Page4 RAIN Aug./Sept. 1980 Jill ·Stapleton ( BIOFUEL The Do's and Don'ts of Methane, 2nd ed., by Al Rutan, 1979, 160 pp., $15.00 (paper) ppd. from: Rutan Publishing P .0. Box 3585 Minneapolis, MN 55403 All that the bacteria want is an air-tight tank, an occasional gentle mixing motion and constant even body warrnth. Given these three conditions and sufficient n,utrition, you will have the happiest bacteria in the world. But·without these three.conditions the bacteria are left very much unimpressed by all 'types of costly machinery and complicated engineering. This book describes how to keep the conditions in a digester ideal for methane-producing bacteria. The author discusses in ~¥~¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥.¥¥¥¥¥¥ Byron Kennard A couple of months ago I happened to watch Dick Cavett's television program as he interviewed Dr. Freeman Dyson, the distinguished physicist from Princeton University. Cavett asked Dyson what he was working on these days and, so help me, the good doctor quickly replied, "I'm now interested in appropriate technology for national defense." Once I picked myself up off the·floor, I limped in to bed in a vain effort to ward off memories of the old days when we "Small Is Beautiful" freaks were struggling to shove the phrase "appropriate technology" dowri the throat of an Establishment unwilling,to swallow it. No~ it seems we succeeded all too well. • Appropriate technology for national defense? How easily the academic elite rips off the new rhetoric, fresh thinking and innovative approaches generated by the counterculture. One can only sit back and watch in horrified amusement. And when they chew it up and digest it, they excrete it in perverted forms we never imagined in our worst dreams. But Dr. Dyso11's new interest hits an all-time low. 11 Appropriate technology for: national defense" is the ultimate debasement of the1beautiful vision we had of a technology purposely planned to be nonviolent and life-enhancing. Now here is . this eminent professor talking on national television about weapons of death and destruction in the name of appropriate technology. E.F. Schumacher must be spinning in his grave! My friends, it's time to change the rhetoric again. While visions of renewable resource bombs and locally produced, easy-to-maintain missiles lurched in my head, I drea_med up a new phrase (new to me, anyway) to describe our program/philosophy/vision. But before I unveil it for you, let me admit my reservations about the _phrase "appropriate technology,'' the banner under which many of us have been marching these last few years. (I freely confess that I am one of the people who bears some,responsibility for the widespread use of this phrase. I am quite proud of this work and these comments are intended in no way to disparage the A.T. community or its success in promoting a new philosophy of science and technology under the rubric of "appropriate technology.") My first reservation ts the simple, obvious and oft-heard objection to the word II appropriate." It is simply too fuzzy a word and it detail a large, continuous-feed digester, and the adjustments he made over several years to produce this system design, -such as using solar energy and insulating materials to keep the tank warm. If you're tired of alternative technology books where the author is so infatuated with the gadgetry thats/he forgets what it's attached to, then read this book. -Gail Katz , to find for unlocking the secrets of your local conglomerate. It tells you where to look to research financial and general information; company history; dom~stic plants and subsidiaries; foreign operations and overseas subsidiaries; bibliographic information on director~ and offices; stock ownership; and brand and trade namesmost of which should be available at your local business school library or by mail. Resources listed range from Security and Exchange Commission reports and company proxy-statements to the Directory of Corporate Affiliations and a book called Who Owns Whom. ( RESOURCES ) Sources of <;orporate Infonn_ation, 1977, 7 pp., $.50 ppd., from: Pa,cific NW Research Center (PNWRC) P.O. Box3708 Eugene, OR 97403 503/686-5125 Activists and researchers, take note! This chintzy little mimeographed bibliography is one of the m~st valuable keys you're apt The information is in outline form, but it is not annotated, ~hich may present some problems if you're new to this kind of investigating. But not to worry! Though staffed irregularly, PNWRC is good at answering correspondence. They also have substantial files dadng back about eight years on envirompental issues, disarmament, energy, multinationals active in the Northwest, etc. While not a lending Ii-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz