RAIN What if Peace Broke Out^ Tanuarv/Februarv 1984 Volume X, No. 2 $2.00
Page 2 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 IN THIS ISSUE... Articles Bridging Hemispheres; Peace Through Communications— an Interview with Joel Schatz...................................................... . 5 Exploring the Globe: A 1:8,000,000 Replica of Planet Earth—by Than James................................................................................ \2 Creating Nuclear Free Communities—by Don Skinner............................. 20 Tinkering and Informing: Appropriate Technology in Action—by Kris Nelson and Ann Borquist........................................... 26 RAIN magazine Volume X, Number 2 January/February 1984* *See explanatory note below table of contents Guest Editor: John Ferrell Staff: Rob Baird Than James Steve Johnson Alan Locklear Kris Nelson Sara LaBorde Alan Locklear Kris Nelson Jeff Strang Contributors: Scott Androes Carlotta Collette Nancy Cosper Gail Katz Mimi Maduro Steve Salmi Graphic Design: Linnea Gilson Comptroller: Lee Lancaster Printing; Argus Printing Co. Typesetting: Irish Setter Cover: detail from a poster by Diane Schatz (see "Bridging Hemispheres" - in this issue). RAIN Magazine publishes information which can help people lead more simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions more economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published 6 times a year by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a nonprofit corporation located at 2270 NW Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Subscriptions are $25/yr. for institutions, $15/yr. for individuals ($9.50 for persons with incomes under $6000 a year). Copyright © 1983 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. ISSN 0739-621X Features Calendar........................................ 36 Letters............................................ 2 Pacific Northwest Bioregion Report.......................30 Access Information Community Economics................23 Energy............................................ 24 Global Resources.........................16 Impressive Views of Earth.........15 We've already anticipated your question: "If the last issue of RAIN was for October/November and this one is for January/February—what happened to December?" Well, nothing, really. The fact is, more than a year ago our issue dates and our actual production schedule Raindrops..................................... 4 Rush............................ 37 Touch and Go................................. 19 ! Nuclear Free Zones............... 23 Peace Communications.............. 8 Regional Literature........................18 got slightly out of sync. This one-time date shift is merely a painless method to move us officially back into "real time." We're not skipping an issue, our volume and issue numbers continue in unbroken sequence, and the length of your subscription remains unchanged. —JF Note to Librarians (and Other Date-Conscious RAIN Readers)
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 3 LETTERS Dear RAIN: Thanks for subscription information and the women's issue [RAIN IX:4]. I much enjoyed Margaret McCrea's article ["Women and Spirituality"] and have bought all the books she lists on page 12. I'm a little old lady living on social security, so I have to subscribe at poverty rates. I can see that RAIN is a product of love, and I am turned on to that. Love, Ramona Berine Los Angeles, CA Dear RAIN: You are very important to me. You give me courage for the future. You give me wisdom for the present and insight to our past. I want you to continue doing what you do so very well. Keep it up! Howard L. Pazdral Portland, OR To the Editor: I would like to comment on Tom Bender's article "Is Socialism the Answer?" [RAIN IX:5]. In his article Bender asserts that socialism, as it exists in the world today, has many of the same problems as capitalism, public ownership doesn't always work, and a transformation of values is essential for changing society. I substantially agree with these points. However, Bender's analysis of socialism is just half of the picture—wholly focused on the economic relations of society. An emerging view of socialism, which I call democratic socialism, emphasizes not only the economic arena but also the inter-relationship of economics and the social sphere—relations among women and men, democracy, social justice, and equality of opportunity. This view of socialism asserts that promoting values of feminism and grassroots democracy is as important as reorganizing the means of production. Public ownership by itself is certainly not the answer—it must be combined with democratic management and worker and community control. Nowhere in Bender's discussion does he talk about quality of work and control over the workplace by workers—essential ingredients for my socialism. A radical transformation of values is necessary. However, I don't believe that the positive values of cooperation, mutual respect, full realization of human potential, compassion, and unity can flourish in the milieu of a capitalist society. Capitalism and "free enterprise" promote competition, not cooperation; hierarchy, not equality; and decision making based on profit, not on meeting human needs. Yes, we need a radical change—and patching up capitalism is not sufficient. In my view countries that are "socialist" have made a serious error by adopting centralization as the primary method of organizing the economy. Appropriate economic scale, combined with community and worker control, is necessary for protecting the environment and meeting people's needs, including the basic need to participate in decisions affecting their lives. Democratic socialists have accepted the challenge of working for a view of the world that is thoroughly democratic, incorporates a feminist analysis, and recognizes the insights of the appropriate technology and environmental movements. Our vision cannot just be concerned with spinning the wheels of production. Economic relations shape the social and cultural spheres, but the reverse is true too. We need radical changes on all fronts—economic, social, cultural, and personal. One place I find theory for incorporating this understanding into viable political action is among democratic socialists. Beverly Stein (National Executive Committee, Democratic Socialists of America) Portland, OR Dear Rainmakers, Yes, indeed, I have been tardy in my renewal—thanks muchly for the reminder. But what really got me off my duff was spying your Special Anniversary Issue on the shelves at Puget Consumer's Co-op, leafing through it to see what goodies you'd packed into this gala edition, and running across my own comments about Zen and the Art ofMotorcycle Maintenance in your summary of rain's favorite books. I'm working on an article for In Context, your fascinating new progeny to the North, and I'd love to do something more substantial than subscription letters for RAIN, the granddaddy of 'em all. In fact, a suggestion: how about "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 10 Years Later," a 1984 review of the (perceived) progress of appropriate technology in light of the 10th anniversary of the publication of Pirsig's seminal classic, using Pirsig's own standards of Quality? Sound intriguing? Give me some bounce-back, if you think so. 'Till then, send me that Anniversary Issue posthaste. I can't wait to digest the rest. Many Happy Returns, Drummond Reed
