RAIN November/December 1984 Volume XI, Number 1 Weed It and Reap Solar: Big Business
Page 2 RAIN November/December 1984 RAIN Volume XI, Number 1 November/December 1984 Editor Tanya Kucak Staff Rob Baird Brenda Jamsgard Alan Locklear Steve Manthe Katherine Sadler F. Lansing Scott Jeff Strang Contributors Val Chambers Richard Conviser Terri Gabriell Robert Kourik Mimi Maduro Michael Marien Roger Pollak Graphic Design Susan Applegate Comptroller Lee Lancaster Printing: Argus Printing Typesetting: Irish Setter RAIN magazine publishes information that can help people lead simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, amusing, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published six times a year by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a nonprofit corporation located at 3116 North Williams, Portland, OR 97227. Subscriptions are $25/year for institutions, $15/year for individuals ($9. 50 for persons with incomes under $6000 a year). For additional information on subscriptions and publications, see page 39. Writers' guidelines are available for a SASE. Editorial and advertising deadlines are two months prior to publication date. RAIN is indexed in the Alternative Press Index and New Periodicals Index. Members of the Rain Umbrella Board of Directors: Bruce Bliatout, Jackie Dehner, Patti Jacobsen, Kim MacColl, Mimi Maduro, Maggie Rogers, Steve Rudman, Sumner Sharpe, and Michael Wells. Copyright © 1984 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. ISSN 0739-621x. Cover: "A Great Light" woodcut by Susan MacMurdy from the Syracuse Cultural Workers Project 1985 calendar. See review page 19. LETTERS My wife and I read the May/June issue from cover to cover, as usual. A good issue, and it was nice to have an update on Findhorn. I understand Peter Caddy is in California now, attempting to start another, and here in Costa Rica, Steve and Paula Friedman hope to accomplish a Findhorn-type colony, to be called Genesis II, on their 84-acre plot on the high plateau. But I write primarily about your statement (in "Acupuncture: Balancing the Patterns") about "the intractable pain of malignancy, which neither modern Western nor traditional Chinese medicine can control." Mebbe so, if you speak of orthodox Western medicine, but there are other ways to control and even eliminate the pain. If you look at back issues of Cancer News Journal, published at Playa del Rey, California, you will acquire sufficient data in this line. A new book, The Cancer Survivors-and How They Did It, by Judith Glassman, 825 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10025, gives most of the "alternative" treatments for cancer and explains them in some detail. Edwin Todd Costa Rica Kris Nelson's "Plugging Leaks in Local Economies" article (July/August RAIN) piqued my interest and left me wanting to know more. I am organizing the Center for Economic Development, which will be oriented around the developmental needs and efforts of the "economically depressed" region of northwest Wisconsin, and many of his points hit home. As is true in many other areas through- . out the U.S. and the world, the local economic downturn was the result of changes and events external to the area in light of the dominance of external rather than local economic linkages and scales of activity. The present situation and its genesis similarly points to the potential merit of a reorientation and revitalization of the local economy in a manner that would leave area residents less susceptible to events beyond their control. The obvious first step would be the organization and implementation of a series of "comprehensive economic conservation audits" for the communities of the region. And this is where I would like to request your assistance. I'd appreciate sources of information on this type of endeavor and the names of communities and related contact persons/entities that have undertaken similar projects. Jerry Hembd University of Wisconsin Superior, Wjsconsin RAIN Readers: If you know of any communities that have undertaken eco110111ic-co11servatio11 audits, please let us know and we'll pass on the i11for111atio11. Yes, we are still here! The "same, small, knowledgeable audience" is out there waiting to read RAIN, and we deserve a good appropriate technology publication. Soft energy is still where it is "at." The earth has not gotten any bigger in size since the early 1960s. I'm in there for the long haul to offer a service that I feel good about and it ain't easy in a world that still won't put a price on clean air, water, and earth. Alternate soft technologies need a good publication and communication journal! Thanks for your work and the RAIN journal! Doug Whitefish, Montana Timberline Lodge, an example of Oregon Rustic or National Park Style (FROM: Oregon Style)
New Editor: By the time you read thi<>, I will have left RAIN: RAIN needs a new living-lightly editor who has experience with publications and knowledge of appropriate-technology issues. For a job description, write to Rob Baird, RAIN, 3116 North Williams, Portland, OR 97227. Circular Argument: If you tried to write to us in July or August but got no response, please try again. The post office somehow got the notion that we'd moved across the country rather than across town, and forwarded our mail to Portland, Maine. We didn't find out about it until we started getting phone calls from curious friends in Washington, DC, who'd received the suspicious address change from the post office. By early September, though, we were getting our normal amount of mail again. Reading and Dining Salon: ,Finding people to write enough reviews for each issue is a perennial problem at RAIN. 'fhe best idea I've heard so far for encouraging and supporting wider participation is a reading and dining salon-a discussion group that meets regularly to talk about interesting ideas, trends, projects, books, or people. It's really an old idea, dating at least as far back as the Greek Peripatetics. Recently, though, we've heard that Eric Utne, who founded the Utne Reader, has been hosting such a salon in Minneapolis. At each salon, he distributes new periodicals.and collects recommendations (of articles to excerpt or trends to watch, for example). We'd like to set up a reading and dining salon in Portland; contact us if you'rejnterested. We'd also like to hear from you if you've had experience with a long-term salon. What works best? What doesn't work? And we're still soliciting contributions! Join RAIN's Reviewers' Network: TeJl us about your areas of expertise and interest, and we'll entertain your suggestions of books to review for RAIN. Self-~eliance Contest: We received ~ight entries, most with ideas and suggestions rather than plans for making RAIN economically self-reliant. Thanks to everyone who took th~ time to send us ideas! We've been discussing ideas among ourselves for over a year, and we welcome further suggestions. We're including many of your ideas in our plans. And the winners are ... First place was a tie: Jon Naar of New York, New York, and Stephen Rappaport of New York, New York. Jon and Stephen each win a full set of RAIN back issues November/December 1984 RAIN Page 3 RAINDROPS and a RAIN T-shirt. Third prize goes to Joyce Schowalter of Sea,tle, Washington (one-year sub and T-shirt). 0 Jon sent a long list of suggestions. He said each RAIN reader should ''.be responsible for bringing in at least one more via a·gift and one via persuasion"; offer a sub to anyone who joins a related peace.or environmental group; affiliate with such groups; form an Advisory Board of Distinguished and Influential people; use local radio and public-access TV stations to promote RAIN; consider another RAIN poster-"we are still coloring in one of them at our local food co-op in Nyack!" Jon also notes, "As one of your earliest subscribers, I want to say that RAIN continues to be a most useful, important, and inspiring publication for all of us working in the fields of renewable energy, appropriate technology, ecology, for all of us working for a sustainable future, indeed for any kind of future at all." 0 Stephen analyzed RAIN's strengths and weaknesses in the areas of editorial and marketing, and suggested how to build on strengths and overcome weaknesses. He was the most thorough in his comments. Stephen also included a short list of promotion ideas. 0 Joyce wrote, "I think the reason you're not getting tons of replies in your 'how to make RAIN money' contest is: That's a very baffling question. It's a question many small organizations are struggling with these days. The only .thing I can think of is to subscribe. Maybe my$ will go down with the ship? That's OK." Other readers also suggested that we expand our networks and get subscribers more involved: · 0 James D. Skutt of Olympia, Washington,.suggested that readers organize gatherings in their communities-a Rainrriakers softball team that would carry out recycling projects, for example-to increase distribution of RAIN and to increase the contribution that the locai community could make. He also encouraged networking.among current RAIN subscribers. 0 Karen Coulter of Portland, Oregon, suggested that we approach specific environmental, political, and peace groups to distribute flyers, speak at meetings, publicize activities in newsletters, and so on. 0 Bill Berkowitz of Arlington, Massachusetts, suggested that we create a contest: have people send in ideas.for improving their communities, then publici~e the contest aggressively (nationally, with donated prizes), compile the best awards into a book or a regular feature, and use the mailing list to promote RAIN. 0 Ga:r:y A. Patton of Santa Cruz, California, suggested we use mailing lists of progressive politicians and alternative organizations (sponsors) to send a sample .copy and a letter of endorsement from the sponsor to prospective subscribers. He offered RAIN his ma'iling list, too. Three people also suggested that we get involved in radio: Jon Naar (see above); Stephen Rappaport suggested we prepare 3- to 5-minute features on subjects discussed in RAIN via radio or possibly TV; and Deborah Stark of Albuquerque, New Mexico, suggested that we get onto a late-night talk-radio show. -TK
Page 4 RAIN November/December 1984 The Transformation as Sandbox Syndrome by Michael Marien Michael Marien, after four interesting years in Berkeley during the early 1960s, returned "back East" to earn a Ph.D. i11 interdisciplinary social science from, th.e Maxwell School at Syracuse University .(1970). He has monitored the writing of futurists, system theorists, and various other reformers and visionaries for the past 14 years. His self-published guidebook to this .literature, Societal Directions and Alternatives (1976; out of print) led to the founding of Future Survey, a monthly abstract journal of.books alld articles on trends, forecasts, an.d proposals-transformational and otherwise. Future Survey and Future Survey Annual, which integrates abstracts from the monthly, have been published by the World Future Society since early 1979. In late 1979, the New World Alliance was initiated_, and Michael has served as a member of the Governing Council since then, with special effort devoted to helping prepare the NWA Transformation ' . Platform (1981), which he collsiders unique and promising, but very preliminary and incomplete. This essay, adapted fro171 a presentation at the Association for Humanistic Psychology Twentieth Annual Meeting in Washington (1982), is an initial probe into the vast and vexing problem of vhy so little human e, transform.ational ch ange actually takes place. This piece is reprinted from the Journal of Humanistk Psychology, Winter 1983. Summary: Belief that a social transformation is happening serves to keep it from happening. Behaviors associated with the sandbox of political impotency include: pronouncement of actual or imminent success, confusion of goals and results, an acritical stance, hubris, an incapacitating dialect, pseudoholism, egalitarian blind-
