November 1976 RAIN Page 3 RAIN is a monthly information access journal and referen.<:e service for people developing more satisfying patterns that increase local self-reliance and press less heavily on our limited resources. We try to give access to: * Solid.technical support for evaluating and implementing new ideas. *Ecological and philosophical perceptions that can help create more satisfying options for living, working and playing. * Up-to-date information on people, events and publications. National Self-Help Resource Cehter 1800 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20007 ' 202/338-5704 If you want to know more about community resource centers and community information projects, get in touch with ' Susan Davis at this project. They are keeping track of what's happening all over the country and have put together ' a how-to notebook with a very complete bibliography and resource secdon. Write for information about its availability and watch RAIN. APPROPR.IATE TECHNOLOGY' Conserver Society News 512 Blvd. Wilfred Lavigne Aylmer, Quebec }94 3W3 Canada Bi-monthly, $5/yr. for individuals, $15 for institutions. Not to be confused (but why not?-they sound alike) with Conserver Society Notes put out by the Science Council of Canada, CS News is a grassroots newsletter for Canadians developing a society in harmony with the biosphere. It's edited by Bruce McCallum, author of Environmentally Appropriate Technology (RAIN, May 1975). It has inputs froin reporters in almost every province and is beginning to provide a good coverage of events, projects and goings on in Canada. The same group has set up a nonprofit cooperative company, Conserver Society Products, to distribute environmentally·appropriate technologies. Initial function is as a buyers' co-op, with emphasis on wood-burning technologies. Contact: Conserver Society . Products, P.O. Box 43 77, Station' E, · Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (TB) First Steps in Village Mechanization, by G. A. Macpherson, 1975, from: Tanzania Publishing House P.O. B.ox 2138 Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania A handbook prepar:ed for cooperative development villages in Tanzania. How to start from nothing except people ·and the things around them and finish in 4 to 5 years with village workshops producing equipment for agriculture and other rural activities. Selection of trainers, starting and managing a cooperative workshop, producing workshop equipment and tools, making furniture, village transport, agricultural equipment·and training donkeys and oxen. A fine, clearly illustrated, stepby-step gu.ide with good design drawings, especially notf!.ble for its commonsense advice on things like how a tractor may harm a village and Warnings about the effects of free aid mon·ey. Of value to overdeveloped countries for its simple and straightforward advice on doing things: don't start with a workshop building-build a bench under a tree; don't build a jig for holding wheelbarrows during construction-dig a hole. for the wheel and work on the ground; don't cut the tread off an old tire to make a wagon wheel-stuff planks into the tire and build the wheel inside it! (TB) ~ational Centre for Alte~native Technology Llwyngwern Quarry Pantperthog Machynlleth Powys Wales I had to mention these folks because my tongue had a spasm trying to pronounce their address and I wanted to see if our typesetter would go berserk typing it (she didn'~t Alphabet soup addresses aside, what these folks have been doing in Great Britain is an important element in developing any new patterns. They've set up a demonstration center for alternative technologies ·where people can come see, kick, shake, try out and get a feeling for the reality of things like compost toilets, windmills and solar heaters. Very few people can visualize that sort of thing without seeing it, and seeing it puts it into a category of reality right along with the traditional options they're familiar with. This British center has had more than 50,000 visitors this year, Farallones Urban House has 150 visitors every ~aturday, and new understandings of what's happening are spreading like wildfire. Inquire about the Center's series of Do-lt-Yourself (DIY) plans for windmills, waterpumps, ~tc. (TB) NATIONAL CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY (U.K.)
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