RAINDROPS RAIN staff meetings have, for the past several months, borne an unfortunate resemblance to Boy Scout gatherings. It was certainly never our wish to become, even momentarily, a nearly all-male staff, but Nancy left us last spring for health reasons (see her report below), and Ann departed in September to pursue an M.A. in Urban Planning with a concentration in community development. Both remain close to RAIN, Nancy serving on our Board and Ann functioning as our all-purpose advisor. But somehow, without the daily infusion of their considerable talent, energy, and good humor, things just aren't the same.. .. The good news is that we are adding some exciting new talent and moving back toward gender balance. Sara LaBorde, our new intern, recently received her M.S. in Natural Resources/Environmental Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She has taken on some of the tasks connected with our administration of the U.S. Department of Energy's Appropriate Technology Small Grants Program for Oregon. By the time you read this, our new editor, Tanya Kucak, will have arrived from California. Tanya previously served on RAIN's staff in 1981 during the production of our book Knowing Home. She has since worked as an editor with InfoWorld, a weekly computer newsmagazine. She has one of those typically eclectic Rainmaker backgrounds: food co-op organizer, solar activist, geologist, stained glass artist, and magna cum laude graduate from Princeton. Her interests are easily as broad as RAIN's, but she lists her particular passions as "words, rocks, and architecture." I'll be leaving RAIN, for the second time, shortly before this issue goes to press, but in the usual manner of Rainmakers emeritus. I'll be standing by, watching RAIN's continuing evolution with parental pride, and helping out as needed. I'm sure all of us in the extended RAIN family—subscribers, contributors, and former staffers—can look forward to much stimulating reading in issues to come. —JF In A Bitter Fog (see review in RAIN IX:5) Carol Van Strum points out that we all carry in our bodies the burden of indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides. Too, we are subject to any number of environmental poisons—in our soil, water, or air. Because of these and other factors, including diet, stress, genetic tendency, food additives, and/or corporate drugs licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency without proper investigation, one out of four people will deal with cancer before the end of this century. Having cancer has been both a frustration and a challenge in my life. It has also afforded me momentous insights that would have otherwise been unavailable. Among the many messages of love and healing I have received in the last six months, this one holds a special meaning for me: "It seems we have a responsibility to fight for freedom on any level we can, and my dear sister, you have the opportunity to do this in a profound way." It is an opportunity for all of us. Like the insects that evolve so rapidly they can outlive the effects of the toxins used against them, we are called on by cancer to transform physically as we transform politically, socially, and spiritually. I have thought about East Indian mystics who walk through fire knowing they will be unharmed. These are rites of purification. We heal together, all of us. We walk through fire to heal ourselves and the world. —Nancy Cosper Nancy would like to thank the RAIN readers who have sent their good wishes since we mentioned her illness in our June I July '83 issue. She is feeling better now, and remains active in RAIN affairs. UPDATE: The RAIN Reader Survey We received an excellent response to the reader survey that went out with our August '83 Sprinkle newsletter. We'll be reporting in detail on the results of that survey in our next issue, but in the meantime, your many thoughtful comments and suggestions are already bringing changes to RAIN. A number of you indicated an interest in our financial situation or expressed your willingness to help out by paying more than the usual cost of a RAIN subscription, so we are preparing a detailed financial report to appear in our next issue, and we are establishing two new subscriber categories— Contributing and Sustaining—with this issue. (See page 39.) Many of you also told us you would like to see more news in RAIN about interesting developments in your particular area of the country, so in our next issue, we plan to initiate a regular "Guest Bioregion Report" to complement our "Pacific Northwest Bioregion Report." Thanks to all of you who took the time to send us your praise, criticism, and constructive comments. Look for our article on the survey results in the March/April RAIN. —JF
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 5 BRIDGING HEMISPHERES: Peace Through Communications AN INTERVIEW WITH JOEL SCHATZ In the February I March 1983 issue of RAIN, we printed letters from Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield and A. Khudiakov, press-attache for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' Mission to the United Nations, supporting Joel and Diane Schatz's peace visualization project. The project's objective, as we have mentioned before in RAIN, was to create a poster depicting "what the world would look like ifpeace broke out." (See detail from poster on our cover.) Joel and Diane organized a series of workshops to determine how people from many walks of life envision peace, and in August they visited individuals and groups in the Soviet Union to find out how people there imagine a peaceful world. They returned shocked and ecstatic. Their preconceptions of what people's feelings might be were shattered, and the Soviets' desire to improve direct communication with Americans overwhelmed their hopes and expectations. Enter telecommunications. For what emerged from their trip was a will and a way-a communications medium, besides their first peace poster, for both imagining peace and creating it. RAIN intern Than James and I took a drippy Oregon afternoon to discuss with Joel what he and Diane discovered.'—KN RAIN: What did you learn from your inquiry into what the world would look like to the Russians if peace broke out? Schatz: We went there to negotiate arrangements to conduct formal peace visualization workshops which we could document on videotape. In the process, we also sampled a lot of opinions from Russians on their version of peace, and it was virtually identical to the kinds of information we've been extracting from people in North America. People there would like fresher food, improved medical care, better schools, certain kinds of consumer goods to make life a little easier, less alcoholism. It was obvious there are certain universal kinds of human needs that drive the Russian people just as we're experiencing them in this country. There's no difference, really. They go about it in a different way from a government standpoint, but the fundamental yearnings and dreams seem to be the same. RAIN: You were also involved in trying to establish telecommunication links between Russian and American groups. What was their response? Schatz: There was a uniform, exuberant response. Literally everyone we approached with the possibility of extending computer conference networks from the U.S.
