RAIN Journal of Appropriate Technology FEBRUARY/MARCH 1976 VOLUME II, NO. 5 INSIDE: p. 3 p. 8 p. 12 p. 16 E. F. Schumacher on Land Speculation Bio-Dynamic French Intensive Agriculture The Owner-Builder and THE CODE Waste N'ot, Watt Not 75 CENTS
Page 2 RAIN February/March 1976 RAIN is supported by your subscriptions and a grant from the N.W. Area Foundation, administered through the Oregon Museum of Science and • ·Industry. For subscription prices, see subscription blank on next-to-last page. This blank can also be used to send us change of address messages. RA/N's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Phone 503227-5110. RAIN I Full Circle Staff •Anne McLaughlin Mary Wells Nancy Lee Tom Bender Lane de Moll Lee Johnson Steve Johnson Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photo: Ancil Nance Graphics on pages 9 & 10 by Meg deMoll. WHAT ABOUT BACK ISSUES? For you who are wondering what past issues exist and how to get them, RA/N's first volume consisted of Issues 1-9, plus a four-page flyer. We are out of issues 1-6, except for a couple of precious copies. We use these copies as masters when someone wants an excerpt badly enough to pay 25<//page for us to copy and mail it. Issues 7, 8 and 9 are available at 75</ apiece. The yellow flyer is just about gone. (It was a reminder to subscribe and noted our change of address to Irving Street from PSU. It didn't really include any of RAIN's usual meaty stuff.) Last year's RAINs between February and June were - wrapped around some essay-suggestionhow-to sheets called Roughdrafts. These were 4-6 pages, each on a particular topic. Here are what they were about and what they would cost you (again at 25<//page) if you'd like some. No. 1, Brainstorming ($1) No. 2, Funding ($1.25) No. 3, Centers ($1.25) No. 4, Networking ($1) No. 5, Creative Instability ($1.50) We're now into Volume II, consisting of No. 1 in October, 2 in November, and so on. They're also available at 75</. each. The deadline for material is approximately the 28th of each month. We are selling RAIN through retail out- , lets. If you have some suggestions, please send 'them along. Maybe you could distribute in your area? RAIN DROPS • ON BACK ISSUES: Volume I, Nos. 1-6 are out of print. The rest of Vol. I consists of Nos. 7, 8 & 9, each of which can be yours for 75</.. The same goes for Vol. II, 75</. apiece. • ON CONFUSION: The issue before this one got mislabeled. It should have been "January, 1976, Vol. II, No. 4." Instead, it says "January, 1976, Vol. II, No. 3," so that both the December and January issues were labeled No. 3." And there isn't an issue labeled "No. 4." To make matters worse, we decided this month to change our dating system; since RAIN is printed during the third week of the month, we're going to use the coming month's name to date our future issues. The one you're reading is "February/March, 1976, Vol. II, No. 5," and the next one will be "April, 1976, Vol. II, No. 6," and from then on through No. 10, which will end Vol. II, we'll hopefully be consistent. 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'75 issue, under "OREGON," Cloudburst Recycle, Inc., address should have read 2440 N.E. 10th, not 2440 N.E. 19th. 2. in the "Accountants for the Public Interest" article, p. 18, Dec. '75 issue, the phone number of the Oregon Accountants in the Public Interest should have been 503-225-0224, not 225-1224. for first class treatment: For 3 5</. the PO can afford to look up a zip code. • ON FREE RAIN: We'll send a couple of free copies of RAIN to friends of yours if you '11 send us their addresses. (I get especially angry when these requests don't include zip codes, so please mollycoddle me and protect the good vibrations of your RAIN-as-emissary. • ON ANONYMITY: If you write to us and don't want your letter printed asis, say so. • ON BEING LOST: When you write to us, or to anyone, and expect an answer, please write your name AND ADDRESS on your letter itself. Sometimes envelopes get lost, and with them the only record of the writer's address. This happened recently to a Craig Savage. If you read this, Craig, please write again. • ON PROPER PLACEMENT OF INFORMATION: If you write a newsy note on your subscription blank, we either have to re-copy the note or the subscription info, or else one of them will probably get lost. Almost the same goes for any conglomeration of info and requests. Routing one letter to lots of people, and through lots of processes, is risky in most offices. It's like writing your shopping list on the same paper with that important phone message and your aunt's address and the new casserole recipe you found. • ON THE FUTURE: The next issue of RAIN will be a special poster issue done by Tom Bender, Lane deMoll and Meg deMoll. There will be four beautiful fold-out posters on Ecotopia, Human Waste Recycling Alternatives, Finances and "Make Where You Are a Paradise." Intrigued? Wait till next month. A.M.MOSTLY €GRICULTURE•FOO~ Chickens, Eggs & You, by John A. McGeorge, 17 pp., 1976, send 3 9</ in stamps to: Chickens, Eggs and You John McGeorge 11 Ells St. Norwalk, CT 06850 If you like the idea of 46</. per dozen, non "egg-factory" eggs with superior flavor and texture for 10 minutes daily plus half a day once a year shoveling chicken litter into your garden, this Continued on page 4
February/March 1976 RAIN Page 3 o·N 'LAND SPECULATION ' E. F. SCHUMACHER The type of private ownership that may be appropriate for many man-made·goods-the supply of which can be increased. by human work and invention-cannot possibly be appropriate for land. • What, then, are the alternatives if nationalizatiop, as commonly conceived, is not an acceptable answer? Let's look for a middle way, a new type bf arrangement which avoids the . pitfalls of simple private ownership and equally those of simple nationalization. Can we find an ownership model with respect to land (and perhaps even with respect to some of the structures on land) which first of all eliminates private land speculation; which secondlY, eliminates the private windfall gains that inevitably arise and that accrue to. anyone who corners the land; which thirdly does not call for compensation payments to those owning the land now; and which fourthly causes the minimum of disturbance to those who · now manage and utilize the land in any manner wh_atsoever provided it is permitted by law? , Now you may say this'is a tall order; but let's think about it. And I would invite you to consider, the' following train of thought. Every piece of land in the United Kingdom has a certain value or price as of n w. If the owner wanted to sell it he would have some sort of idea, perhaps after taking professional advice, of what it would fetch. Let us say this value would