ers, and self-centeredness. Upward growth to escape the Sandbox Syndrome is a necessary ingredient of any serious social change. At the outset, I want to emphasize three beliefs that I share with many others: -Peace, freedom, equality, justice, community, love, truth, health, beauty, frugality, self-reliance, and selffulfillment-despite frequent conflicts with ~ach otherare all worthy goals, and should be pursued for all people worldwide. -The old paradigms or ways of thought a~e obsolete; new and broader paradigms offer more promise for the intelligent conduct of human affairs. ~Hyperindustrialized societi_es are in deep trouble, as are "developing" countries seeking to follow their example; majo~ changes will be necessary if we are to survive in any dignified fashion. Although a transformation in values, percep.tions, and institutions is desirable, it is far from inevitable. Despite an urgent need, change in a humanly desirable direction may not be taking place at all, or may be taking place at such a minuscule rate so as to be irrelevant. Indeed, I strongly suspect that the widespread belief in a transformation that is happening in fact keeps it from happening. We need reasonable hopes, of course. But making a religion out of social change-developing a body of unquestioned belief, derived from concern for the human condition and hope for a better world-only serves to deflect energies away from the hard work that must be done. Making a religion out of social change-developing a body of unquestioned belief, derived from concern for the human conditiOn and hope for a better world_-only serves to defiect energies away from the hard work that we must do. To illustrate, imagine that you are an agent of the FBI or CIA. You are called into the office of the Big Chief ar1d informed that there may be a subversive movement afoot-some call it the Aquarian Conspiracy. 1 It threatens the American way of life by seeking to disarm the U.S. and make peace with the Soviet Union, by redefining national security, by weakening the nation-state in favor of global peacekeeping, by weakening the global economy in favor of national and local self-reliance, by slackening U.S. participation in world competition for high-technology leadership, by encouraging individuals to be more self-reliant and not to consume as much, by promoting environmentalism at the expense of commerce, and by decentralizing economic and politieal November/December 1984 RAIN Page 5 power through wider participation in corporate and community decision making. This i,s clearly subversive. Your mission is to stop it. What should 'an effective agent do? · . Being wise in the ways of the world, you realize that the 1950s strategy of fighting the Red Menace will no longer work in the sophisticated 1980s. In our age of infoglut, why give valuable publicity to the Green Menace, when the movement, at least in the United States, 2 is largely invisible? Rather, you would exploit the widespread tendency of the movement, such as it is, to render itself politically impotent. You understand the dynamics of the sandbox: an enclosed area where children safely play, while adults carry on, undisturbed, in their usual wicked wa,ys. Two complementary forces promote this condition: Adults place children in the sandbox to get rid of them, and c~ildren volunteer to play_there because it is fun. Write a guidebook to networking or bartering, the magic processes of the alternative culture-but don't acknowledge the networks and barters used by the res_t of the world. To stop the potential subversion of America, all you have to do is go with the flow and promote the Sandbox Syndrome. 3 It's easy. Here are some tips: . (1) Encourag_f Belief in Success . Promote the view that cosmic change is coming, or taking place. Sirr}ilar to the fundamentalist Christians, who believe that Armageddon is about to take place, to be followed by a millennium for those who are saved, preach that the Transformation1or the Third Wave, is happening now-that we have reached the turning point, and that people are now seeing that. we can't continue the old ways. Don't attempt to offer evidence for this change, other than a one-time 1977 Harris Poll based on leading questions, 4 or some fuzzily estimated data sanctified by association with Stanford Research Institute. 5 Anything else would involve left-brain quantifying-an artifact of Consciousness II. 6 (2) Confuse Goals and Results. It feels good, and it won't hurt anyone's feelings, to proclaim that we are working for peace, we are changing minds, we are healing. Perhaps we are; perhaps we aren't. The intention and . the process are primary, not the outcome. Any hint of a managerial, performance-oriented approach is fascistic. (3) Don't Criticize. That's related to asking embarrassing , questions about results. Just let it be. Being peaceful, loving, supportive, and cooperative means treatin'g everyone equally and saying ill of no one. After all, everyone means well. Prickly questions are hostile and best ignored, or met with a hug. (4) Add a Dose of Hubris. Stand on the leading edge, the crest of the Third Wave, amid the New Age. You're _superior to those unliberated, linear cluckheads out
Page 6 RAIN November/December 1984 there. You know; they don't. Write a guidebook to networking or bartering, the magic processes of the alternative culture-but don't acknowledge the networks and barters used by the rest of the world. Your folkways, too, ·are superior. To enhance communication, invite Them to your saunas and hot tubs-don't even think of visiting their t>ridle trails and tennis courts, or, among the masses, their corner bars and bowling alleys. (5) Promote Your Own Dialect. Tired of pedantic jargon? Create your own hip language. Turn nouns to verbs . such as "peacing" and "futuring." Use.adjectives such as "incredible" to.describe every experience. Blows the mind, but who needs it? Use positive words such as "network," "caring," "holistic," "creativity," "synergy," "foresight," "cooperation," "transcendence," "win/ win," "human scale," and "human values." Dori't use negative words like "competition," "corporations," "com'nmnism," or "crime.''