smith sees " wise management" as a key in this struggle, but Eckholm's emphasis on developing a new environmental ethic is likely to be of equal importance. - JF RESOURCES Technology and Values in American Civilization: A Guide to Information Sources, edited by Stephen H. Cutliffe, Judith A. Mistichelli and Christine M. Roysdon, 704 pp., 1980, $30.00 from: Gale Research Company Book Tower Detroit, MI48226 Imagine, an annotated bibliography which is not only a comprehensive, well-organized reference tool, but is actually enjoyable to read! This volume contains over two thousand well-written capsule summaries of books and articles relating to the interaction between humankind and technology. Entries are arranged according to broad topics like Urbanization, Futures, Energy, and Communications, but actually you'll find everything here from the sociology of the bicycle to the ethics of engineering; from the significance of Rube Goldberg to the importance of Henry Ford; and from a portrayal of Paul Bunyan as "an occupational hero pitted against industrialism" to an analysis of "the pervasive theme of conflict between man and machines" in For Wh om the Bell Tolls . Have your librarian order a copy of Technology and Values-then use it to start plotting out a lifetime reading plan. - JF ENERGY PLANNING "The realization is dawning among energy experts that the present state of the world oil market-and the political instability of the Middle East-make the 1980s a very dangerous decade. The risk of severe sustained interruptions in the flow of oil is greater than ever before. Any such disruption could lead to yet another doubling or tripling of crude oil prices to as much as $100 per barrel, which might have devastating consequences." - Senator Charles Percy Now we all know that the federal government moves too slowly, without vision, and with questionable responsiveness to the ..haves" at the expe'lse of the"have nots" to be of much use in any real domestic crisis. If there was still any question of that, Reagan's unshackling big business and demoting conservation as a national priority " the mornl equiva lent of wa r" replaced by its im mo ral equivalent in El Salvador-has given us confirmation. He's been direct with us. "Don't look to the federal government," he mutters. So all of our rhetoric has come back to us, and we'd best do our homework and put our ideologies to use in our neighborhoods and towns. - C' "Community Alert; Preparing for Energy Emergencies" and "Energy and the Environment," Dec. '801 Jan. '81 issues of The Energy Consumer, free from: Dept. of Energy Office of Consumer Affairs Washington, DC 20585 You may have heard in late February that Tina Hobson, Director of Consumer Affairs for DOE, was "transferred" for blowing the whistle on her boss's efforts to plant an "Operative" at a a tizen's gathering on low income energy concerns. She has always been ur most receptive advocate at DO E and it remains to be seen how the Office of Consumer A££airs there will function (orif it will) without her. So, these two Energy Consumer issues may very well be the last. " Get
April 1981 RAIN Page 11 Detail from "Community Alert" poster. The full-size poster (30 x 48) is available in black and white ($3) and in color ($5). Write Energy Preparedness Poster-Prism, P.O. Box 2029, Flushing, NY 11352. 'em while they last!" The Special Edition on energy emergencies includes articles on the political and economic circumstances likely to lead to a cut-off in outside energy resources, and the localized preparations we can be engaging in to mitigate the effects of such a cut-off. There is a state-by-state guide which lists key people and offices to be in contact with in coordinating your plan. There are reference lists of books to check out and a Citizen Action Checklist. All excellent information. The "Energy and the Environment" issue provides capsule descriptions of such areas of concern as nuclear power, acid rain, the Clean Air Act and synthetic fuels. Each problem area is represented by what might be considered "pro" and "con" positions. For example, the question of acid rain is approached first by a Consolidation Coal Company executive who suggests that "the available evidence is too limited to make a determination" on the effects of acid rain. He goes on to state ,.An examination of the amount of coal burned in this country (from 1955-1973) ... reveals very little change in the total sulphur dioxide levels." Representatives from the Environmental Law Institute counter with "in many parts of the Northeast, acid levels are now 20 times higher than they were in 1955." This " dialogue" relies on the manipulating of statistics, and any student of Statistics 101 can tell you that you can prove just about anything with numbers and the selection of comparables. If you choose, as does the Ford Foundation in its exploration of nuclear power, to only compare nuclear power to coal-generated power (nukes: 1 death per year vs. coal : 2 to 25 deaths per year) you end up with a frustrating no-win situation. If you factor in the conversion to renewables the equation changes considerably. The Energy Consumer, in looking at both sides, points out the areas of argument and accord. Again, the resource lists provide local contacts for continuing to study these issues. -CC Energy and Power in Your Community: How to Analyze Where it Comes From, How Much it Costs, & Who Controls It, by Elizabeth Schaefer & Jim Benson, 1980,129 pp., $6 from: Institute for Ecological Policies 9208 Christopher Street Fairfax, VA 22031 There are many communities around this country that are preparing to move with ballot measures, referendums, public utility districts, etc., towards local populist control of energy resources and power distribution mechanisms. Developing energy use inventories and projections in these communities can seem to be an awesome task, and yet the numbers in hand that an energy plan will supply are among the best tools for gaining broad-based support for such agendas. Energy and Power takes the complexity out of Benson's (with Alan Okagaki) earlier County Energy Plan Guidebook and reduces the inventorying, projecting, and conservation scenario factoring to an easy-to-follow, stepby-step process. That's Part I of this little book. Part II is a "dirty tricks" guide for " Investigating the Power Network." Power here is used in most senses of the word; energy as power, the powers that be, em-powering as well dis-empowering. If you're planning to plan, start with this book. -CC The Community Energy CARE-ing Handbook, by Leonard Rodberg and Arthur Waskow, 1980, 165 pp. plus appendices, from: Public Resource Center 1747 Connecticut Ave. N. W. Washington, DC 20009 Subtitled "An Activist's Guide for Energizing Your Community Toward Conservation And Renewable Energy," this book is a very well outlined scheme for organizing but only if used in conjunction with much more information. As an outline it is excellent, but it is thin on technical material and an under-informed activist can lose credibility very quickly with only "a little knowledge." Where this book excels is in its spectrum of approaches to energy problems. Community energy co-ops, energy information centers, energy plans and more are all described, albeit briefly, but with reference lists to complement them. -CC
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