Page 18 RAIN October 1979 As those of us involved with appropriate technologies becoil)e more active in our own regions, working to remove boulders from the soft path we are creating, we tend to develop tunnel yision- only seeing what is going on around us, working on issues and problems which affect our immediate biorcgion and hence ignoring the problems and successes of our counterparts. As such, there's a tendency to fall back on our previous conceptions of an area which are no longer accurate. . People in the Northeast, where I've lived for many years, ten<l to feel that the Northwest is a mecca for socially aware people working to create the alternatives. We've heard of so many things going on there, we tend to think the Northwest has no pollution, no clear cutting, no ... ; these problems have already been solved. When_we get here we find only the beginnings of a new society, and not the society itself. Conversely, people in the Northwest tend to feel that the East is nothing but one large city, dirty and crowded, a , .! \ \ Give and Take-"A Bartering Center" 13 5 Church St. Burlington, VT 05401 802/864-0449 Steven Lange, Program Coordinator "A.T. should include not only new technology, i.e. things, but new techniques, i.e. ways of doing things." Although bartering is a concept as old as the hills, the people at Give and Take have come·up with a system whi~h makes bartering a viable force in today's economy. They produce a catalog (updated every 3 or.4 months) which lists various goods and services and who wants to give them and who wants to take them. Then they put you in touch with these people and the rest is up to you. If you do take something and the person who is giving it to you cannot use your services/goods, he/she is entitled to obtain "credit" from the barter bank for other services/goods from other people. Through careful record keeping, everything evens out in the end. The center also sponsors an annual bartering festival in Burlington and is willing to assist others in setting up their own bartering center. concrete jungle where very little, if any, a.t. is occurring. One must realize, however, that even in these "dirty, crowded cities" islands of beauty and appropri-· ateness abound. The phenomenon outlined above is not just limited to the East and the West, but to all areas of our country. It happens not so much because we are leary of our neighbors, but rather be- . cause we have no time to share our common problems and solutions, no time to be one. These misconceptions are in part due to a lack of inter-regional communication. If we are to succeed in our efforts, we must begin to communicate with each other in order for us to grow with each·other's experience. In an attempt to begin this dialogue, I am compiling information on many groups in the East which may help dispell some myths and reinforce the position that, indeed, there are many innovative projects taki_ng shape in this bas- •tion of traditional Yankee ingenuity and self-sufficiency. This list is by no means complete. It Half-Moon Cove Tidal Power Project Dr. Normand Laberge P.O. Box 203 Eastport, ME 04631 Frustrated at having to wait for the federal government to construct a tidal power plant in Passamaquoddy and Cobscook Bays in Maine (they've been studying it for 50 years now), the Passamaquoddy Tribal Council has taken it upon themselves to have such a plant on line by 1985. The proposed .5-12 MW plant will produce between 21,650,000 KWH/year and 33,910,000 KWH/year, and will be the first small-scale (or otherwise) tidal power plant in the country. does not include groups like New Alchemy Institute and Institute for Local Self-Reliance-Eastern groups already well-known for their pioneering a.t. work. Nor does it include the many local solar energy societies, college environmental groups and the like. What it does include are some of the most successful projects not previously mention'ed in these pages-unique groups whlich are recognized as the newest and most innovative in the region. Even with these criteria, this is but a sampling of all the exciting organizations working hard to make a.t. happen in the East This is only to give the reader a taste of the broad range of diverse groups which are springing up like wildflowers. Let's continue this di~logue which has begun between different regions bf our country. Send us any and all information about the groups in your· area, and look for it in future issues. Once we start communicating, we're on the path towards unity. (Thanks to Craig Johndohl, Mass. Self-Reliance Project/Mass. PIRG, and, New Roots) - YL Syracuse Peace Council 924 Burnet Ave. Syracuse, NY 13203 315/472-5478 In keeping with the times, these long-time (incorporated in 1936) political activists no longer limit themselves to the war machine and are now dealing with nuclear power, safe energy alternatives, third-world problems, feminism and racism, and other issues of conscience. They also run a bookstore and a collective printing press, as·welf as publishing the Peace Newsletter. NYS Coalition for Local Self-Reliance David Yarrow P.O. Box 6222 Syracuse, NY 13217 315/474-0635 This coalition was recently formed to be a voice for the self-reliant movement in New York State, to make a.t. projects more visible to people by producing directories, etc., to network information on self-reliance in the state, to hold workshops and conferences to discuss the issues of the day, and to encourage individuals "to eat less and chew well, consume less, conserve more and waste nothing in a sincere and conscious effort to· be more self-reliant, healthy, happy and free."
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