Page 6 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 into the Soviet Union jumped at the opportunity. We asked people on the Soviet State Committee on Publishing, on the Soviet Peace Committee, on the Soviet Women's Committee, on the Committee on Youth Organizations, and on the Institute for U.S.A. and Canadian Studies whether they would be interested in exchanging information on a daily basis with people in the U.S. vis-a-vis the peace issue, and they all want to do that. In fact, I have here what may be one of the first messages out of the U.S.S.R. by computer. It talks about a biochemistry computer conference scheduled for December. Our major interest in the linkage was for peace projects to be implemented by these daily changes. '"We talk about the freedom of individual choice. They talk about freedom/rom poverty, freedom from illiteracy, freedom from illness." RAIN: What other instances point to their readiness to telecommunicate? Schatz: The interactive video exchange via satellite—a space bridge—which occurred in May 1983, linking the US [Rock] Festival in San Bernardino, California, and Moscow, was played on Soviet television to an estimated 130 to 150 million people. It was a half-dialogue-and- half-music exchange. The dialogue was between astronauts, politicians, educators, school children. It was an unscripted, uncensored exchange followed by an exchange between rock bands. Music from a Soviet band was broadcast in San Bernardino by large screen, and images of American rock musicians were broadcast in studios in Moscow. All live, interactive broadcasts. It concluded with the first transnational jam-session of good jazz in history. Another [exchange] took place in July 1983 in San Diego. It was a film festival, focusing on children's films. It was really successful. We obtained English translations of reviews of this that appeared in Soviet newspapers. Mr. Gromyko personally congratulated the director of Gastlordio Studios for the success of the satellite exchange. RAIN: Why have you chosen to focus on computer exchanges? Schatz: While space bridges are a wonderful, powerful, group-oriented experience, they are very expensive. Space technology isn't at the stage where people can afford interactive video daily, whereas computer conferences can be maintained at a frachon of the cost. It's also the kind of network that enables groups to do serious work, to exchange scientific reports, to actually hold problem-solving conferences, to use electronic mail. There's been a long tradition of exchanges with the Russians in the arts, the sciences—astronomers and meteorologists, for example. There are millions of exchanges each year between Soviet and American ham radio operators. They will simply facilitate communication instead of having to travel, or make expensive phone calls, or suffer the agony of mail delays. Why do [the Russians] want to talk? I think what prompts them most is survival. RAIN: What historical factors influence their deep feelings for survival? Schatz: They're preoccupied, almost daily, with memories of World War II. Men wear campaign ribbons on the outside of their suit jackets. Fresh flowers are found on military memorials all over the cities every day. A young bride and groom will leave a wedding ceremony and will place fresh flowers on military monuments. When they threw out the tsar in their big revolution, there were some who really wanted to redistribute the wealth, but there wasn't a lot to distribute, except for some palaces and paintings. It seems like what they're trying to do is first satisfy the basic needs. You see, when we talk about freedom in this country, it's with a completely different set of semantics than when the Soviets talk about freedom. We talk about the freedom of individual choice to do what we want to do. They talk about freedom/rom poverty, freedom from
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 7 illiteracy, freedom from illness. This relates to their whole history of being mauled century after century by outsiders as well as by their own leaders. There's been a transformation within the country since the Second World War. At the end of the war, the ethic was self-sacrifice; everyone was expected to do without for the good of the motherland. Now all that's been changed into something like self-improvement, into producing more, into improving the standard of life—more color TVs and so on. People are producing food in Russia for private profit on plots owned by the state. They get a greater yield per hectare. There's not a simple dichotomy between capitalism and socialism. RAIN: What impressions did you pick up about their views of American culture? Schatz: When it comes to peace, they can't imagine how we can have a world at peace unless such basic needs as food, medical care, literacy, and employment are first satisfied. Russians seemed aghast at the behavior of the U.S. They view us as the wealthiest country in the world. They can't understand why we have so much surplus and overlook the poorest members of our society. They quote figures quite accurately: three million homeless in the U.S.; 10 to 12 million out of work; millions without medical care. I don't think that what they're doing there is so much a function of Marxism as it's a long-standing motivation for survival and lifting themselves out of the fields. RAIN: Have plans for the peace poster changed since your trip? Schatz: Well, we've put some additional things on it. We put a space bridge on, and we've got a lot of high- tech communication symbolism— particularly linking First and Third World—to speed up the flow of quality information to places that need it the most. This peace poster is based mostly on the perceptions of Americans. The next peace poster will be a composite of American and Soviet images of peace, with more Third World connections built into it, since most of the global population is living in poverty. There seems to be a real competitive thing going on between Ronnie and Yuri when it comes to the Third World. We want to address that. A lot of things made sense to us, having spent three weeks there, in terms of [Soviet] attitudes toward Third World countries. There's a tremendous identification with people who are trying to redistribute wealth. They look at something like the arms race and say openly: "We can be accused of a lot of things, but at least we're not fueling the arms race to make gigantic profits for certain individuals." That's one difference between the motivation to build more weapons