be ascertained for every piece of land in the United Kingdom-no doubt quite a big job but by no means an impossible one. _Of course this value woulq reflect the current zoning arrangements and many other price-deterinin'ing fac-• tors. Now this value or price I shall call the registered value as of July l! 97 3, expressed in pounds sterling of present purchasing power. To take care of inflation the Government could publish an index showing what the'pound sterling of July 1973 will be worth in pounds sterling of any later date. The registered value can thereby be easily adjusted for inflation when occasion for such adjustment arises. I suggest that if an owner wants to sell land he should not obtain more for it than the registered value as up-gra,ded in q:rms of sterling for _inflation. The sale of his land has to be effected·via the local authoritywhich, however, plays a totally passive role unless it, itself, wishes to purchase the land. If it 'does not wish to buy; the private purchaser can pay the private vendor only the registered value, adjusted of course for inflation; and not a penny more. But what if, through re-zo~ing or s·ome other change, the land has become much more valuable?_If this is so, there will be many people wishing to.buy the land•and the highest bidder will get it; but the vendor will receive onl3/ the registered value and the surplus will accrue t<!> what I shall call the local authority land fund. And what becomes of the registered value then? If a higher price has in fact been paid in the manner , • described, then this becomes the new registered value. But what happens if a piece of land is for sale but no buyer can be found to pay the registered value? A transaction between vendor and purchaser may then take place at the lower price, which then becomes the registered value. • In short, the current owner and any subsequent buyer is deprived of the chance of making any windfall profits through land ownership·;,all such profits go automatically into the public hand, what I call the local authority land fund: In those ex- • ~ ceptional cases where a particular piece of land declines in ~ value he may indeed not recover his purchase price; but that 2 is the risk he takes in buying land; or, if you like, 'the price he ·g pays for the immense privilege of land ownership.· <( I commend this scheme to you for further thought. I claim that it would produce a genuine middle-way solution to the problem of land ownership. It would not in any way impair the freedom of existing landowners to continue in their legitimate activities. Their situation remains exactly as at present, without the slightest disturbance. The new dispensation becomes active only as and when the landowner wishes to get rid of his land-in other words, wishes to cease being a landowner . I suggest that such a scheme would greatly increase the ability of local authorities to obtain land for public needs at _fair prices and would certainly siphon into the public hand all windfall gains arising from the growing scarcity of land; but only as and when there is a sale from willing seller to willing buyer. In short, market forces are allowed to operate as regards land transactions between private individuals, seller and buyer; but th_ey do not lead to the acquisition of private fortunes; and the public hand-the local authority-is fully protected against private profiteering. (Courtesy E. F. Schumacher and Satish Kumar, ~ditor, Resurgence. Subscriptions are $7.00 U.s: surface mai\, $10 airmail, from Resurgence, 275 Kings Road, Kingston, Surrey, U.K.) The principles of preventing speculative profits on land developed ·above by E.F. Schumacher;,have met with practical success in at least one recent application. The State of Vermont has faced severe problems in recent years both with speculative ' development and the purchase of land by wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians, raising the price beyond what could be afforded by local people or paid for by actual productive use of the land. Angry Vermonters succeeded in passing a bill taxing speculative profits from land sales. The tax rate increases the shorter the land has been owned, effectively preventing quick speculative turnover. The law has been credited with'nipping in the bud a major wave of land speculation. Copies of the law can be obtained from the Department of Taxes, State of Vermontj Montpelier, VT 05602. At least two studies have been made on the effects of the tax: "Controlling Land Use and Prices by Using Special Gain Taxation to Intervene in t~e Land Market: The Vermont Experiment" by Prof. R. Lisle Baker, Environmental Affairs, Vol. IV, No. 3 from the Enyironmental Law Center, Boston College Law School, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167. Another study has been made by Prof. Donai'd G. Hagman, University of California, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Page 4 RAIN February/March 1976 Taxing the Pavement, Not the Earth • I . . . • Johnson Creek flows through the southeast corner ·of. Portland. The largest creek in -~> One of a number of streams which feed , into Johnson Creek AGRICULTURE continued from page 2 practical primer is an excellent way to start.•Covers what type of egg-l~yers to get, when, where and how to buy brood•· hens, electrical brooders, post brooder chicks, housing and equipment, health, care, roosters, egg care, economics,,eating chickens and hen-watching for fun. Does anyone know how to go about urban chicken-raising? Quietly? Legally? "Poisoned Cities and Urban Gardens," in The Elements, Jan. 1976, 1901 Q Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20009 '$5/yr ($10 institutions). Gil Friend from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance wrote this excellent article in response to one in the Sept~mber Elements entitled "Poisoned Gardens." fr puts the whole issue of lead contaminatioI}. of urban (and suburban) gardens into a broader perspective. Do we stop trying to grow food in the city or do we attack the root of the problem? -replacing ✓ autos and industrial pollution with mass transit systerps and neighborhood production units. The situation is a bothersome one because serious health problems ar·e at stake. J{esearc.h is currently being done on lead levels by Environmental Response of Washington University·in St. Louis. Watch for their results. • In the meantime, wash your lettuce! the city of Portland, it floods·at least a couple of times a year. • . The people who live in the flood plain area have a differ:n~ vie~ of the creek than those that live on higher banks or hill tops. · Yet another point of view is held by the people wh~ live in the 80-square-mile drainage area, but away from the creek. . • The Metropolitan Sewage District (MSP) is one of those multi-_government agencies (county, city, federal)·set up to de_al with wiggly things that don't fit political boundaries, such things as J ohnsotl Creek, which flows through three counties and two small towns. .The MSD has come up with a w·ay of supporting a program of maintenance of the .creek. A flood control program that does.not call for large.stream c~ntainment programs-no conduit "packaging" programs.