. Maybe they'll'go away. (6) Extol the Informal and the Nonacademic. Your intuition· is a safe guide, as is the common sense of the people. Ignore the elitist academics, with their ponderous footnotes and inter!TI.inable data. Accordingly, the academic journals and commercial publishers should also be dismissed, in favor of small book publishers and honest, alternative periodicals. (7) Get the Holistic Picture. You can acquire instant wisdom by taking the general systems point of view, or viewing whole systems. When you have the Big Picture· of Humanity, nature, and society, you know it all, and there is no need to learn any more. A historical perspective isn't needed because these ideas are obviously new. Two Paths to Transformation -1 . Progress 2. Results 3. Supporters 4. Opponents 5. Language 6. Information 7. Truth 8. Power I UTOPIAN/PUERILE (The prcvaili11g Way of the Sandbox) The Transformation is happening Goals are outcomes Be supportive and don't criticize; all efforts are good; no sense of evil or excellence Ignore or vilify; you are superior Create your own; ignore official definitions of reality Favor intuition and the nonacademic Perfected wisdom through instant holism Ignore it . PE.AGMATIC/MATURE (A possible pattern of the future) Weigh both successes and fai!t1res Outcomes not necessarily in accord with goals Constructive criticism; back yvinners and drop losers; evil and failure are possible Seek to debate opponents and learn from them; invite hard questions Use common language to communicate broadly; challenge ideas in power _ Seek the best in formal and nonformal, scholarly and popular Holism c.is a learning tool and unrealized ideal Ackno~-vledge it-and its very unequal distribution L~Self~-------------Yo_· u-a-re-~ntr~l; change sOlf to ch•:_w_o_r-ld_ _ __ Y_o_t~-ic_1~_=_~1a-gc_;_w-it_h_1_1a-tu_r_e_a_n_d_s_~_ci-e-ty;__n_1a_n_y_p_a_t_h_s~
(8) Create Instant Equality. Forget the rich and the poor. The rich have great power, which is too much to contemplate. So don't. The poor can't meet thei.r basic material needs, which is also a downer, best ignored. Preach that we all have enough and that more self-help is needed. Fits nicely into the antipoverty strategy of the Reagan administration. (9) Be·Self-Centered. You have the power of the New Age in your head; change your consciousness and you can change the world. We have met the enemy and he is, us. The responsibility for health, for change, for peace, is within you. · All of the above-and more, no doubt, could be added-add up to the Sandbox Syndrome: a set of behaviors guaranteed to keep an individual or an organi-, zation in a childish state of innocence, 7 content with building sand castles, instead of real-life structures. A good CIA agent would prorhote this simple.:.mindedness, rather than publicly fight the specter of the Green Menace. ' To enhance communication, invite Them ·to your saunas and hot tubsdon 't even think of visiting their bridle trails and tennis courts, or their corner bars and bowling alleys. _ · But what if you read some books by Lester R. Brown, . Willis Harman, Hazel Henderson, Ivan Illich, Amory Lovins, James Ogilvy, James Robertson, Theodore Roszak, Kirkpatrick Sale, Mark Sat.in, E. F. Schumacher, Robert Theobald, William Irwin Thompson, Alvin Toffler, and others, 8 causing you to believe the Green Message? What if you see the necessity of a sustainable, decentralized, human-needs-oriented society-the Jeffersonian vision of America as the real American way of life, rather than the Hamiltonian, corporate view?9 With a flush of true patrio~ism, you decide to be a counteragent and to work for genuine ecodecentralism. What do you do? Here are some general tips: (1) Grow Up. All of the above-mentioned positions are simplistic. An upward growth :requires a broader, mo_re subtle, and complex view: (a) Develop a wide range of indicators that describe both successes and failures. · · (b) Don't confuse goals and results, but insist on measures of performance and on standards. (c) Be constructively critical: Point to good work and how it can be improved-and also to work that is useless or damaging. 10 · (d) Be humble: We all have much to learn in an age of November/December 1984 RAIN Page 7 ignorance. Identify your opponents and their arguments, and learn from them. 11 ~ (e) Use the English language correctly as a-tool of thought, and to enable communication with those in need of hearing your message. (£)Seek the best thought from both academics and nonacademics; use your intuition as one of many learning tools. (g) Similarly, holism should also be used as a tool for learning, and recognized as an ideal to strive for ceaselessly both in space and time. (h) Recognize that inequities in wealth and income are increasing, that the poor need help to help themselves, and that even good help will not necessarily help. (i) Understand that there are many sources of problems in both individuals and society, that the two are interactive, and that individuals are often not at all responsible for their problems. 12 · (2) Connect Some Disconnected Yins and Yangs. In advocating a Taoist framework for dealing with reality, Fritjof Capra notes that a dynamic balance between yin and yang is good, and imbalance is bad. 13 Several balances· are mentioned above (success and failure, academic and nonacademic, individual and society). Several additional pairings not to be found on Capra's·list are also needed: (a) Inspiration and Perspiration. Our spirits can benefit from the uplift of preaching and cheerle.ading. But exhortation toward the promised land is not enough; we must work very hard to bring it about. (b) Realism and Idealism. We need idealists with a foot on the ground of reality, as well as realists who can keep some ideal in mind. Both, in dialogue with each other, .should replace the great number of utopians with no sense of reality and "realists" with no appreciation of any ideal. · (c) Cooperation and Struggle. In our age of instant gratification by video and drugs, many think that social
Page 8 RAIN November/December 1984 change should be instant, painless, and nonreversible. While seeking out opportunities for cooperation, a dialectical view of struggle is also needed. Indeed, those who ostensibly share your views may not necessarily be cooperative, and your greatest struggle may be with such "movement killers." 14 , (d) Intellect and Spirit. Jn trying to escape from what is seen as too much rationality in modern society, an excuse is often provided for anti-intellectualism in the name of the neglected "right brain." We need a more rational rationality, not less rationality. (e) Critics and Lovers. As pointed out by John W. Gardner, we should avoid the extremes of unloving critics and uncritical lovers. 15 Another way to consider more productive behavior is to note the ti::aits of Abraham Maslow~s self-actualizing people, whi~h include: fighting untruths, not needing to be loved by everyone, enjoying greater efficiency and being effective, looking at facts courageously, and avoiding illusions. 