between the two cultures. I think Mr. Reagan has it wrong, calling these people evil; I would prefer to call them frightened. RAIN: Does this fit in with their desire to communicate with us? Schatz: Yes, but they're also very interested in the U.S. They need a lot of input to do what they want to do now: build a consumer society. We saw Walkmans on the street, kids with "ghetto blasters" playing Pink Floyd in public, the influence of Western clothing style. "'We ought to be the last people in the solar system to want to discourage communication with anybody." They want everything we've got—like the re^t of the planet seems to want. They're wanting to make those rewards possible but not by sacrificing people on the low end. The entire culture is integrating and coping with a history of abuse. I would say the biggest lesson we received from our visit was the need to study more of the history of the Soviet Union, to understand where they're coming from today, that [the Soviet system] isn't some diabolical plot to squash planetary consciousness. RAIN: What are you working on, now that you've returned from the Soviet Union? Schatz: We're creating interest in space bridges in Seattle and Portland. I would like to hook schools in both countries—have kids work on collaborative projects. I'm working on a project with a school near Portland to
Pages RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 do a space bridge with a school in Moscow. The City of Seattle wants to build space bridges with its sister city, Tashkent, U.S.S.R. It's a time of enormous opportunity. What do we have to fear if we truly believe in the first amendment? The freedoms we enjoy can only be maintained by preserving the right to have free and open discussion. We ought to be the last people in the solar system to want to discourage communication with anybody, unless people feel such lack of confidence in freedom and democracy that they think they'll catch a case of communism if they talk to a member of the Soviet government. RAIN: What do you think lies ahead for people-to- people communication? Schatz: One of the [facets] of high technology that fascinates me is its potential for quietly and rapidly rendering international frontiers less important than they are at the moment. The first computer was made operational the same year we destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. So it's kind of a race between communications and nuclear obliteration. The advent of microwave dishes and associated technologies is exciting to me as a move toward decentralized communications. Someone just called me to say a friend in Salem, Oregon, picked up a Soviet soap opera by microwave, and they taped it from a Soviet satellite that goes around the North Pole. They're now picking up Soviet television stations every day. It's impossible not to be involved in this because it's global by definition. Ham operators in the Soviet Union and the U.S. have been talking to one another for decades without any problems from their governments. I think we'll see an inevitable opening up of communication, because there's no way for them to stop it. You can put a microwave dish inside a home and still pick up signals. You don't need fancy, very expensive equipment to do that. It's out. □ □ ACCESS: Peace Communications World Policy Institute 777 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 212/490-0010 The World Policy Institute (formerly The Institute for World Order, founded in 1948) is a nonprofit educational organization that seeks to effect a shift in the American security debate away from military policies toward new policy options. Institute programs include a research and policy studies program, which develops practical alternative security proposals and recommendations, and a communications program, which seeks to inform and engage those who are concerned about the expensive, escalating arms race. The World Policy Institute has also made a long-standing effort to nurture the growth of world order education on college and university campuses nationwide. The Institute has encouraged and chronicled the growth in the number of these courses through its Peace and World Order Studies—A Curriculum Guide, which offers a select listing of course syllabi dealing with global problems from a humanist perspective. —TJ The World Game International House 3701 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 215/387-0220 The World Game, founded in 1972 by Buckminster Fuller, was established as an alternative to military "war games." In war games, specialists research, catalog, map, and analyze world data to develop and test strategies for controlling resources deemed vital to their self interests. War game strategies are based on the assumption of scarcity and an "I win—you lose" approach to national security. In the World Game, the focus is not local security or military investment, but global peace and economic vitality. Unlike war games. World Game strategies help demonstrate how, with existing resources and technology, the basic human need problems facing humanity can be solved. World Game has created a database of earth resources, production figures, technologies, global problems, and strategies. They use this information in conjunction with World Game maps (see access following "Exploring the Globe" elsewhere in this issue), publications, and other educational materials to enhance global awareness. They have produced over 60 programs, workshops and symposia in five countries that have been attended by more than 10,000 people from 50 states and 26 countries. -TJ International Christian Youth Exchange 74 Trinity Place New York, NY 10006 This organization, which is sponsored by 11 Protestant denominations in the United States, operates an exchange program for people between 16 and 24 years of age. The program allows young people from two dozen countries to stay with U.S. families for one year, attend school, and participate in community life. Similar arrangements are made for American young people abroad. —JF Quaker United Nations Office 777 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 212/682-2745 At Quaker House in New York City, QUNO provides an informal setting where United Nations delegates can meet one another as people rather than merely as representatives of governments. The delegates are able to express their thoughts "off the record," and QUNO's international staff can introduce Quaker
