Update National Center for Appropriate Technology P.O. Box 3838 Butte, MT 59701 If you were about.to give up on the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) ever becoming a realityor a reality you coul.d live with_.:.look again. A new (finai?) proposal (dated Sept. 7, 1976) has just been submitted to the Community Services Administra~ tion, and it looks like it will be funded by the time you read this. Written by Harriet Barlow and Craig Decker, the proposal now incorporates many of the. ideas many of us·were hoping for-,-six regional planning meetings, a rela~ively small administrative staff (much of the work to be done by out~ide ~onsultants, presumably-people doing existing grassroots work), a separate technical staff, and the funding of existing projects to act as regional coordinators. The pro- .posal itself is written in such a way that you can really learn something about. a.t. by reading it! We're excited about it. Now, if the reality can just live up to our dreams. Much depends on the people who are part of it, so get a copy of the proposal and find a niche for yourself. ·Let's get appropriate technologies ~ut to the people who need them. • Maine Times 41 Main St. Topsham, ME 04086 207/729-0126 John Cole, ed. . ' · Weekly, $12/yr. We;ve been reading the Maine Times for several months now and find it to be a delightful mix of environmental, entertainment and local news of what's happening in Maine. Even the display and classified ads are enjoyable-how many publications carry advertisements for wood stoves arid sewerless toilets? In all, very well done. (RE) ..( :APPROPRIATE .... .TECH . A Ha~dbook on Appropriate Technology, 19.76, $7.50 from~ .Canadian Hunger Foundation ) 1.5 Sparks St. · · Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P SA5 A good working document for people interested in a.t. Compiled in cooperation .with the Brace Research Institute. -' Essays explaining a.t.; case studies from many couf}tries, a catalog ·of tools and equipment, bibliography' and a beginning international listing of groups and individuals involved in a.t. development. (TB) Medical Self-Care: Access to Medical Tools, quarterly froni: ' P.O. Box 718 Inverness, CA 94937 $7/yr. At last! Someone is doin,g an ac~ cess journal for self-help care. It's the area of a.t. we've been wanting to get into but lack the know-how to do in depth. Editor Tom Ferguson recently finished at Yale Medical School and just moved to the Bay Area to do community medicine. The scope of the magazine looks wide and exciting: how to take care of ourselves apd ou·r neighbors and famlly; first aid and long-term health needs; books, drugs, networking and how-to. Only one issue so far, but ifthe quality stays the same, it's a winner. (LdeM) · Overseas Volunteer Work for pe~sons with a degree and experience in the areas of agriculture·, engineering, health ser- . vices, small business development, and . other technical fields. Assignments are for two years on multinational teams in Asia, Africa and·Latin America. Volunteers receive $80-$150 a month phis all expenses, including travel, cost of living and insurance. Interested? Send resume to: Ed Allen International Voluntary Service~ 1555 Connecticut Ave., N.W. · Washington, DC 20036 202/387-553 3 October 1976 RAIN Page 7 Florian Wipter breezed.in one day last spring on a tour around the world looking at alternativ_e energy organizations for the United Nations. We spent a very· . pleasant evening with him- one of those people with whom you feel at home the minute they walk in. When we get a copy ofbis report we'lllet you know. in the meantime, here's a letter he wrote recently:_ Hi! Well, I'm in Bangkok now trying to figure out what they're doing down this way in line of alternatives. Problem is; it's cheap<;r to have a dozen Thais pedaling generators for 20 years than to buy a wind genera- .. tor.... . In Australia, all sorts of alternatives underwent a painful abortion when the Whitland governmen! was "fired" by . the jackass governor general last year. ·The first government with an open atti- ·tude towards alternatives had to be sacked~ As far as these kinds of things are concerned Australia is the prime example of how not to do it. Earlier this year people were busted because of. participating in, in fact organizin-g, an alternative technology fair, The commonwealth poli~e who were the judicial organ behind this even admitted doing . this through a public release. As you can see, RAIN could be a .good lu'mp of yeast in a dissolving brew; The people I would suggest contacting ·are an information exchange group-the only one doing anything really relevant in terms of grass roots innovation. They· . are a very loose and nonchalant bunch of young people · Environmen-tal Resource Exchange Center (EREC) 400 La Trobe St. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Also: Low Impact Technology, Australia 34 Martin Street South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia · Autonomous House Group School of Architecture Sidney University Sidney, New South Wales, Australia They have .an open house every afternoon when people can ..come in and check out their version of alternatives. The house is in the middle of Sidney; solar heated, wind-cooled (breezes) with a methane generatorthe whole lot.' Lots of people drift through there. · . There is also a kind of Mother Earth News called: Earth Garden P.O. Box 378 E_pping, 2121, Australia ($2 per copy, see RAIN, Vol. II, No.5) Until I'm in the mood to write again, Good Luck and God bless you all, Flo
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