16 (3) c·et the New Age Act Together (to Some Degree). The pervasive condition that must be faced fS the fact that we live in an age of infoglut. Another book, journal,· conference, or newsletter about peace, healing, or environmentalism will not necessarily help people·, and might simply add to the pervasive problem of information overload and fragmentation. The transformational message must be recognized as "the world.-crisis solution with a hundred names"-green revolution, human s'cale, person-centered society, human economy~ vconserver society, solar age, meta-industrial alternative, Gandhism, .and so on. As long as this message is fractured 'into a hundred or so labelings, The Transformation, or whatever, will continue to be stillborn. (4) ... and Take It 011 the Road. Talking to the converted is sufficient for a religious organization, although even - religions seek converts. If we are serious about a genuine transformation of values and perceptions, the world must know that desirable and practical alternatives exist. Despite the great volume of New Age literature, "the world-crisis solution with a hundred names" still remains invisible to mainstream culture, or is readily dismissed as "small is beautiful" romanticism. New Age literature is seldom reviewed in mainstream periodicals. It seldom enters textbooks or political campaigns. The old ways of thinking are still very much in power: (a) One-dimensional, flat-earth politics, restricting all possibilities to "the" left-right political spectrum of liberals and conservatives, still prevails in our political analysis. (b) One-eyed eco·nomics, ignoring the informal or household economy, continues to define "the" economy. . (c) One-directional social.evolution, involving more economic growth and a service society, continues to be the only definition of progress. 17 (d) One-time education, assuming that an individual has completed learning upon leaving school or college, continues to inhibit adults from discovering ignorance anq learning needs. The Sandbox Syndrom~ is a set of behaviors guaranteed to keep an individual or an organization in a childjsh state of innocence, content with building sand castles, instead of real-life structures. To improve on these paradigms in power, there must be widespread and genuine debate and discussion, rather ' than smug isolation and loose talk of paradigm change. (5) Aim High and Don't Shoot Your Foot. There is a frequent tendency to underestimate the transformational task, while overestimating the progress that has been made. This is complicated by the use of images and ideas that are intellectually lauda~le but politically inept: for example, a "no-growth society," in contrast to the more attractive notion of a human-growth society. Western science is another illustration: rather than rejecting it, and creating an easy target for the charge of being antiscience, a better,strategy would advocate a more scientific science-a superior world science that incorporates various scientific traditions. 18 This advice is for th.e counteragent, who would seek to promote an actual transformation. But the task is difficult. The agent, who embraces the Way of the Sandbox, follows the path of least resistance. Both the agent and the counteragent are at work. Who will win? Probably the agent. Still, the counteragent may-prevail-the slender hope fhatprompts this essay. Whom do you want to win? D D ·
November/December 1984 RAIN Page 9 Afterword Michael Marien's analysis of the Sandbox Syndrome prompted a brief response from Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, in the same issue of the Journal of Humanisti, Psychology (Winter 1983, volume 23, numberl): "Transformation as a Rough Draft." In her article, Ferguson contends that the transformation is a good thing and that it is indeed happening. . In the Fall 1983 (volume 23, number 4) issue of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Michael Marien responded to Ferguson in the article "Further Thoughts an the Two Paths to Transformation: A Reply to Ferguson." In this article, Marien expands on his first article, after stating that "the Great Conspirator offers no evidence that she has actually read the essay, ot, if she did, that she understands it." He challenges Ferguson's points with wit and logic, and the essay \s well worth , reading. In addition, Marien restates the two paths as Transformation I (the utopian/puerile path) and Transformation II {an attempt "t'o grow up politically, and to deal effectively with the real world'.'). Marien's points are convincing, unlike Ferguson's "arguments." In fact, Ferguson declined an invitation to respond to . Marien's second article, and further stated that if the Journal of Humanistic Psychology published the piece, she would resign from the journal's Board of Editors. They did and she did. -TK · I I NOTES 1. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Tra11sfor111atio11 in the 1980s (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1980). 2. Green parties such as Les Vertes, Die Griinen, and the UK Ecology Party are now established minor political parties in Europe. Despite characteristic disorganization, they are at or near the point of being wooed by the major parties. 3. The Sandbox Syndrome is not confined to New Age groups, but can be found in many minority political groups of both the Right, the Left, and "beyond Right and Left" (which New Age groups purport to be), as well as in established organizations. For purposes of this exploratory essay, Sandbox behaviors will be described only as they apply to "transforinationalists." 4. Duane. Elgin, Voluntary Si//lplic;ity (New York: William Morrow, 1981), p. 128: An example of the leading questions asked: "By 66 percent to 22 percent, the public chooses 'breaking up big things and getting back to more humanized living' over 'developing bigger and more efficient ways of doing things."' 5. Ibid., p. 132. Based on work with Arnold Mitchell at SRI, Elgin estimates that, in 1980, roughly 6% of the U.S. adult population is "wholeheartedly exploring a life of voluntary simplicity," and that such a lifestyle "could well grow to be the dominant orientation for as much as a majority of the adult population of many Western developed nations by the year 2000." No justification is given for this exuberant extrapolation. Although the SRI data have been frequently and acritically cited by many New Age writers, they are not based on a rigorous survey, btit on "best guesses based upon our immersion in all of the relevant data that we could find" (Elgin letter to Marien, September 7, 1979). 