-is proposed. • . . . To be financed by a taxation of the human inhabitants·of the drainage area, based on the amount of impervious soil they own, the plan would, for example, have people with parking lots pay more th~n farmers. • . Plans also include tax benefits for persons who improve the water flow retardation • quality of the land, e.g. construct ponds, plant t·~ees, etc. What is,also noteworth is the change in direction; ,previous plans ~ave always called for large final solutions, whereas t~e development of a maintenance program reflects a guardianship kind of relationship. . . There are, of course, some loopholes. For example, if _land use laws are not also admini~tered and the development (of more slippery cemented drainage areas) outraces the mainten,ance and cleaning-up program, then larger solutions will look necessary, but only because existing land use ordinances were not,recognized as integral to making the "small, less expensive solution_" worl{.. S.J. C!RCHITECTURE ) Centering, M.C. Richards, $3.95, Wesleyan University Press, 1962 Middletown, CT 06457 This book has been around for a long . time, but l only re_cently stumbled upon it in Lane's book piles. It deals with the real center of doing anything well-the _- art qf making the potter, not making the pot, It's a modern Western equivalent to Coomaraswamy's The Indian Craftsman (Probsthain & Co., 1909, out of print), which deals with the development of a person's skills, faculties a1,1d depth through a trade. Centering ought to be· read by every architecture student (if not every student). It brings )alive the old Zen tale of the master who taught his students everything exc~pt painting._ When their knowledge became balanced, the painting·would come. 'I Synopses.and Summaries from Natipna/- Swedisb Building Reseqrcb Swedish Council for Building Research ' • Mail Fack S-192, Stockholm Office Atlasmul'en 1, Stockholm, Sweden English summaries of the many excellent res~arch reports prepared for the Swedish Council for Building Research. Published nine times a year..Most reports are in Swedish, but summaries in English are excellent arid some technical papers are available in English. • "The Window as an Energy Factor,'.' Swedish Building Research Report R431975, Folk~ Hagman. Hagman provides computer simulation of optimal patterns of USf of insulating shutters on windows to prevent unwanted heat loss and gain while permitting·loss and gain where desirable. Energy savings of 25 p.ercent for houses and 20 percent for apartments is shown to be attainable through this simple process, which also provides increased security, and noise protection. Economic consequences are explored. ''Parking Fac_ilities.for Alternative Uses," Swedish Building Rese·arch Report R41-1975, Jan Dyfrerman and Jan-Erik Hollander. The future life of our buildings and equ_iprrient becomes of more concern to us as our energy I wealth decr'eases. It also becomes increasingly·important to consider the durability of buildings, the possibilities for disassembling and reusing materials· rather than demolishing, and the adaptability of buildings to new uses and conditions as the present activities of a high energy society give way to gentler ways of a more austere society. This study explores the technical and economic problems connected with conversion of parking garages to other uses·. Slight modification of basic design-greater room height, clearance to eradicate floor drainage slopes; structural capacity for such floor leveling materials; layout to
provide light and ventilation for future. enclosed uses are shown to be desirable. They require only about 4 percent in-·· crease in cost for the garages and make future conversion economically sound, improving the financial uncertainties of. parking garage development. Layouts· for use as apartments and offices are studied. Similar studies for other elements of our urbaf). form (such as suburban land use) neetl to be made. r~;;;;;_~ ~I ~ l'~~ w,• Figure 1.Pa,.,,ing11orey insplit•levelt1ructure.96car1taill1, Figure 3. Conversion into ollicet. Floo, 1-vout. Sy~II: C • cetl offi01, S • landlc:ape ofticl. A a filing room, F • ttoreroom, K • confe,enc. room, I • in11..1a1ion1 room. KPR .• cl()Mlr~. @cOTOPIA ) The 6th National Composting & Waste - Recycling Conference, sponsored by Rodale Press, will be·he.Id in Portland, Orego,n, May 12-14, 1976. The conference will foc~s on human waste recycling with exhibits of compost toilets. Write Organic Gardening & Farming, 33 E. Minor, Emmaus, PA 18049, for details, or watch RAIN for updates. A new U.S. energy source has been discovered recently by Entropy Evasion League researchers who have m·apped a large network of surface deposits of petroleum-bearing strata criss-crossing the country. The strata are relics of an age of highly mobile petroleum-eating dinosaurs whose pathways covered a vast portion of our land area by 'the late 1970s before the deep earth petroleum deposits that fed their metabolism ran out. These surface deposits, once known as an "Interstate Highway System," are n·ow highly valued for the energy content of their asphaltic compounds: Miners are said to be paying exorbitant prices for old maps locating the deposits. (Courtesy Ecotopian News Register) "Tools for Transition," weekly each Tuesday evening from March 16 to June 1, 1976, $55 registration fee, contact: "Tools for Transition" Program Pacific Science Center 200 2nd Ave. No. Seattle, WA 98109 206-624-8140 Transition towards more effective ways of living in harmony with our new resource and economic realities will be explored in 9 three-hour-long slide-filmlecture-discussion sessions led by outstanding Pacific Northwest ·resource people. State-of-the-art information and practice will be explored in such topic areas as "We are in the Transition," "The Solar Alternative," "Decentralized Energy Sources," "Food Production," "Food Distribution,"-~'Briarpatch Economics," "Health," "Communications Learning" and "Building Community." Coordiryated by Mark Musick of Tilth·, session leaders include: Wilson Clark, ~avid Baylon, Bob Murray, Ken Smith, Lee Johnson, \Voo9,y Deryckx, Sean Kahn, Randy Lee, Denny Bater, Tom Bender, Lane deMoll, Joyce Prensky, Burt Webb and Gigi Coe. An opportuni-- ty not to be missed. Highly recommended for those who've read Ernest Cal- 1 lenbach's Ecotopia and want to m4J.