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 9 points of view on the issues under discussion. —JF American Field Service International/ Intercultural Programs 313 East 43rd Street New York, NY 10017 212/661-4550 Provides 11-month exchange programs for high school students from 60 countries. Students live with American host families and attend local high schools in all 50 states. Costs to the host family: bed and food. The Internal Revenue Service allows families to deduct up to $50 per month as a charitable contribution. AFS also provides a modest monthly allowance to students. Criteria for host families include curiosity about others, understanding about differences, and willingness to share, love, and occasionally laugh. AFS chapter volunteers assist the student, the host family, and the school. They also conduct orientation programs, arrange visits to places of interest, and facilitate community involvement. As one host brother put it, "Having Samir [from Turkey] living with my family this year has taught me how wonderful this world really is under all its crusty politics." Write for a host family or student exchange application. —KN Youth for Understanding International Exchange Program 3501 Newark Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20016 800/424-3691 Offers six-month (January to July) and one-year (August to July) exchanges for students, ages 15 to 18. American students live with host families in South and Central America, Japan (summer only), Australia, The Philippines, and Europe. Students from these countries can also arrange to stay with American host families through the program. "Costs" to American host families: meals, bed, and tender loving care. The Internal Revenue Service allows a $50 monthly deductible during the stay. Students visiting the U.S. carry medical and dental insurance and attend local high schools. Host families in an area meet occasionally to share and work out any problems. To apply, contact the main office, and a local volunteer will visit your family. I lived abroad for a year through YFU and highly recommend their service. —KN Esperanto League for North America P.O. Box 1129 El Cerrito, CA 94530 415/653-0998 The Esperanto League for North America (ELNA) is the central organization in North America for a worldwide movement to propagate Esperanto, a spoken and written "artificial" international language. Esperanto was created in the 1880s by Polish doctor Ludovik Zamenhof in an attempt to nurture greater international communication through use of a language that was both easier to learn and more linguistically neutral than traditional languages. Though Esperanto has never caught on as a language of world diplomacy, it has enjoyed far greater popularity than the myriads of other artificial languages that have been developed since the late Renaissance. An amalgamation of various European, African, and Asian lexicons, Esperanto is used today by an estimated one million people in over 90 countries around the world. It ranks among the 30 to 40 most used literary languages. (The library of the Esperanto Association in Great Britain, for example, has a collection of more than 20,000 titles.) Over 100 periodicals are published in Esperanto, including an international newsmagazine, Momto. Esperanto is an easy language to learn. Proponents like to proclaim that the streamlined grammatical structure of the language allows many people to master the basics without a teacher in less than one month of study. The recommended starter books for aspiring Esperantists are Teach Yourself Esperanto by John Cresswell and John Hartley (available from ELNA for $4.95 ppd.) and The Esperanto Dictionary by John C. Wells (available from ELNA for $6.50 ppd.). ELNA, which has 600-650 members, is the best source of information on Esperanto in this country. Besides offering over 1,000 titles in Esperanto through its book service, it also publishes a bimonthly newsletter, circulates a membership directory, and has an international travel service. (One of Esperanto's most intriguing uses is as an aid to globetrotters, and ELNA can supply a booklet listing Esperanto speakers throughout the world who are willing to put up travellers free of charge.) Both ELNA and the World Esperanto Association (of which ELNA is an affiliate) put on a variety of activities during the year. In 1984 ELNA will hold its annual congress in Portland, Oregon, July 14-19, and the World Esperanto Association will meet for its annual congress in Vancouver, B.C., July 21-28. Detailed information on these congresses and on other Esperanto activities is available through
Page 10 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 ELNA. —Steve Salmi Perspectives: A Teaching Guide to Concepts ofPeace, by the Educators for Social Responsibility, 1983,402 pp., $12.95 from: Educators for Social Responsibility 23 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138 How do we grow beyond the simplistic rhetoric of war versus peace when we barely understand one or the other, and feel powerless in any case? How do we balance the complex inequities that promote borders and conflicts? Setting aside for the moment the global ultimatums, how do we disassemble personal barriers, personal paranoias and personal hostilities that compound into larger tensions? And if we accomplish any of this, despite our own cynicism, how do we communicate it to children, who have the most to gain or lose from our success or failure? Perspectives admits to being no finished product or facile answer to the questions noted above. What it is is an outline, a set of exercises and a carefully thought-out approach to these questions. Children and teachers are encouraged to take "peace" apart, analyze its components and define it in active terms, not just as the absence of war, but as a tough and vital attitude towards life. They are urged to look at peacemakers critically—were Henry Kissinger or Martin Luther King peacemakers, each of them with their Nobel Peace Prize? What defines a peacemaker? Are we all capable of peacemaking? How can we cultivate a peacemaking stance in ourselves? They come up with conclusions that will not be new to readers of RAIN (think globally, act locally, for example), but the detailed study enroute to these conclusions, the simple daily assessment of ideas, actions, and their consequences, will certainly increase the awareness; involvement, and, perhaps most important, the faith of anyone who participates in the activities described in this book. —Carlotta Collette "Whole Earth Security: A Geopolitics of Peace," by Daniel Deudney, World- watch Paper #55, July 1983, $2.00 from: Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 After visiting the Soviet Union, Joel Schatz (see "Bridging Hemispheres" elsewhere in this issue) commented that the only fear he ever felt while there was in knowing that he was the target of an American nuclear arsenal capable of destroying that country several times over. Most of us realize that is the feeling shared by people in every single country. We're all hostage to any nation's nuclear stash. The result is that security is no longer divisible by national boundaries; common security is desperately needed. Fortunately, as Daniel Deudney shows in this Worldwatch Paper, the basis for a planetary security system is already available: communication and monitoring satellites and terrestrial sensing networks. Relying on tremendously thorough, computer- enhanced electronics to bear governments' need for eyeing their neighbors renders nuclear weapons less important. To do this, though, space must be left for planetary information technologies. If these technologies are protected—i.e., if weapons are banned from space—a lid will also be placed on the arms race. You probably won't find a more practical visionary description of how we can return security to Earth's crew. —KN What Will It Take to Prevent Nuclear War?, compiled and edited by Pat Farren, 1983, 239 pp., $6.95 from: Schenkman Publishing Company 331 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02138 Here is a fascinating collection of over 200 responses, from people of all walks of life, to the question of how to prevent nuclear war. Editor Pat Farren distributed nearly 25,000 fliers throughout the country and published notices in 50 national and regional publications, seeking answers to the question. In this book he shares the best of the nearly 1,000 responses. They are the voices of children, professionals, teachers, farmers, seniors, artists, monks, fugitives, housewives. ... They are the thoughts that inspire, frighten, activate, discourage, empower, rattle, and pacify. We do not recognize the names of most of the authors, although there are some responses from prominent politicians, writers, and activists. Few of the thoughts are profound or offer real solutions, but they are an expression of honest concern that is heartening and moving. This collection, divided into sections such as Fear, Hope, Education, Suggestions, Transformation, and Nonviolence, does not provide a representative view across the political spectrum. The proposals range from a nuclear weapons freeze to unilateral disarmament. There are calls for civil disobedience and anarchy. But few of the voices are from the middle of the road or the right wing. Those on the other wing will certainly find Ferren's book to be good reading and the source of some positive answers. Here is one such answer submitted by a woman from Newmarket, Ontario: It will take sanity and cooperation on a scale never before demonstrated in human history. It will take leaders with the courage to call a halt to the production and deployment of nuclear weapons. It will take public pressure, and the obliteration of mass apathy and resignation to fate. It will take thousands ofpeople with the courage to leave their jobs-and thousands of others to help them find useful employment. It will take a massive swallowing ofpride by every over-developed nation. It will take an attempt by hostile countries to trust and respect each other. It will take immediate action. It may be too late.—TJ
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 11 "A Better Game Than War: Interviews with Robert Fuller," Evolutionary Blues, Volume Two, 1983, $6.00, from: Evolutionary Blues P.O. Box 40187 San Francisco, CA 94140 Disarmament is not a realistic goal for the peace movement. In fact, peace is not the proper goal for the peace movement. This is the view of Robert Fuller, former President of Oberlin College. He argues in these interviews that nations will not disarm as long as they continue to fear each other. Peace is the absence of war, and war is a very exciting activity that humankind has practiced for centuries. Rather than directly oppose the excitement of armed conflict. Fuller suggests that we find "a better game than war." Mo Tzu is Fuller's idea for this better game. The original Mo Tzu lived in China in the Fifth Century B.C. He and his followers would travel to sites of developing conflict and try and get opposing sides to meet and work out their differences. Fuller defines modern Mo Tzu work as "finding what you love in what you hate." For example, the United Statesand Russia cannot continue to fear and hate each other. The cultures must be seen as complementary, each having an aspect of the larger truth. To reach this level of mutual respect, the world needs nonpartisans who will travel to troubled areas and introduce different cultures to one another. These people are not representatives of any government or organization. Diplomacy is too important to be left only to professional diplomats. Initial attempts to enact the Mo Tzu concept were carried out in 1982 by a small group that travelled to the Middle East, Ireland, Poland, and Kenya (see CoEvolution Quarterly, Fall 1982 and Spring 1983). These experiences revealed that when talking to a nonpartisan, government figures are less righteous and defensive, more open, and may be willing to at least look at a theoretical solution. For Mo Tzu to really become a better game than war. Fuller says it must move from being an individual and small group activity to being a collective activity, as is war. Envision an agreement between nations in which over the course of two years a million people travel from nation to nation focusing on establishing better relationships. This mammoth, multinational "Peace on Earth Corps" would help us learn to livewith our differences, see what is valuable in other cultures, even find love in what we now hate. —RB From: World College West catalogue INTERCULTURAL STUDIES There are numerous colleges and universities that specialize in international studies, and many institutions offer some options for study abroad. Friends World College, World College West, and the School for International Training are three particularly innovative and intensive programs. Each of these requires extended foreign study as part of its four year undergraduate program and each emphasizes an integrative intercultural experience.