I l I Lectures on Socially Appropriate Technology, edited by Bob Congdon, Oct. 197 5, $6 seamail from: TOOL Postbus 525 Eindhoven, The Netherlands This is by far the finest document we've seen produced so far on appropriate technology. A clear, down-to-earth report on what has been accomplished, mostly by ITDG, in many areas: pedal power, intermediate building technology, agriculture tools, chemical technology, education, water technology and industrial liaison. Well documented with good photographs and case studies that should show convincingly that a.t. comprises a vastly broader and more effective range of applications than merely alternative energy hardware. (TB) June 1976 RAIN Page 13 "Incidentally whilst talking about muscle power, its efficiency is interesting. If you assume that a man eats 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day . .. this is equivalent to about an eighth of a ton of coal a year. Ifyou take our earlier ·assumption of working 8 hours a day for 200 days a year at a tenth of a horsepower, it means that a man treated as an engine is about 10 to 15 percent efficient. It is really very good, it is almost as good as a petrol engine and costs far less. ... " P. o. DUNN This sketch shows how a catchment tank works. down into the cavities under the domes. To get When rain falls, the water runs off the sloping water out, a burket is lowered into the open well. catchment apron. It collects on top of the sand, Or a hand pump might be used. Sand filters the which is piled a foot or so deep on top of the domes. water both as it enters the tank, and again as it The water soaks through the sand, and trickles enters the well. j l l RAIN j From: Lectures on Socially Appropriate Technology BOOTSTRAPS An informal polling of people at a Portland gathering of active alternative organizations showed that almost everyone was either on unemployment or CETA. "Not a very strong financial base for the community," we all chuckled. It has been relatively easy to get government "grants" these past couple of years to work for social change or to take time to "get it together." I doubt that the powers that be realize how much good they've done (not that it would be good in most of their eyes!). And it certainly has helped a lot of organizations (including ours-Nancy Lee has a CETA) keep their heads above water. But it isn't a solid financial base partly because it could be taken away from us so easily (the flick of a few legislators' computerized voter buttons). It's so easy to rely on that false sense of security without building up a self-supporting organization, whether it be to move towards a magazine with subscribers or a small business which provides useful services and/ or allows us time to do other things. As Tode· Oshin pointed out the other day, we're well on the way to getting our food system under our own control with gardens and co-ops, and it's time to begin work on supplying our other needs- shelter, clothing, transportation. The more we can circulate our money within our own community, the more we can begin to generate the capital base to develop the kinds and quality of goods and services we really need. By "community" I don't necessarily mean geographic community (at least not yet), but the broader simpatico community of like-minded folks working towards ideals of cooperative, appropriate ways of living and working. The following are a few ideas and examples of people who are creatively redefining their means of finding right livelihood in the Northwest. The list is by no means exhaustivein fact it's only the tip of the iceberg, for if there's one thing we learned from the gatherings of this spring it's that there are a lot of us out there! (LdeM) Hoedads P.O. Box 10091 Eugene, OR 97401 Gerry Mackie, President for instance (which is where I met them). Good folks-and a very fine example of working within the capitalist system appropriate small business. They make fine tipis-write for their price and size list- which they are constantly revising (sometimes up and sometimes down) The Hoedads are a tree-planting collective of 300 people who work as wellorganized teams on large contracts all over the Northwest. It's hard, healthy work, but it pays well and leaves them several months each year to do as they please. They have developed a system of taxing themselves 8 percent of each person's earnings in order to have a reserve fund to obtain bonding (required for large government contracts), buy equipment and tide t_hemselves over slack periods and delays before payment comes in. In two years they have accumulated $90,000, which is now allowing them the luxury of giving small grants and loans to community projects they're interested in. They provided seed money for the Leap Year Conference, for alternative ends. (Sorry, they are not looking for more people.) (LdeM) Nomadic Tipi Makers Star Route, Box 41 Cloverdale, OR 97112 Jeb and Caroline at Nomadics are still one of the best examples we know of to reflect their true costs. They sell about 400 tipis a year-all mail orderand gross about $10,000. They spend one day a week cutting pieces in the loft of their barn overlooking the ocean and four mornings on mailing. The sewing is contracted out to local farmers' wives- all they need is an industrial sewing machine ($400 investment) and a corner in their homes. It's piecework but they average between $5 and $8 an hour! Their initial investment is quickly paid off and if any of them wanted they could branch out into work on their own. Jeb and Caroline say their sewers make more money than they do because the women do more work. This summer they are going to be moving to Continued on page 14
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