(e .', the next step. . Art in New State Buildings, Art Bulletin, . Round 1, Dec. 1975, available free from: JohannaJ. Nitzke Visual Arts ~oordinator Wash. St. Arts Commission 11 ~ 1 Black Lk. Blvd,. Olympia, WA 98504 206-75 3-3860 Describes 30 projects at new state buildings in the sta,te of W4shington that are seeking art works and artists, and tells how to apply for selection. Leap Year Conference on Regional Federation P.O. Box 10091 Eugene, OR 97401 . The follow-up to recent conferences held among food produce'r/growers and other collective and cooperative organizations is to he held Feb. 27-29 at Camp Collins near Portland. The idea of a federation for the Northwest i~ growing. Workshops are planned on practical matters such as funding, forming new co- •operatives, and manager, ~ystems, as well as more theoretical top'ics such as feminism and dialectical materialism. Discussion is also planned on the possible legislative, research a'.nd networking roles . of a federation. If you wish to attend, write to the above address, send donation .when possible. (Someone from R.AIN will be attending, so rides from Po.rtland will be available-cont~ct us.) February/March 1976 RAIN Page 5 OMSI Energy Center Programs 1. "Solar Energy Evening," Friday, Feb. . 27, at 7:30 p.m. ip. Arend Auditorium. Descriptions of Portland area solar heating systems and a panel of architects, engineers and manufacturers answering audience questions; speakers are Roy Josi, Portland General Electric; Bill Church, architect,; Steve Baker, Univ. of Oregon Solar Energy Center; Bill Goldbach, Pacific Power & Light; Doug Boleyn, BPA Energy Conservation Office; and Don Hoffman, Environmental Interfaces, Inc. Call 503-248-5920 for details. 2. Weekday school group activities for grades 5-12: ai:i "Energy Conservation Lab" session and a presentation on the "Basics of Solar Energy.." Call the OMSI School Tours Office, 503-24859 3 6, to make "8.n appointment. Ecological Inventors Assistance Project provides non-profit assistance to inventors of eco-sound i.rwentions at any point from drawing.board to su·pplying the public. Work via goal clarifying, assis..; . tance in organizing, planning and connections to needed resources. Services are free until inventions make money; then an agreed-upon percentage of PJ?- fit is used to expand services to other eco-sound projects. Please contact us if you know of: (1) an existing organization doing all/part of this• OF'l a similar basis, (2) funding possibilities or attempts for a similar project, (3) you are •interested in receiving this service, or (4) you can offer help in delivering it. Jackie or Jay, Mentat School, P.O. Box 5001, Aloha, OR 97005, 503-649-2001. Oregon Habitat Conference c/o Paul Ackerman • Clackamas Community College Oregon City, OR 97045 The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and Clackamas Community College have received a grant from the Oregon Humanities Commission which will pay for five conferences on Habitat in Oregon. The plans include a theme conference (Mar. 19, 20) at the Community College with follow-up in other regions of the state. The subje~ts to be dealt with include energy, food , production, shelter and tr_ansportation Continued on page 6
Page 6- RAIN February/March 1976 ECOTOl'IA continued from page 5 Tbe Performing Arts Index Contact Center 1532 S.W. Morrison 1 Portland, OR 97205 503-226-4746 Tode·Oshin or Wayne Waits Funded by proceeds from the last two Performing Arts Martahons, contains over 750 listings, including 415 performers and performing groups, 82 instructors and many support services. In addition to thei;e sections on dance, music, poetry and theatre, it has information on promotion, places to perform (including contact persons) and on legal and funding matters. Within its 112 pages there are 100 graphics and photos by ~3 Portland artists and a list of 50 graphic artists inttirested in working with performers on posters, brochures, etc. Although the Index primarily contains Portland people, performers from throughout the Northwest are included and are welcome to send information for future publications using a format similar to the one used in RAIN. We would also be available to assist others in doing a similar project in a diffe'rent · area. We will be maintaining mes and hope to turn this project into an ohgoir'ig resource and referral office for performing artists. Cost of the first issue is $2.00, proceeds going toward the 1976 Performing Arts Marathon, which will begin on April 23. (Last year's went six full days, 24 hours a day. How long this year .. .?) An excellent model for other cities or tow.ns. 3rd Annual BPA Energy Conservation Management Conference, Mar. 18-19, free, but write or call to register: Energy Coordinator Bonneville Power Administration 1002 N.E. Holladay St. Portland, OR 97208 , 5().3-234-3361, ext. 4551 Will cover l~ng-term aspects of.conservation of all forms of ener_gy, with speakers ' from around the nation on such topics as building heat exchangers and energy management systems, sola, thermal -en- ' ergy, electric vehicles, the NW Energy Policy Project, TVA's heai pump experience, and the U.S. Navy's conservation efforts. The public is invited to attend. ' I I PI.AMS OF AMUSEMENT DEVICES FOR PARKS AND CARNIVALS C .ll.. l[. IRILL- Addreaa Corre■po~d•nc• to P, 0. lox 875, Peoria , Ill. 61601 Phone (.309)673•1777 . 1216 1, No. UniYerally SI. Pa,orla, IIIIDoa Dear Rain: Under separate cove,r I'm sending you my "A. Brill's Bible of Building Plans" for outdoor carnival, fair and park amusement rides and devices. Watch for it. It's 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" and more than }:ialf an inch thick. This is the new edition, received from the printer last Wednesday; haven't had new circ;ulars on it yet, so I've doctored up the old ones. I had to leave out the three-phase motor detail,. but I did include "How to Bapbit a Bearing." You see, the old merry-go-rounds still have babbit bearings, and it's s~ch_a simple matter to replace the babbit as it wea~s, but this generation doesn't know how. I've been roused from bed several times'by a desperate owner with a· broken down ride to impart the information. I'm inclu:ding a few photos of rides I have built-yes I built the major merry, buying an antique with a wooden center pole, and made a modern jumper machine of it. This,was about 1950, and I didn't learn to make horses in aluminum from the wooden ' ones till 1953, so I used the old wooden ones in this•photo. • I have color pies of the calliope trucks covered with my carvings (cast aluminum •reproductions) if you want these or the sta'nding horse or my 6-ft. long jumping