6. For historical buffs, Consciousness II is the est!'lblishment mindset as characterized in a 1970 best seller by Charles A. Reich, The Greening of A//lerica (New York: Random ·House). Ferguson's Aquaria11 Co11spiracy might be usefully compared as a 1980s version of Reich's book. · 7. Rollo May, Power and Innocence (New York: W.W. Norton, 1972). May describes innocence a·s the virtue of not having powera way to confront one's powerlessness by making it a seeming virtue. He distinguishes between the authertic innocence of childlike attitudes and the childishness of pseudoinnocence, often associated with utopianism and the urge to make things simple and easy. 8. Abstracts of recent books and articles by most of these writers are available in Future · Survey Annual 1980-1981, ed. Michael Marien (Bethesda, MD: World Future Society, 1982). Note especially the section on Decentralization/ Eco-Humanism, pp. 109-117. 9. This argument, still applicable today, is made in detail by Herbert Ag<Jr, Land of the Free (Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1935), who poses a choice between the true American Culture of self-government, equality, freedom, and humanity, and a debased form of the Civilization of the West (finance capitalism and ownership by the few). 10. May, Power and Innocence, p. 110, eloquently states that "our narcissism is forever crying out against the wounds of those who would criticize us or point out our weak spots. We forget that the critic can be doing us a considerable favor. '~ 1 11. Charles Hampden-Turner, Radical Man: The Process of Psycho-Social Development (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman, 1970), p. 327. Developmental radicals, in contrast to dogmatic radicals, need the insights of all their political opponents (p. 329). Also see May, Power and Innocence, pp. 109-110, who points to the necessity of opponents for all important truths. ' 12. William Ryan, Blaming the Victi111 (New York: Pantheon, 1971), argues that the ideology of victim-blaming is a primary barrier to effective social change: Also see Dana Ullman, "Responsibility and Holistic Health," Holistic Health News (Berkeley Holistic Health Center), Spring 1980. Ullman has pointed out tha·t "blaming the victim" (including self-blame) is another important characteristic of the Sandbox Syndrome (Ullman letter to Marien, July 30, 1982). 13. Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), p. 36. 14. Byron Kennard, Nothing Can Be Done, Everything ls Possible (Andover, MA: Brick House Publishing, 1982), p. 83. 15. John W. Gardner, The Re.covery of Confidence (New York: Norton, 1970), p. 29. 16. Abraham H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, 1971), pp. 308-309. 17. The first three paradigms are explored in somewhat greater detail by Michael Marien, "Toward a Devolution of Services," Social Policy, 9, 2 (1978): 26-35. 18. Bruce Holbrook, The Stone Monkey: An Alternative Chinese-Scientific Reality (New York: William Morrow, 1981). Holbrook argues that the Chinese Polar-Complete world view is clearly superior to the Absolute-Fragmental paradigm of Western science. Although he does not suggest the compromise of a synthesized world science, such a,synthesis would seem to be ultimately likely and desirable. Also see Ziauddin Sardar, "Why Islam Needs Islamic Science," New Scientist, April 1, 1982, pp. 25-28, for a parallel argument from another scientific tradition. Rl?printcd by per111issio11 of Michael Marien and Sage Publications.
Page 10 RAIN November/December 1984 -------·-·- -- --··-----··-··-- -------- ACCESS: SOCIAL CHANGE Connexions: A Digest of Resource~ mid Groups for Social Change, quarterly, $10 (Canadian)/year, from: Connexions 427 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1X7 Canada A quarterly digest of resources and groups for social change in Canada. Each issue contains SU1nmaries of publications and descriptions of groups under subject categories such as energy, militarism, media, women, and health, along with a special theme section giving more extensive coverage of a particular topic. It also contains regular summaries of alternative Canadian periodicals and i:ln "Announcements and Appeals" section. -FLS Future Survey Annual 1983, edited by Michael Marien, 1984, 240 pp., $25 from: World Future Society 4916 St. Elmo Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 This is a compendium of abstracts of 1,140 books, reports, and articles that first appeared in the monthly issues of Future Survey between July 1982 and September 1983. It assembles in one place a great variety of writings about trends, forecasts, and proposals in all areas of society. Marien can be praised for the evenhanded treatment he gives to a diversity of viewpoints in his attempt to bridge the communication gaps between academic, professional, and popularized writings, and between mainstream and alternative approaches. Such a comprehensive overview is useful for getting the big picture of where our society is headed and different views of where it ought to be headed. We've used it for ordering books here at RAIN. It's a must for anyone seriously interested in futures studies: -FLS Redesigning the American Dream: The Future ofHo.using, Work, and Family Life, by Dolores Hayden, 1984, 270 pp., $17.95· cloth from: W.W. Norton and Company 500 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10036 · I have heard from many people that putting architects and urban planners together in one room produces a most noxious combination. In this case, the blending of architect, planner, and social critic in one remarkable woman has produced a delightful, thought-provoking book. · Hayden is already well known for her books on the history of feminist housing and urban design or that of social utopias. These earlier.works, along with the landmark article "What Would a Nonsexist Society Be Like?" in the journal Signs, complement the broader social analysis and more detailed conclusions that characterize Redcsig11i11g the A111erica11 . Dream. Citing Thoreau-"What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"-Hayden builds the argument that at the heart of America's housing and urban crisis is our determination to force our cities and public spaces into the 19th-century ideal of" private home and hearth. The environmental, social," and economic costs of such narrow privatism have been staggering, as our modes of living have not begun to meet the rapidly chat1ging needs of the American people. What we face now is the tremendous task of rethinking our conceptions of gender, work, and public and private space, and our relationship to the natural and modified environment. Hayden is not at all gloomy on this count, and she produces several accounts of r:edesigned dreams around the world, describing the alternative political, econoni.ic, and social means employed in some pretty lively . experiments both at the neighborhood and broader municipal/national levels. Hayden covers just about all the technical bases in her book, from urban infrastructure to econoniic development and zoning. Her research in architectural and urban planning subjects is thoroughly presented. If you haven't read her other books, her latest may be overwhelming and a bit presuming of prior knowledge. One wishes for a 20-volume set of Dolores Hayden to get it all straight. But what sets Hayden apart from the usual university crowd (she is a professor at UCLA) is her willingness to identify, if not elaborate on, the forces at work that are responsible for a nation full of unlivable cities and isolated households--;-the economic inequities, racism, sexism, ageism, and militarism. Her most thorough analysis is that of the sexist and 1:i.arrow attitudes toward women that cripple our society. Whether or not you agree with her offend-no-one liberal sociopolitical ideas or those of the many people she quotes, you have to admire Hayden's ability to take her thesis out of elitist'academic jargon into a frank discussion that could take place at a shopping center, neighborhood association meeting, or town hall. Her be.lief in citizen as catalyst and planner challenges the theory popular in some circles that American societal problems are best , solved by the professional social engineer, designer, and plann~r. The air in that one small room is getting awfully stuffy. -Val Chambers Val Cha111bcrs is a gradiiatc student in environmen - tal studies/public policy at The Evergreen State College in Oly111pia, Washington. Human Rights Organizations and Periodicals Directory, edited by David Christiano and Lisa Young, fifth edition, 1983, 248 pp., $9.95 from: Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute PO Box673 Berkeley, CA 94701 An exhaustively complete resource guide to peace, human-rights, and equal-rights organiz~tions based in the U.S. Includes alphabetical and regional guides, a guide to federal agencies providing information for human-rights activists (yes, they still do exist), and periodical and subject indexes. Entries in the three guide sections contain addresses, phone numbers, regional or local branch offices, and a brief statement about each group, a_s well as information concerning periodicals published by these organizations. The last 34 pages contain useful information on existing laws and pending iegislation in the field of human rights and social justice. This thorough, inexpensive reference book should prove u·seful for social-change activists and organizations. -SM
Wild and Wooly Vegetables by Robert Kourik November/December 1984 RAIN Page 11 Rob~rt Kourik was a vegetable gardener through~ut his youth in St. Louis, Missouri, and has been an avid gardener in California since then . His experience led to a career in landscape maintenance, ·design, and installation. Robert's work 1101.v focuses primarily on the design and construction of passive solar greenhouses, greywater systems, and edible landscapes. He founded the Edible Landscape Program at the Farallones Institute Rural Center in Occidental; California. The following excerpt is from Robert Kourik's forthcoming book, entitled Designing and Planting Your Edible Landscape (available in November from Robert Kourik, PO Box 1841, Santa Rosa, CA 95402). -TK What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Wild edibles are free. Many thrive without-our care or tillage. Wild edible weeqs are food for the laziest and ~he most adventurous of gardeners. They take some getting used to-their flavor is often more powerful than that of common vegetables. But the strong, powerful flavor betrays the superior nutritional value of "weedy" vegetables. I'm a lover of strong, spicy vegetables-but not everyone else is. If their texture or flavor is too unusual for your taste, try sneaking the wild edibles into your diet. When I have friends over who are unfamiliar with or · squeamish about wild edibles, I dice-the raw, leafy wild greens into small pieces and mix them with a larger portion of ordinary salad greens. This way, I can gently introduce these nutritionally power-packed vegetables to my friends without startling their taste buds. I also add the most strongly flavored leaves and roots in small pieces to soups. Sometimes my guests are so bold as to pick out little pieces to sample individually. If they like the ffavor, I encourage them to gradually increase the proportion of the "wild and wooly" vegetables with , each meal. Some wild edibles are as tasty and succulent as any lettuce. Onc_e you have become addicted to the superior flavor and nutrition ofiwild foods, you can add your favorites to patches in your edible landscape. Wild, edible-weed patches don't fit many people's idea of beauty. Indeed, the beauty in wild edibles is their taste, nutritional superiority, and ease in growing If you like, hide these "weedy" patches; put them behind the dog pen or the garage. The Well-Layered Garden The secret of naturalizing wild edibles is to establish your chosen plants in such a way that other plants cannot compete. The technique I favor for starting a wild patch combines sheet composting, which is like a short version of a typical compost pile, with a biodegradable weedkiller-newspaper and cardboard. Toxic . herbici.des are unnecessary. The key to'this system is to never disturb the soil. If you till or cultivate, especially in the upper layers, you encourage buried seeds to sprout. Well-mulched, no-till gardens eliminate most weeding. Only the seed in bird droppings and that blown in by the wind will sprout in your garden.
