REFLECTIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE • Getting a handle on European developments in app,ropriate technology (J.nd related areas is not easy. The telliiigfact is that news ofgood alternatives from the other end of the Atlantic is still mostly facilitated by word of mouth, occasional traveling emissaries, or small notations in specialized journals. When an exciting letter on solar greenhouses arrives from Finland, or a German recycler drops out of the lilue to talk about source separation, the immediate reaction is one of pleasant surprise. Ifyou put your ear to.the ground long enough, however, you do begin to get a picture of all kinds of Europeans working to create a sustainable future for their continent. It's exciting- like tuning into something just starting to take shape-but the who and where of it all is still fuzzy. There's a whole lot ofcommunic_ating that needs to be going on. Some might ask., Why bother? It's a good question. People dedicated to the resurgence of neighborhoods, local economies and so on, should be skeptical ab_out zoomin~ out to some international level offocus.It s_eems ljke the "global village" syndrome at_best-a.t. jet-setting. But if my notion ofnetworking serves me right, the reasons to bother are plenty. Europe is closer to home than W/? think. The nations of our two continents, "heavily industrialized with largely capitalist economies, find themselves in similar predicaments. Both continents are overdeveloped and face changing prospects in a world of new limitations- and real solutions will probably come from similar actions. From Europeans now thinking about sustainability, we stand to learn a great deal. And vice versa. Mutually reinfarcing feedback on our visions and successes will help good things happ.en on a local level everywhere- from Liverpool to St. Louis. • A:r: EUROPE ... ---- ~ / ~ / / I I I I Working at Tvind: Cooperation and Renewable Energy The massive 2 megawatt Tvind windmill is unique for a number of reasons: First, it supplies a community of three schools and 800 people with all their electrical and heating needs. The surplus energy is sold to the National Danish' Elec_tric Company. Secondly, the total capital outlay for its construction (about $1 million) came from the pooled salaries of the faculty members at Tvind. Thir_dly, and perhaps most significant, the Danish volunteers in the group that built Tvind had had no· experience in constructing windmills (it's among the first!) and learned through practical experience as they w~r:t along. • I was aware of the Tvind windmill project before arriving in Denmark, and discovering that I could work on the project, decided to stay. For four months I became a part of the windmill team, working on a month-to-month con.tract. The feeling Page 8 RAIN November 1979 \.((' ':, \ \ I I i / 53m of working together with such dedicated men and women was overwhelming. The d_aily work process reflected their high_ level of commitment to cooperative endeavors: each day's planned activities were openly discussed in a general meeting of workers-no tool was picked up until th~re was a consensus around all issues of importance. Needless to say, cohesion among the members ofithe windmill team was strong. It would be extremely difficult to find a comparable cooperative effort by such motivated people anywhere. Tvind's windmill is a remarkable achievement. -Rich Wittrup
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