beauty. I'm including a couple of my most simple concession frames-the Beach Umbrella and the open ~rame of the 4-way joint (3-frames art in-eluded in the plans). I do this to show how simple the equipment can be to start. Incidentally, one need not give up his job. There are always plenty of week-t;nd celebrations you can reach by car or truck and still hold a job, till you become firmly established in the business. Please state in the review that the Bible is sold by mail at $1 with a refund certificate. On the newsstands and bookstores it's $1.50-with the same $1 refu~d certificate. The 43 whistle air calliope is my greatest achievement so far, but I'm working on "~rying Eggs on a Cake of Ice," An electrical engineer is trying to get this "secret" info, which deals with a magnetic field, etc. I was afraid to touch it myself, because it requires 15,000 watts of electricity to set_up the magnetic field . I don't mind sticking my neck out _on a complete wiring diagram for a carnival, but I didn't want anyone killed, so I sought help. Don't know -when it will develop, but I generally get wh~~ I go after. I started to h~nt for the old "Man or Woman Frozen in a Block of Ice," which I remember.seeing in Lincoln, Illinois, in about 1916 or 1917. It was a Fourth of July feature along with the balloon ascension. But I dropped it before pressing too far, when I found no one made the large cakes of ice they usea in refrigerator cars. A city the size of Peoria has no ice plant any more-they get packaged cubes from a-plant in a neighboring town, and I'm sure the same condition exists elsewhere. Oh, ~ell, Aerial Photo Remote Sensing Short Course, Mar. 15-1~, 1976, $100. To register, write: Aerial Photo Short Course Conference Assistant c/o Coordinator of Forest Extension School of Forestry Business Office Oregon State University • Corvallis, OR 97331 Designed for practicing foresters, engineers and land use planne-rs, the course will cover the fundamentals of photo interpretation, photo timber cruising, photogrammetry, and remot'e se'nsing, as well as the most advanced methods of practical field application. R,1.IN readers who enjoyed "The World from Above" article might find this to be their next step. (eoucATION ) • Strange and Familiar, $6.67 postpaid from: Synectics Education Systems 121 Brattle St. Cambridge, MA 02138 , When we notice the differences and similarities between two thin,gs we are -learhing ther-e's an odd sensation that accompanies trying to relate "incongruities"- maybe ,it's the physical effects of stretching the imagination. Many of the 1~2- . page exercises in Strange and Familiar stretch the imagination: "Which is a better dessert, a sweet lemon or a sour banana? (Circle your choice and tell why you made it.)" -
~e can't have the horse and buggy days forever. It-was a good act. I don't know how 1t was done or how long they were in the ice, but the "chopping them out" with the ic~ picks and hurrie~ly wrapping 'them in blankets was impressed ·on my small-boy mmd. ' ' Well, I do have to break this off and g~t back to the drawing board. l'ITl enclosing a press release I used to use. Don't h\lve to advertise or send them out any more-they are beating the pathway to my door. . As a publisher, to show how times have changed, in '·25, when I was editing my first country paper, at the publishers' convention it was mentioned that if newsprint ever went to $20 a ton we would all be in bad shape. I think it's over $200 now. Miles Laboratories (now makers of Alka Seltzer) furnished us with a casting box, (3 col. 10"), advertising mats-, comics, .and features, in exchange for runni'ng their ads on Miles Nervine. If we didn't have eriough type for local news, we used boiler plate-that was pre-cast columns of features we set on a notched base. It looked like the rest of the paper, but sometimes the·type didn't match. The other substitute was READYPRINT---4 and 8 page sections printed on one side with features and ads, and we printed the other side with local stuff. I think Howard Maple, a classmate of mine in Peoria High (class of '24), was manager of your state fair for many years-or was.it Washington State F~ir. He pass~d on several years ago. He was a 4 letter athlete, and I, who weighed 90 lbs. at the time and·got third in the quarter mile of a class meet (there were three runners), outlived him. Such is life. Sincerely, A. K. Brill A. K. Brill's 30-foot diameter Major Merry'(-go-round), built in 19,50. A lot of the exercises in Strange and Familiar, as in the· rest of several series, expand a theory of teaching by·the use of metaphor, improving our ability to mak~ connections. It is an important form of poetic and scientific discip_line, exercise and game. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a 'step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be , when you have tamed me! The grairt, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you." (From The Little Prince) ) Tf:,e Communicators, •an energy contacts directory, available for $4.50 postpaid from: American Nuclear Society 244 W. Ogden Ave. Hinsdale, IL 60521 312-325-1991 A regional listing of over 250 local experts willing to t-alk to the pubHc and media on solar, nuclear fission, fusion and other energy forms. A publications catalog and a public service radio series are also available. February/March 1976 RAIN Page 7 The Directory ofNuclear Activists and mailing lists, $7 and $5, respectively ($25 and $10 if profit-making business,· utilit;y, government and persons associated with the nucleal'. industry), from: Environmental Action of Colorado 1100 14th St. Denver, CO.80202 303-534-1602 New Mexico Ene;gy Research Resource Directory, $20 from: Technology Application Center Publications & Documents Division University of New 'Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87181 A cumulative directory of energy-related projects and the people working on . them, 'conducted in New Mexico through June 30, 1975. Bituminous Emulsions for Highway • .Pavements, Synthesis of Highway Prac- , tices, No. 30, $4.80 from: Transportation Research Board 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20418 More than 300 million gallons of petroleum products could be saved each year if water rather than oil distillates were used in asphalt paving, this rec~ntlyissued government report concludes. The Energy History of the United States, 177i6-1976, a 3'x4' wall chart, 50¢ from: John M. Sullivan Office of Public Affairs· ERDA Washington, DC 20545 Traces fuel resources from colonial times to the present. Highly recommended for schools, public libraries, energy-environment groups. What is a Kilowatt Hour?, copies free from: Consumer Affairs Dept. Room 1625S Con Edison 4 Irving Place New York, NY 10003 A booklet which defines the KWH unit of energy ,and explains how one can determine daily usage·__ Regional Electric Maps, Cat. No. FPC M-104, 60¢ per region from: Assistant Public Printer u.s~ Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 The 1975 edition of the Federal Power Commission's regional "Principal Ele½- tric Facilities" maps, refl-ecting data as of June 30, 1974, 'are excellent for sch_ool and state energy office' use. Continued on page 8
