I saw your ad in Clinton Street Quarterly, and since I raise bamboo nursery stock, I had a friend pick up a copy for me the same day. I wish you had told me! .. . in our culture we have no bamboo tradition. Consequently its rapid growth in the shooting phase is cause for.alarm ... bamboo must be harvested! My metaphor is to an old apple tree-another thicketgrowth plant. If you don't prune and harvest the fruit, you get an unsightly mess. So it behooves all of us interested in bamboo to adopt a grove of untended bamboo and thin, fertilize, weed, and harvest shoots. The best article I know of on bamboo is "Bamboo for Northern Gardens" in the July '79 issue of Horticulture Magazine. On painting bamboo, Portland's O"';n Wing K. Leong has written How to Paint Bamboo (pub. Chinese Art Studio, 332 SW 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97204). The book includes a section on bamboo in oriental culture that is one of the best I've read. · As far as tools for fine work with bamboo, the only source I know is Woodline The Japan Woodworker, 1731 Clement Avenue, Alameda CA 94501. For horticultural interest in'bamboo, the American Bamboo Society, 1101 San Leon Court, Solana Beach, CA 92075 (619) 481-9869, is a non-profit organization promoting all knowledge of bamboo. The P~cific Northwest chapter can be contacted through my partner Ned Jacquith (1507 SE Alder, Portland, OR 97214) or at 1002314th Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98177 (206) 783-2252. A friend lent a copy of the September/ October 1984 RAIN to me. I was surprised and saddened to see that your issue on art in everyday life did not contain an article on photography. If one can get past the shallow objection that photography is mechanical, one can see that it is an art generated and controlled by individuals. It is highly decentralized, and, if one has the good sense to include .the common photograph~ it is an art practiced by millions world-wide. I hope your omission of photography is just an oversight, and not evidence that only the overly-romanticized, traditional· crafts, street painting, and agitprop theatre count for you. Mary Lou Marien LaFayette, NY I think RAIN has reached a new level with the publication of Michael Marien's article on "The Transformation as Sandbox Syndrome" and Roger Pollak' s article , on solar power in the November/December issue. For years I've thought that RAIN was a nice journal, full of good words and gardening tips, but rather unrealistic in just the way Marien describes. It wasn't the only such periodical · around, of course; lots of whole-earth books and mags spouted the sa:me optimistic brand of bubbly that he deplores. The New Left had a lot of it, too. I call it the "Jericho Syndrome": all you have to do is march around blowing trumpets and shouting slogans and the walls will come tumbling down. Now with the election ofl984 behind us, we can finally realize that it ain't gonna be Thanks for adding to the swell of the Bamboo Revival. ' that way. I was also delighted by the Pollak Rick Valley article. I've paid my dues for the Solar Portland, OR Lobby for years, but I'm glad. to be made ' ~ THAN STEEL!~ BA JV( BOO ,, ! C•l•IOIUH 1'011 ''"· l'•troniud b1 lh• Nobilit1. THE BAMBOO CYCLE Co., Ltd., 59, Holborn Viaduct, London, E.C. . ' I Ii II II I Ad for a bamboo bicycle produced in 1895 (sent to RAIN by a reader) January/February 1985 RAIN Page 3 aware that photovolt~ic cells depend on rare raw materials and that th,ey can't be put together on a Sunday afternoon with Boy Scout carpentry equipment and skills. The alternative technology needs the main technology and feeds off it, and we aren't going to abandon the main technology and live like Andean peasants-at .least not enougl;i will volunteer to do so that will make a difference here in Ronald Reagan's Ame.rica. Congratulations on telling yourselves and your readers some hard truths. In your eleventh year, your magazine has truly come of age. Noel Peattie Editor of SIPAPU Winters, California Roger Polla,k's article on "Solar Power" (November/December issue) paints a fairly narrow picture of our !>Olar future. Perhaps, it should be more accurately entitled "The Politics of Active Solar." While I sht;ire Mr. Pollak's frustrations with profit-hungry entrepreneurs that proliferate the "renewable energy industry," doesthis detract from the value of using renewable sources of energy fo provide increased local jobs and a more environmentally-sound energy alternative? It's certainly pr.eferable to more acid · rain from coal plants, strip mining the Rockies or producing larger piles of plutonium. I must take issue with your belief that renewable energy developments have shifted towards "high-tech, capitalintensive" solutions. In·Oregon and California, there has been a recent movement towards simpler and lower-cost alternatives, such as passive solar water and space heating. This movement is likely to accelerate as solar tax credits fade from view. Why not applaud the virtues of passive solar design, daylighting and superinsulation? Not~ing more than proper building orientation, south glazing and weatherization can greatly reduce our energy needs in the future. I believe you will do your readers greater justice by providing them new insights on how to develop conservation and renewable resources, that provide a means for moving towards a more sustainable and ecologically sound society, than you do by stressing the pitfalls of active solar businesses. Allen L. Brown Portland, Oregon "Ecology of Everday Life" by F. Lansing Scott in the November/December issue must be commended. There is abundant learning available from questioning what we do and how we live. S.cott's questioning approach is right on. Larry and Marge Warning Oysterville, Washington
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