Page 20 RAIN· Dec 1975 BULLETIN BOARD Pennsylvania Contacts Dear Rain: , Two recycling tips for Pennsylvanians (and others) : (1) Pennsylvania Alliance for Returnables, Inc., Box 472 Federal Square Station, Harrisburg, PA 17108. A coalition of environmental and consumer groups united to promote a re- ,turn to returnable beverage containers. "Each throwaway bottle costs the consumer an average of 3-1/2¢ and the cans 4-1 /2¢. .. . Experience in Oregon has shown that, rather than causing big layoffs, the shift to returnables has actually created new jobs." Fact Sheet,·April 1974. Memberships $5, students $2, groups $25. (2) Delaware Valley Citizen's Council for Clean Air, 311 S. Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA19107. They publish a detailed list (free) of recycling center~in Metropolitan Philadelphia, including southern New Jersey. • Both commercial and volunteer facilities with days/hours open and materials accepted. Now a question re referral service. What are some simple techniques of converting waste paper to mulch? Do I soak the paper in water for a certain lengt_h of time? Does the paper have to be shredded? Can I.get~ rich brown color? (Don't want white lumps sticking up all over.) Is there a problem with chemicals from the ink? That's it for now. We anxiously await the first RAIN of the fall. I might add that in the process of moving we never received the yellow update sheet you sent out (heard about it). Ple.ase send a copy of that: Best of luck, Dave Qeppen 2911 W. Harper St. Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-232-1689 Land Trusts, Wind Power, Book Distribution Rain: Enclosed you.should have a copy of the first listing of books offered in a cooperative book distribution ·service Wind, 307 Centre Street, Jamaica 1Plain, MA 02130, phone 617-522-8915, which is a factory rooftop with a working windmill, offering courses in win_d power and beginning work on a vertical axis design and lo_oking forward to a rooftop garden and perhaps aquaculture site. They are good people who have sweated and strained for nearly a year now at that one place to get it together, and to a large extent they have. Got it-together, I mean. Boston University School of Education has opened the Human Environment Institute, 730 Common- , wealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, phone 617-232-0121, which is offering courses on owner-built and integrated energy system housing as well as wind _and solar workshops. They seem to use Total Environmental Action for their major input. Bob Swann out in Ashby, Mass., told me of an article "A Modei State Land Trust Act" by John Mcclaughry in the June 1975 issue of the • Harvard Journal on Legislation. Haye not yet read the whole thing, but in going over it I have found it to be pretty complete. You might want to look into it. • If you could ge_t me any information on urban farming and job co-ops and labor pools I would certainly be appreciative. Yours, Soil Bacteria Dear Rain: George P. Mo kra y 30 River Street Cambridge, MA 02139 It is to your .credit that I always learn something new about my own special field of interest, agriculture, and more especially soil biology, when your generalist paper comes around. But speaking of biology, I do have a response· to your review of Biological Control of Plant Pathogens by Cook and Baker. Your lead statement: "This is the first book devoted wholly to the microbial soil ecology," is not quite rtght. Although soil micro-ecology is one of the most neglected fields of biology and agricultural science, there are a few I have been involved with, also a copy of the preliminary report on.food policy for the state of Massacl;:iusetts. The final report is finished, but I have no spare copies. Also there should be a handbill for a film festival on the food crisis which happened last friday (we lost about $50 but did show some good films). ' very bright works available, a few of Also happening in Boston is Boston rriy favorites being: Ecology ofSoilBorne Plant Pathogens (pr~lude to biological control), edited by Bahr, K.F., and W.C. Snyder, U. of California Press, 1965. Proceedings of a symposium held in Berkeley, 1963. The Ecology ofSoil Bacteria, edited by Gray, T.R.G. and D..Parkinson, U. of Toronto Press, 1968, 680 pp., $21.75. Also proceedings. Soil Microorganisms and Higher Plants, Krasiz Nikof, Nicoli Alexandrikov. Translated by Y. Halperin. Published by NTIS (Springfield, VA 22161), No. TT-60-21126. Plus there are Wakesman and Burgess books, listed in the Energy Primer, p. 120. ... The plant pathology people have traditionally held attitudes about control that were closer to a sensible approach than have their entomological counterparts. This is mostly because plant p.athogens (i.e., fungi, irus, bacteria) are much harder to influence •through toxic poisons than a;e insectsand usually impossible. The equivalent .of spraying is soil fumigation, and, alt_hough fumigation has and will continue to be practical, it is always.a gross, ecological catastrophe; it is also ·expensive and ineffective. The more simple the organisms are, the more difficult the control. That is why more resistance breeding is directed at disease-resistance than insect-resistance, likewise biological control. • 1 Yours for a healthy soi! community, Woody Deryckx· Pragtree Farm. Arlington, WA Leaming from the Earth Dear Friends: The class I am doing here at Millbrook is "Learning from the Earth," and includes organic gardening, learning the spiritual nature of the earth as our mother, natural living and foods, natural ways and more. I am seeking information that will help me present to my students a well-rounded picture of environm~ntal problems and solutions. . . . We hope to publish a journal of alternatives in the future. Hilario (Larry Sheeky) Millbrook High School 430 First St. Fresno, CA 93702 Federation of Coops, Maine Dear Friends: FEDCO is a non-profit, educational organization, set up, run and controlled by its member coops. We gath_er and dispense information on coops, food,· organics, etc., etc. from our office and have. direct contacts with the 100 or /
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