/ World Biogeographical Provinces Map, 22" x 38", full color, $3 postpaid from: CoEvolution .Quarterly P.O. Box 428 Sausalito, CA 94965 · Based on still-accumulating data of plant , and animal distributions, this new map indicates a deeper coincidence of geological, biological and cultural regions on a world-wide basis. CoEvolution Quarterly, $8/yr., from: P.O. Box 428 Sausalito, CA 94965 CoEvolution is Stewart Brand's successor to the Whole Earth Catalog. It wavered fqr the last year or so, lacking Brand's former uncanny ability to focus an:d draw out new trends, ideas and visions. We all get burned out and can't always stay centered on course. But good news! The Fall '76 issue is dynamite! Brand is back in gear and .in good form, and his commentary and notes are worth reading by themselves. o' often just read through once for Brand, then once for the rest of the stuff.) Whole Earth almost always managed to shake my head up a bit, and it came back together in a new way e·ach time. It's happening again and feels good. A lot of thoughts on success, not apocalypse, and on bio-, regions and regional consciousness. The next issue is being edited by Peter Warshall (Septic Tank Practices, RAIN (HEALTH ) Prognosis Negative: Crisis in the Health Care System, David Kotelchuck, ed., 1976, $2.95 from: ' Vintage Books Random House 201 East 50th New York, NY 10022 This new Health/PAC (Health Policy Advisory Center) updates American Health Empire ( 1970) for a detailed view of the ills of our American health care system. It is a hefty collection of essays documenting the wheelings and dealings of large hospital systems, Blue Cross, nursing homes, drug companies and government assistance (Medicare, Medicaid, grants and national insurance). It's very depressing reading but useful ammunition. Health/PAC has been doing October 1976) and is going to focus on watershed politics, regional thinking a!ld bioregional provinces. Should be good. Maybe you'd better subscribe. Stewart has been kicking space stations around lately in CQ, and we've felt them to be pretty crazy. They probably are, but last night Lee was reading us an account by one of our astronauts · of his spiritual conversion on the Moon. (See Moon, Moon review this issue.) ' Turns out most of our astronauts had some pretty heavy unprogrammed spiritual/consciousness experiences. · Must have freaked out NASA! If that's the case, maybe L-5 is a good idea. Get all those people who want to get above all our problems, send them out into space on a technological adventure and end up with a new spiritual consciousness for our planet. Each thing in its fullness holds the seed of its own demise! Seems the point missed in the L-5 discussions was that the game is cosmic and about consciousness, not about "whole earth" and technological problems/solutions. The San Francisco Bay area has fermented a lot of intellect~al development of roots, regional consciousness, bio-·· regions, and how to live like a native in your own region. As well, a lot of people are beginning to live and act on such consciousness- numerous creeks once buried in concrete cqlverts have been uncovered and restored, forests replanted, natural food systems reused. Peter Berg, who disseminates Planet Drum-a series of informati 1 on bundles exploring watershed politics and bioregionalism (P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA 94131) is editing a book of people's es~ays in these areas. The Mussel Group, Box 31251, San Francisco, CA substantial work in this area for some time and publishes an excellent bimon.thly Bulletin. Write for price information: Health/PAC, 1 T Murray St., New York, NY 10007). (LdeM) Safe Alternatives in Childbirth, Lee and, David Stewart, ed., 1976, $5 from: National Association of Parents and Professionals for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth (NAPSAC) P.o: Box 1307 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 919/732-7302 If you are at all interested in the pros and cons of different birthing pr,actices; read this book. It is a collection of papers given at the 1st NAPSAC Con- . ference by doctors, midwives and , parents. It contains hair-raising documentation of the generally unmentioned hazards to mother and infant of routine use qf drugs, forceps and IVs, as well as the high chances of contracting November 1976 RAIN Page 19 94131, is developing information on local human/biosystem relationships, priorities for restoring natural systems and non-exhaustive use of labor and materials for manufacturing and agriculture in the region. Peter Warshall, (Box 42, Elm Rd., Bolinas, CA 94924) is editing the bioregion issue of CoEvolution. Gary Snyder, poet and author of Turtle Island, continues to' write and talk on watershed concerns. Jerry Yudelson, consultant to the California Office of Appropriate Technology (RAIN, October 1976), has been working on restoration projects. Out of all their work is emerging a sense of what real changes in our surroundings and in our heads can be brought about by becoming aware of the places we inhabit. ' The Town That Fought to Save Itself, by Orville Schell with P.hotographs by Ilka Hartmann, 1976, $6.95 from: Pantheon Books Random House 201 E. 50th New York, NY 10022 The story of a small town just north of San Francisco struggling with the new/ old questions of growth/tourism, prosperity/obscurity, peacefulness/prosperity. The "longhairs" get elected to the Public Utilities District and work to design a sewage system that won't encourage expansion, dances are held, babies are born, barns burn down, highway expansion plans are protested. The story unfolds lovingly in a diary format, giving a sense of the people and the lives involved, as well as the political importance of their struggles. A very human account by two people who live there. (LdeM) serious infections in the hospital. Statistics from studies in California and elsewhere show the increased health and general lack of problems in home deliveries as long as mothers with potential problems are screened out beforehand. There are case studies of several midwives' and doctors' home delivery practices as well as descriptions of several birthing clinics-a step in between Continued on next page
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