Page 12 RAIN November/December 1984 WE:LL- LAYERE'.:(7 bAR.oe N FROM: Oesig11i11g and Pla11ti11g Your Edible Landscape © 1983 ROBERT KOURIK The Recipe _You start without tilling, right on top of whatever is there already-lawn, weeds, bare soil. First, apply a one-time application of organic fertilizers-slow-release rock powders such as colloidal phosphate and granite dust, which nourish strong growth for years". If necessary, balance the pH with lime for acid soils or sulphur for alkaline soils. Now, add layers of raw mat.erials (leaves, clippings, manure, hair, sawdus( and so on}, mixing the layers to achieve a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of between 20 and 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen. If the ratio is less than 20, you have surplus nitrogen. Be.cause nitrogen is less stable than other nutrients, it will leach out of the root zone or leave as a gas unless. you add materials high in carbon, such as leaves. If the number is above 30, add a nitrogen-rich material such as manure to adjust the ratio. If you start on top of dense sod, the first layer should be manure, because fibrous material needs more nitrogen to decompose. Put down as many layers as you have the time or materials for. The result is like a flat, mini-compost pile, which is why this method is called sheet composting. . The beauty in wild edibles is their taste, nutritional superiority, and ease in growing. Some wild edibles are as· tasty _and succulent as lettuce. · Some of the ra\.'V materials you use will be full of seed. Left to sprout, these renegade seeds may out-compete the plants you're trying to establish. To smother them, put down a layer of newspaper or cardboard. This same biodegradable weedkiller helps to make sure no noxious weeds survive that were originally present. The newspaper and cardboard are temporary barriers. In a season or two, when they're no longer needed, they will have decomposed, and even added a small amount of organic matt'er and nutrients to the soil. The ni.ore vigorous the lawn or native plants below your layered,garden, the thicker the sheet compost and the paper layer needs to be. Five to fifteen sheets of newspaper or one to three sheets of cardboard are usually sufficient, but you should experiment with the thickness. Be sure to greatly overlap the edges to prevent vining, runner-rooted plants from twisting up through the layered sheets. Try ' soaking the newspaper briefly, or soak the cardboard for an hour or so-it makes layering them easier. The safest · paper to use is plain stock or paper printed only with black ink. In black ink, the color comes from carbon _ black-fancy soot (lead-based pigment is too expensive to use for black). Other colors of ink may contain toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, and mercury, which can be absorbed by your plants. Heavy metals never degrade into harmless materials. Especially avoid the yellow and red inks, because they are more·toxic than other inks. You won't be able to use most of the pages from Mother Earth News in your garden. Nobody wants to look at a ratty landscape littered with the Sunday paper, so be cosmetic. Cover the layer of gaper with a "seed free" mulch. Compost prepared by the hot method, where temperatures of 140°F to 160°F are generated through the pile, ordinarily will have very few viable seeds. If you make your own compost, avoid adding plants that have mature seed heads and plants that have vigorous running roots, such as periwinkle, crabgrass, and ivy. To be lazy, skip compost. Each region of the country has various seed-free materials. Some materials that could be used for the mulch layer include leaf molds, wood chips, salt hay, sand, straw, sawdust, seaweed, ·and lawn clippings.
Planting·Your Wild Edible Weeds Now you are ready to plant your favorite wild edibles. The easiest way is to transplant seedlings from the wild. Take a kitchen knife and cut an x through the paper layer (the layer should be moist and easy to poke through), place a pocket of loamy compost on the x , and transplant into this pocket. These captured plants easily take root in their new home, even growing · through pockets of raw materials-.being ''weeds," they can take abuse. In fact, many wild edibles-among them lamb's quarters, stinging nettles, amaranth, and chickweed-thrive on high nitrogen. I've even seen them growing while floating on top of liquid manure! (The local dairies clean their barns with a flush of water and collect the slurry in large cisterns. A 12- to 18-inch crust forms, on which I've seen edible weeds thriving. Yet a rock tossed onto the crust makes the entire·surface undulate like ocean waves, and the rock sinks.) Experiment with wild gardens, cut loose the bindings of conventional gardening, and play. No two welllayered, wild edible gardens that I've done have turned out the same.Tve used this technique for five years in a dozen gardens and each one has been a delightful surprise. ' To try out a lot of varieties quickly, start from seed. You have to plan ahead, since the seed of the wild edibles will mature in a different season than you'll want to plant. Observe which wild edibles thrive in your local area in the harshest of conditions: These are the ones to collect seed from. Many wild seeds will keep for years or decades, so you need only collect each variety once in a great while. Blend the seeds collected from the wild and scatter them over the mulched surface. You needn't worry about how much seed to use; a jungle of plants grows. , Water regularly until the seeds germinate. Once the seedlings have some.leaves, start thinning-and don't forget to eat the thinnings! The youngest wild edibles ~O~DER PROTEC.T/ON HOU?~ 11 WlLf? ~nJ WOtJLY11 fOOC> PLANT5 November/December 1984 RAIN Page 13 are the sweetest and the most succulent. Throughout the season, harvest as needed. This garden will take care of itself. Let some of the healthiest plants of each type go to seed every season. Apply compost to cover bare areas and mildly fertilize your "wild and wooly" food garden. Be sure to put the compost down before the seeds ripen so the seeds can scatter themselves over the new mulch. Protecting Your ·Borders Wind-blown seed is a major source of unwanted plants in well-layered gardens. When you choose a spot for your wild garden, keep in mind that your house can act as a wind break, and hedgerows can filter out seeds. Remember, too, that driveways and walks can bar invasive running roots from the garden. A border of straw bales can act as a protective mulch, keeping out nearby plants. Break open the bales closest to the garden and spread the straw as a seasonal mulch. As the bales are used up, the wild edibles will expand to fill the area. (The soil under the bales will have improved by the action of worms and soil bacteria.) The same protective borders contain the potentially rampant seed of the wild edibles garden, helping.prevent their drifting to other areas of the landscape. A little bit of management in this garden will save lots of time elsewhere. Some wild edibles are so persistent and invasive that they may not be worth the risk of future maintenance nightmares. Examples are burdock (Arctium Lappa), pig\J\'.eed (Amaranthus spp.), French sorrel (Rumex spp.), plantain (Plantago major), and nettle (Urtica dioica). An edible weed patch is a great conversation piece, puzzling and intriguing to visitors. If you like the flavors and enjoy laziness, you won'tworry about the perplexed gape of your friends. D D © 1983 Robert Kourik FROM: Designing and Pla11ti11g Your Edible Lalidscape D 1983 RO BERT KO URIK
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