—TJ World College West Box 3060 San Rafael, CA 94912 415/332-4522 World College West is an independent, nonprofit college offering the bachelor of arts degree. Its program emphasizes global ecology, the interconnectedness of human knowledge, and the worldwide consequences of political, social, and environmental acts. The four year program includes a first year foundation in western culture and language preparation for intercultural studies. The second year intercultural program provides a perspective from which students can better understand and evaluate their own culture. This program is centered in Mexico with additional programs in Nepal and China. The third and fourth year upper division program offers a concentration in interdisciplinary majors of international development and diplomacy, human services, and international environmental studies. World College West seeks to provide a global perspective through a program that is integrated. participative, team-taught, and experience-based. It also seeks to develop the skills that will be necessary for success in an increasingly interdependent and ever changing world. —TJ The School for International Training Brattleboro, VT 05301 802/257-7751 The School for International Training was founded in 1964 by the Experiment in International Living in response to the demand for a professional program for people interested in pursuing careers in international operations. SIT offers a bachelors' program in international studies, which requires the development of an experience-based understanding of the international situation through extensive foreign study and internships in consort with rigorous academic concentration. SIT also offers a masters program in international management, which provides career preparation for people who want to work directly in fields associated with international and intercultural concerns. —TJ Friends World College Huntington, NY 11743 516/549-1102 Friends World College, a small, independent liberal arts institution, offers a non- traditional, field-work-based bachelor of arts program in international, interdisciplinary studies. Since 1965, Friends World College students have carried out studies in over 75 countries. The college maintains its world headquarters and North American center in Huntington, New York, as well as faculty and program centers in Macha- kos, Kenya; London, England; San Jose, Costa Rica; Kyoto, Japan; Jerusalem, Israel; and India. In addition to the intensive academic program at FWC, students are required to study in at least two cultures other than their own as an exposure to problems in cultures with differing political, economic, and social realities. —TJ
Page 12 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 EXPLORING THE GLOBE: A 1:8,000,000 Replica of Planet Earth by Than James As ]oel Schatz observes (see "Bridging Hemispheres" elseivhere in this issue), people-to-people communication through high technology is an important key to "quietly and rapidly rendering international frontiers less important." But ifioe are to fully realize our vision ofa borderless world in which peace has "broken out," we must also learn to understand the world itself better. In particular, we must recognize how thoroughly our thinking about essential human and ecological interconnections has been hampered by misleading I will never forget the time I saw those first photographs of the earth taken by the early astronauts. They stimulated my fascination with the earth and provoked me to question the conception we have of our planet. These images particularly struck me because they were so unlike the earth as I had been taught to see it. I knew lines ofseparation on brightly colored maps and globes. Than fames, our intern from College of the Atlantic, could find no globe that provided ivhat he felt to be "an honest representation of the earth." He resolved tocreatehis own globe, and set out on an adventure that taught him to see a small and fragile world where our human-imposed borders and most of the fruits of our civilization are invisible, but where the natural features that have always served to connect and divide us are very much in evidence. —JF the earth of maps and globes—covered with highways and cities, divided by political boundaries, and neatly partitioned by latitude and longitude. It did not occur to me at that time that from space there is little visible evidence of humankind on the face of the earth. In these photographs I saw my planet drifting alone in a seemingly desolate universe, alive and evolving as though it were a single living organism. As Lewis Thomas describes it, "The earth, viewed from the distance of the moon, has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun." Each continent had a unique and diverse set of geographical features, yet every aspect of the planet I saw was thoroughly integrated w'ith its surroundings. From this perspective I realized that I could learn a great deal about the biology and evolution of the planet, as well as how these natural features have driven human populations together and apart. This was the beginning of my exploration of earth and a journey upon the planet. I began to search for a globe that gave an honest representation of the earth, one on which I could view the visible patterns of terrain, climate, and vegetation, unobstructed by our imaginary political boundaries, time zones, and labels. Each of the many globes that I found served as an important and useful interpretation of our planet, but none of them gave a realistic view. , Finally, I resolved to create a globe myself. The replica of the earth that I envisioned would not
Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 13 just be a spherical map. The globe would give observers a perspective on their homes as they truly appear. I thought that perhaps it should be large enough to slightly intimidate and provoke its observers, yet also intrigue and invite them to explore its detailed surface. The completed five-foot diameter globe now hangs in the central stairway at College of the Atlantic, a school of human ecology in Bar Harbor, Maine. From the upper landing one can look down upon the northern hemisphere, then walk to the middle landing and run fingers across the Sahara Desert, or spin the globe to get a better view of the Amazon River Basin. Finally, one can walk below the globe and stare up at the great ice sheets of Antarctica. Unsupported from below, the globe gives the viewer a sensation that it floats freely in spaTcoel.ook at the many sides of the globe as it spins is the nearest we can come to seeing the entire surface of the earth all at once. Our inability to see the whole earth at one time is one of the great mysteries of globes and a dilemma that world maps have never truly overcome. From one perspective, looking into the central Pacific Ocean, almost the entire planet appears to be covered with water. Apart from the scattered islands of the South Pacific, almost no land is visible. Yet from another angle, centered on the Middle East, surrounded by Europe, Africa, and Asia, we see a planet that is almost entirely covered by land. It is the larger patterns, such as these, that are particularly prominent on this globe. Without the indication of cities, highways, and borders on it, most of us would find it difficult to find our homes, because we are so ignorant of the local geography. Although we have learned to avoid the mountains and rivers, by building tunnels and bridges, these are the features that stand out when viewing the earth from a distance. Using this representation of earth, observers are drawn to explore the source of the local watershed. By examining how the mountains and rivers divide the continents, they can learn how these geographical features led to the placement of cities and trade routes before the political boundaries and highways existed. But I did not build this globe only for others to learn from. By designing and constructing the globe, studying and placing each detail upon its surface, I learned far more about the land and ocean formations than I could have ever learned by simply observing them. As I formed the globe and gave shape to each continent, I experienced personal revelation about the earth and its particular parts. It was often a frustrating process, but always fascinating and stimulating. 'Trom this distant perspective I realized that I could learn a great deal about the biology and evolution of the planet, as well as how these natural features have driven human populations together and apart." The creation of the globe began with constructing a five-foot diameter, polyurethane-coated, styrofoam sphere. Working with numerous maps, atlases, globes, and Landsat photographs, 1 began to form the oceans, indicating depth with shades of aquamarine blue. This procedure impressed upon me the immensity of these bodies of water. The formation of the Ocean surface seemed like an endless task. But once it was completed I was thankful that two-thirds of our planet is covered
Page 14 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 with water, for it was the detailed depiction of the land masses that was the most tedious process. The first of the land forms that I projected onto the globe was the continent of Australia. We North Americans are particularly ignorant of this lonely continent in the southern hemisphere. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to give it the distinction of appearing first on the globe. This smallest of continents has a magnificent diversity of terrain and vegetation. A visibly vast and barren desert covers the western portion of Australia. The Great Dividing Range stretches across the east and drops off into the forests of the eastern shore. Even at this scale, one can distinguish the tropical areas from the temperate zones. In the south, the long and massive Murray River flows into the Tasmanian Sea. The island of Tasmania protrudes into that sea and is whipped by the trade winds as they circumnavigate the southern hemisphere. From Australia I worked my way north, forming the many islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. Though thick with jungle, this is one of the most densely populated areas of the world. Yet at this scale the presence of humans is scarcely evident. Next I arrived in southeast Asia, a war-torn area where we have watched the blood flow and political powers shift. On this globe, however, we see that the existing vegetation is far more abundant than the areas of devastation and the borders are invisible. Of particular fascination are the major rivers of Asia, all of which originate from the central portion of the Tibetan Plateau. All share common headwaters, yet complete their various journies in very distant lands. None of them flows west, however, for they are obstructed by the Kunlun Mountains. But on the other side of these mountains, in the Karakumy Desert, new rivers emerge that perform equally unexpectedly. Some of these many rivers flow hundreds of miles and then abruptly end. ''At a scale of one to eight million, one of the only visible effects of humankind on the planet is the creation and destruction of large bodies of water." Their waters evaporate as they traverse the desert. Though we assume that all rivers must eventually empty their waters into the sea, these cannot. Further west, new rivers form that flow toward the Caspian Sea, the largest lake in the world. It is a salt-lake from which no water escapes. The level of the Caspian Sea has been steadily dropping in recent years as the Soviet Union diverts the water flowing into it for industrial purposes. At a scale of one to eight-million, one of the only effects of humankind on the planet that we can see is the creation and destruction of large bodies of water, such as this one. Many times during the creation of the globe I would step back to observe this emerging form. I wopld spin the globe slightly, my fingers skipping across the Iranian Plateau, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Peninsula. After I completed the continent of Africa I was particularly struck by the glorious contrast between the dry and arid desert in the north and the deep shades of the rain forest in the central portions of the continent. One of the world maps I was working with showed elevation by coloring the lowlands green and the highlands brown. This was perhaps a logical method, but in Africa the desert is close to sea level, thus colored green on this map, and the rain forests, which are at a much higher altitude, were colored brown. It was typical of the way standard maps can actually distort our understanding of the planet. With Africa complete, I stepped forward again, with brush in hand, and crossed the Mediterranean to form Europe. After weeks of tedious detailing, I finally was confronted with my Eurocentric prejudice. As I reached the locale of my own culture, I was, of course, more familiar with the land form. I was becoming considerably more concerned about accuracy. Such prejudice was perhaps inexcusable, but it was equally unavoidable. As
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