Page 8 RAIN, February/March 1976 Bio.;.Dynamic French Intensive Agriculture The biodynamic/French intensive method ·is a synthesis of a number of techniques developed by European schools of agriculture over the last century and brought together by Alan Chadwick, an inspired English master horticulturist, no~ located in Covelo, California. Some basic techniques of the biodynamic/French intensiv"e method are: 1. Double-dug, raised beds in which the soil is dug thor~ oughly the first 12 inches and loosened an additional 12 inches by a simple manual metho,d using a shovel. This loose soil enables roots to penetrate easily and allows a steady stream o,f nutrients to flow into stems and leaves. Moisture is retained well, ,erosion is minimized and weeding is simplified because ,of the looseness of the soil. Also, since yields are about 4 times as high, only 1/4 the area need be prepared, dug, watered and weeded for a given yield. 2. Intensive planting. Seeds or seedlings are planted in raised, 3-5 foot wide beds of varying length µsing a hexagonal spacing pattern. Grains are often grown in wider areas. Each seed is placed the same distance from all seeds nearest it so that when the pl'ants mature their leaves barely touch. This provides a mini-climate under the leaves which retains moisture, protects the valuable microbiotic life of the soil, retards weed growth, and helps provide high yields. 3. Companion planting. Many plants grow better when near'other kinds of plants. Green beans and strawberries, for instance, thrive better when grown together. Some plants are useful in repelling harmful insects while others attract beneficial ones. Borage, for example, repels tomato worms while its blue flowers attract bees. Also, many wild plants and weeds have a healthy effect on the soil. Their deep roots loosen the subsoil and bring up previously unavailable trace minerals and nutriments. The use of companion planting aids the gardener and farmer in producing fine quality vegetables and helps create and maintain a healthy, vibrant soil. The placing together of symbiqti·c companion plants itself does·not appear to produce significantly increased yields, but rather promotes the soil life and health necessary to sustain increased yields. 4. Compost. The high yields and lowered water requirements made possible by i~tensive planting would.not be possible without a way of m·aintaining the health and vigor of the soil. Garbage, vegetation, manure and many other forms of readily available organic matter, when properly composted, provide most of the elements necessary to maintain the biological cycles of life that exist in the farm 6r home.garden. The textu're and microbiotic life of the soil is improved by. the compost which creates better aeration and water retention. 5. Promotion of microbioti~ life. All biodynamic/French intensive techniques promote healthy microbiotic plant and animal life in the'soil. These not only fix atmosphere nitrogen in the soil, but also produc~ antibiotics that help enable plants to resist diseases. Standard ~arming techniques tend to destroy these life forms. . It is important to note \hat the biodynamic/French intensive method is a whole system and that the component principles of the method intermesh in actual use to create complex living units. Farmers in Europe experimenting with only the intensive spacing factor in combination with commercial techniques are finding themselves beset with deteriorating soil fertility, nitrate toxicity in plants, soil and water, lower quality produce, diminishing populations of beneficial insects, and , lowered plant resistance to disease and pests. Many people have described the biodynamic/French intensive method as labor intensive. More correctly it should be described as skill intensiv@,•because only about 15 percent·of the time·expended can be considered moderately hard labor. The initial soil preparation, when a person is changing over to the method, can be more diffiqilt, however. Also, performance of the method is not monotonous·since all the varied tasks of •soil preparati~n, compost preparation, fertilization, planting, harvesting, weeding, watering, and marketing are performed by the mini-farmer. Farmers using the method may wapt to form cooperatives to facilitate the marketing process and to share experiences. Marketing would probably be best performed at a ~ooperative level, sine~ often it may be difficult for one pers-on to maintain all the contacts necessary for proper crop planning and marketing. It would be unfortunate, for instance, if all mini-farmers .decided to grow one crop, such ·as ENERGY continued from page 7 The Power of Nuclear Power in Washington State, Sean Casey and Marilyn Vavasour. Check on price and availability frpm: Coalition for a Safe Environment 3123 Eastlake Ave. E. private organizations involved in the·development of nucl~ar power. The purpose of the report is to show citizen activists that a small, elite group of government administrators and energy industry executives determine-the course of nuclear energy in Washington state, to the detriment of'the multiplicity of public interests goals. to ERDA, its contractors and grantees, is now available to the public..ERA abstracts and indexes reports, patents, journal articles, conference papers, theses, books and monographs sponsored by ERDA. "How to Do-Business with ERDA," . conference, Mar. or Apr. '75. For details write: Seattle, WA 98102 Contains a history of nuclear power development in Washington state and of TPPSEC, the Thermal Power Plant Site Evaluation Council; profiles .of governmental agencies, electrical industry and utility companies, nucle~r consultants and associations; and, using the history and profiles, schematically portrays the interconnections between public and ERDA Research Abstracts (ERA), $119 per year, $148.75 overseas (Index only $30.50 per year, $38.15 overseas), from: Ass't. Public' Printer Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 ERDA's monthly abstract journal, published since March '7 5 but available only AASRC 1629 K St., N.W. Washington, DC 20006 Sponsored by the American Association • of Small Research Companies, will include information on a variety of gov- . ernment procurement programs in the energy area.
