'\ '. . , y .I\';' ·, "'l Getting the English Out in the Country That's the goal of WWOOF-Working Weekends on Organic Farms-which operates as a newsletter/exchange, putting pale urbanites who want first-hand experience in organic gardening a_nd farming in touch with rural smallholders who can use help with their labor-intensive operations. A majority of Wwoofers come from the London area and most are in the 2030 age bracket. WWOOF's ·newsletter lists host farms by region and the weekend slots available. From there, Wwoofers make their own connections, with the guarantee of room and board during their working visits and rides to and from the local station. Digging deeper, WWOOF as a network supports the or:ganic agriculture movement and land reform in Britain: Working Weekends on Organic Farms (WWOOF) c/o Bradford Road 19 Lewes, Sussex, England Nordic Activists Eye the Future The dedication and bard work of Scandinavian appropriate technologists is truly inspiring. Excerpted below is a sampling ofthe good thoughts they've shared with us through correspondences in the last year. It does, ~ndeed, sound like we have much in common. "Our vision for a future Denmark is a country consisting of small, more or less self-sufficient communities using renewable sources of energy for small decentralized industries.... Denmark is probably one of the best equipped countries to make that transition to a post-industrial future: almost no big industries and a well-develope.d farming system with relatively small farms. But,'mentally' there is a long way to go...." -Er/and Nielsen, Forerningen Folkets (l)kotek, Denmark "Consider, for example, working with the same objectives in a little, conservative-never a revolution in its history-country, which is dependent'on the 'outside' for just about everything. And-get this-where the goal is to become as over-developed and energy intensive as the USA. Yes, you've already arrived at the top of the curve .. . there's only one way to go, and you have the resources, plenty of room to experiment and a , tradition for trying new ways- pioneering. "But in spite of our differences ... .we have much mo'Te in common and much to gain in exchanging ideas and experiences. 'Networking' as .you call it . .. has given the web for the metamorphosis of.our dying democracies. The parliamentary governing systems have not been able _tQ cope with the most • urgent/vital problems of society.... It 's not so accidental .that so many different grass roots movements have sprung up during thdast 10 to 1 s· years. . .. Genuine participation is not ' replying yes or no to a question, but also finding the relevant questions! "And that's where networking comes in. There are many problems to be solved like the energy one,.but the answers are necessarily bound by many basic considerations which aren't the private domain of experts. The results of our activities are of great importancej but the net result of them in the long run is even more exciting: a self-adjusting society-a decentralized democracy that works."-Floyd K. Stein, Organization for Renewable Energy, Denmark "In _Finland ... large companies and the State are of course'· working on solar energy, biomass, waste-recycling, etc., but without regard for certain difficult accompanying social changes. This would not be so serious were it not for the factthat the 'Alternative' also makes a habit of avoiding discussion of how we achieve the changeover. Alternativists do not usually realize how weak is their movement, how little •influence they have, how hard we must work..... Appropriate technologists have to learn to be much more critical and selective in their enthusiasm. In Finland, I find the greatest hope in the underdeveloped areas, like Lapland and the Baltic·Islands; and amongst the hundreds of crazy, independent inventors and quiet opponents of nuclear power who live on the countryside in this ·tough climate, not in the busy city ac~ivists-who only want to talk, campaign, protest and make demands." -George Woolston, The Greenhouse Collective, _Helsinki, Finland "There are great dangers that the soft energy movement fixes into changing the life of only a small concerned elite and leaves the bulk of society destroying the base of life in this country and continent. The main factor which can keep the movement near the political realities is the active opposition to nuclear technology and other existing fatal tendencies. The other crucial point for the movement is to improve its relations with the working class. In this respect the alternative production movement started by Lucas Aerospace workers is very important and we hope that it will spread to Finland, too." ~Olli Tammilehto, Energy Political.Association~Alternative to Nuclear Power, Helsinki, Finland ' November 1979 RAIN Page 9
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