Bare Bones Although these are excellent circumstances for us and our work', they are by no means a ticket to Easy Street. We remind ourselves regularly that those who are born by the stroke of a pen are dissolved by the stroke of a pen, and spend as much time hustling program funds and support as would any independent, non-governmental organization. ~irk Marckwald, OAT's Director, estimates that at least a third of his time is consumed in taking care of our basic survival needs, which include finding money, writing proposals, planning budgets, and defending us before public and state scrutiny. Government J facility managers, arranging for maintenance and repair of the bikes and coordinating the details with Fleet Administration so they are able to take it over, administer it and give it the long-term commitment it needs. One of our greatest tasks is to create projects which are solid enough to withstand bureaucratic inertia and planned carefully enough so they can be administered within state regulations. In What Basket Shall We Place Our Eggs? OAT\ work falls into three broad categories-educational programs, demonstration programs and institutional reform. Our educational activities, which presently include an information center and publications, seminar series, regional meetings and the New Possibilities Show, are the core of our programs. They allow us to .reach a wide variety of people, to decentralize information and to work to bring about the change in perceptions and attitudes which is essential if any of our visions are. to reach beyond the ears of the upper middle class who can afford to change, or the "saved" who see our activities as an affirmation of their own choices. While almost ·everyone agrees that educational programs are essential, oftentimes the choice between projects which center on institutional reform versus those which demonstrate new technologies has divided the house. Institutional reform and demonstration projects in some ways repre·sent contradictory methods of dealing with a problem. Demonstrations are by their nature product-oriented, innovative, novel, fun and visible. Yet it is often hard to judge if the project has really changed anything, and just when change may begin to emerge, one must shift the center in order to follow through on it. Alternatively, institutional reforms are process-oriented, routine, mechanical, invisible, and while changing a law, code or regulation can have long term effects, there is a danger of becoming too comfortable with the slow pace of change. Playing the insider's game means using the system which you are trying to change to change itself. One can, through familiarity, become too complacent to critically examine the rnal effects of o.ur efforts. ' RAIN November 1977 Page 3 Our totat budget for the fiscal year 1977/197 8 is approximately $J 32,000. The major share of this comes from the California Energy Research Conservation and Development Commission ($175,000) and Federal Title II Public Works Act funds ($150,000). The remainder comes from the State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Water Resources, and the Office of the State Architect. These funds cover both our projects and our operating funds. These are the bare bones. I hope this issue of RAIN gives you an idea not only of what we do, but also the vision and values that underlie our day-to-day tasks. -GC Further, as insiders, we can be catalysts for change. But it will take more than us. The line agencies in California will ultimately determine the long-range effectiveness of our programs, and it is they who must be convinced of their importance. The requests for grant monies represent a special probl~m. OAT is administering a small appropriate energy technologies grants program. We are doing it because many of the people who contact this office desperately need money and because, in most cases, there truly is little money ,available to finance small-scale technological development. At the same time, we must begin to work with people to discover alternative, local ways to finance their projects, small business or research. . Otherwise, it will be easy for people to become dependent on OAT or other state sources, and thereby sacrifice their own self-reliance. Is thete a Forest Beyond These Trees? A final dilemma. In the midst of the complexity and confusion of state government we must keep our instincts tuned to the big pi.cture-the need for economic justice, self-determination and self-reliance, the role of mega-corporations in appropriate technologies, equitable use of land and resources, etc.-rather than be swallowed up in minutiae and "bureaucratic noise" (thanks to Scott Mathews for the term). One way to do this is to spend more time visiting people throughout the state and see what their concerns are, rather than perpetuate the tunnel vision of Sacramento. These dilemmas and unanswered questions aren't just • philosophical water torture. They are our reflections of some • of the problems OAT and .others face as we seek to translate visions of the future into concrete programs and policies in the current political and economic systems. Do write and share your observations with us. -Kirk Marckwald
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