celery. Even though it is a good money-maker, it would be difficult to market an excessive amount. Projections . Generally, it appears tqat the biodynamic/French intensive method will produce on the average 4-6 times the United States •national per acre average of protein source beans, grains and rice. These yields should be independent of climate and original soil conditions. Once the soil system becomes mature and balanced, vegetable and soft fruit yields will probably average 8 times the national per acre average and seed yields may be 4-8 times as high. In comparison with world averages, the method's expected yiel'ds would be 14.5 times higher for beans, grains and rice, 12~n:imes higher for vegetables .and soft fruits, and 8.9 times higher for seeds. Because foreign yields, especially in developing nations, are •much lower on the average than those in the United States, the method may have its greatest impact in these areas. In fact,• the world low in the bean, grain, rice category is 203 times lower than the yield expected with the'biodynamic/French intensive method. Testing under natural rainfall conditions still needs to be performed, however, as the method usually •uses light daily watering as an essential aspect of its t~chnique. A very low water use recor,d leads Ecology Action to believe these tests may prove favorable. At the-1east, yields 4 times greater than those already being obq1.ined in many developing countries using natural rainfall mc!y be possible. Solar Energy "Sharing the Sun! Solar Technology in the '70s" Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Aug. 15-20, 1976: Contact: February/March 1976 RAIN Page 9 World-wide Use It is easy to see why the biodynamic/French intensive method may be appealing ~o developing countries. The method requires low capital expenses for shovels, hoses, and other low-technology tools and needs only minimal fertilizer, water and energy. Its diversified approach to cropping which lends itself to the use of local foods and plants, its non-dependence on hybrid varieties (which require increased amounts of water and fertilizer) for increased yields, and its emphasis on producing a healthy soil able to create its own fertilizer through nitrogen-fixation, makes the method worthy of serious research for possible incorporation into these countries. The fact that it uses less water, fertilizer and fuels ma,.y even make it·possible to open marginal lands to cultivation. Jeavons' manual on the method's general techniques, How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, is available from . Ecology Action, 2225 El Camino Real,. Palo Alto, CA 94306. Postpaid in the United States and Canada for $4.00 (surface book rate), $4.24 in California (including state sales tax) or $5,00 airmail. To other countries the cost is $5.00 for surface mail or $6.00 for airmail. Prepayment in U.S. funds is needed for all orders. Ovei: 20,000 copies have been purchased to date and the book is in use in countries such as Brazil, England, India, Australia, I~donesia, Mexico, Canada and Nepal; John Jeav0ns NOAA Solar Radiation Measurement Program, write: ' L. Machta, Director Air Resources Laboratories NOAA Boulder, CO 80302 William A: Reid, Gen. Chairman '76 SESC-ISES Joint Solar Cpnf. Solar Energy Society of Canada P.O. Box 13 5 3, Winnipeg Manitoba, CANADA R3C.2Zl 204-888-3280 • Investing in Solar Energy, free from: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration researchers are beginning a program aimed at maki~g precise measurements of solar radiation and recording how it varies with time, weather and location. The prograi;n will also provide 500-word abstracts due by March 1; completed manuscripts, from those.ac~ cepted, due by July 20. Exhibitors of solar equipment send details of space and power I1eeds to exhibits chairman no later than May 1, 1976. Merrill, Lynch; Pierce, Ft;nner & Smith 900 s.w. 5th Portland OR 97204 (Attn: Solar Energy Investing) 5 03:221-4637 or your nearest MLPF &S' office a new instrument calibration facility and, it is said, put solar energy data into a form scientists, architects and engineers can more readily utilize. ~ontinued O!) page 1 7
Page 10 RAIN February/March 1976 ) ( APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ) A. T. DEVJ.:LOPMENTS Federal funding for several A.T_. programs has been allocated recently. The Community Services Administration has received a $3 million appropriation to e·stablish a Center for Appropriate Technology. Its emphasis is planned to be on low:-cost,.renewable energy devices, winterization and assistance to low income people. Contact Eugene Eccli, c/o Mary Ann MacKenzie, Room B-307, Commun-' ity Services Administration, 1200 19'th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20506. The Agency for Internation~l Development (AID) has been funded $20 mil- ' lion,to develop an intermediate tech- •nolpgy program primarily to assist the U.S. private sector in marketing equipment useful in third world countries. Contact Ted Owens, Director of Rural Development, AID, 320 21st-St., N.W., Washington, DC 20523'. Efforts are also being made to establish • Offices of Appropriate Technology in ERDA and the National Science Foundation. Authorization bills for both are being assisted by Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. (DrCal.), 2342 Rayburn Office Building, Washington, DC 20515. Time will tell if Washington mon~y will be food or poison to A.T. Pragmatically, it might be helpful- or it might prove to be an embarrassment equal to ERDA building solar homes that cost $250,000 each and repeat already successful private experiments that cost one tenth as much. It will all come out in the wash! Sim,VanderRyn, California State Architect and President ·of Farallones Institute, is setting up an Office of Approp1 riate Technology in the California State Government (possibly in the Executive Department). As proposed, the office will concduct seminars for state officials, network infbrmation on A.T., work to implement recycling and ·other whole system technologies, and set up a solar informatidn switchboard. Contact Jerry Yudelson, Office of Appropriate Technology, c/o 1State Architect's Office, Box 1079, Sacramento, CA 95805. -An exhibit of appropriate technology tools d~veloped by many ·foreign -and U.S. groups is being planned for Habitat, the U.N. conference on human settlements, in Vancouver, B.C., from May 29 to June 11, 1976. Contact Bill Ellis,. 7410 Vernon Square, Alexandria, VA 22306. An informal gathering is also being planned for A.T. people during the conference. Ideas for presentations, ' topics and format are welcome. Contact Bruce Mccallum, Advanced Concepts Centre, Environment Canada, 9th Floor, Fontain Bldg., Ottawa, Canada. For Montana renewable energy people- $700,000 per year from the state coal tax is now becoming ·available' for grants for the development and demonstration of renewable energy sources. Copies of proposed grant rules can be obtained from Charles Greene, Program Manager, Alternative Energy Program, Department of Natural Resources, 32 South Ewirig, Helena MT 59601. Group (number) Coat ot •~•lier tUS$) ,n pe,c~nla901 1-10 11 · 20 21 · ◄0 No Answer Tinsmith■ (21) 39.3 35.6 7.2 7 2 10.7 ca,penlen ( 14) 43.0 35. 7 7. 1 7.1 CObblon (7) 14.3 14.3 7.1 7. 1 57.1 Matt,e11 makers and tailors (3) 33.3 33.3 33.3 All group• (52) 34 33 10 ''.Employment and Economic Development," Ekistics, Vol. 40, No. 237, Aug. 197 5; available in most architecture or· planning libraries or from: Page Farm R'oad Lincoln, MA 0177 3 Subscriptions $24/yr. Special issue on accomplishments of employment-intensive economic development processes. Studies of China, Tanzania and Kenya as well as other countries. Development policies planned to meet the needs of the vast majority of people rather than mere rate of growth. Ekistics papers tend to be rather abstract and intellectual, but this issue does provide feedback from some rarely-explored aspects of development. The International Rice Research Institute P.O. Box 933., , Manila, Philippines IRRI has developed a series of simple, well-designed agricultural tools for lowcost/high employment applications. A very promising diaphragm irrigation pump that pumps 50-60 gal./min. to a height of 1-2 meters is l!nder development. Also available are a single-axle tractor, an 8-12 hp power tiller, a mobile 7 hp thrasher (1 ton/hr•.), a batch grain dryer (1 metric ton in 4-6 hrs.) that runs on kerosene or rice husks, a portable grain cleaner, a contact herbicide applicator that works like a printiµg press, and a seeder for pre-germinated rice seed~IRRI's process of licensing manufacturing (at no cost) to produce their designs (14.in the Philippines and 16 more in 9 other countries) should be a useful model for U.S. centers interested in making good things widely avail-
TOOLS The Making of Tools, 197 3, $4. 9 5 and The Modern Blacksmith, 1974, $4.95 by Alexander G. Weygers Van Nostrand Reinhold Company 450 W. 33rd Street New York, NY 10001 Well illustrated step-by-step guide to learning tool making and blacksmithing. Quite useful both for people needing tools that can't be bought commercially as well as people wanting to learn metal . working and smithing. The Making of Tools is a beginner's guide-what kinds of salvage metal to use for different tools, making handles, why tools are designed as they are, how to temper steel, make screwdrivers, chisels, stonecarving tools, hammers, shears, pliers, and how to sharpen and repair tools. The Modern Blacksmith goes beyond Tools into setting up a blacksmith's shop, learning metal working skills and specialized techniques. able rather than hoarding information for high profits. IRRI is interested in U.S. manufacture of their equipment designs. Manufacturers seriously interested in U.S. production should contact them. Conserver Society/Notes, free c/o Science Council of Canada 150 Kent Street, 7th Floor Ottawa, Ontario KlP 5P4 Published every two months for people interested in doing something now about Canada's future. It is part of a Science Council project exploring the implicaThe Illustrated Encyclopedia of Woodworking Handtools, Instruments and Devices, Graham Blackburn, 1974, $3.95 from: Simon & Schuster, 630 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10020 A fascinating survey of woodworking tools and their uses-useful for rediscovering some of the aids that made it easy to do a lot of things by hand that we now think we can only do with power machinery or identifying the uses of tools we find. The Cumberland General Store Wish and Want Book, $3 Rt. 3, Box 479 Crossville, TN 38555 Subtitled "Being a Comprehensive Selection of Down to Earth Tools for Living the Good Life." A nice farm catalogue done in old fashioned stylewood stoves, lamps, cooking utensils, pumps, harnesses, pulleys, plows and porch swings. Also books. Prices look reasonable. tions of a Conserver Society in Canadaa society that conserves and nourishes the resources that support its life rather than consuming them. The Dec. 1975 issue contains a good survey of energy accounting developments, an article on the costs of consumption, and access information on developments on the Canadian front. Metastasis P.O. Box 128 Marblemount, WA 98267 Metastasis is an organization in Washington state that locates and distributes February/March 1976 RAIN Page 11 Japanese Woodworking Tools These tools are great to work with, particularly if you're not one to carry sawhorses and workoenches around with you. The Japanese plunge saw is one of my favorite tools-lets you start a cut in the middle of a board without drilling, power saws, etc. Japanese saws are hard to get sharpened commercially, but you should learn how anyway. Get the $8.95 combination crosscut/rip_tension saw from Toshiro to start with, then see what is worthwhile for your needs. The Japan Woodworker 1806 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 94703 A small family business-carries a full range of Japanese woodworking tools. Tension saws, smoothing and rabbet planes, butt and mortise chisels, adzes, timber saws, sumi-subos, draw knives and kitchen knives. Tools are expensive but claimed to be the finest quality. Catalogue available. Former owner Kip Mesirow's The Care and Use ofJapanese Tools is available for $7.50. Tashiro Hardware Company 109 Prefontaine Place Seattle, WA 98104 Excellent selection of Japanese tools along with other hardware. Catalogue available. Range of prices and quality, but most important, a lot of wisdom on sharpening your tools and mind together. by mail hard-to-find information, tools and supplies dealing with low-impact technology and agriculture. They carry selected books from the U.S., England, New Zealand and India, including publications of ITDG, Oxfam, COSIRA, VITA, etc. Write for their new price•_ list, available soon. They also have some useful publications of their own: instructions for Building a Sawdust-Burning Space Heater, 8pp., $2; Setting Up . a Cooperative Organization, 18pp., $3; Fur Tanning Techniques, 15pp., $2; Fur Dyeing Techniques, 19pp., $2; and Fur Working Techniques, $3.
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