Page 20 RAIN February-March 1980 U A plutonium economy will ensure that 1984 arrives right The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, $19.50Iyear from: 1024-28 E. 58th Street Chicago, IL 60637 RAIN has accessed Th e Bulletin before. We've been impressed over the years with the quality of real information put out by this Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science. They've published solid technical material on wind power, solar, and biomass as well as their main focus, the atom. Despite the ominous symbol, the Bulletin lock (which was moved closer to midnight-nuclear doomsday- this year), the Bulletin continues to provide an informed optimism. Maybe we like them so much because we share their hope that "through increased knowledge about . .. the alternatives, we may be able to pass from the oil into the solar age without either blowing ourselves up, tearing ourselves apart, or rendering the Earth uninhabitable. " -CC The Conscience of the International Scientific Community The Bulletin clock is a symbolic warning of the lateness of the hour as mankind confronl' (or fails to confront) the urgent problems of our limes. The minute hand, never far from midnight, has moved nine times since the founding of Ihe magazine at the end of Workl War II. •• :~1947 7MINllTU TO MIDNIGHT The clock makes ilS first appearance on the Bulletin cover .... symbol of nuclear doomsday . -~ : 1949 3 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT The Soviet Union tlp'odes ilS firsiliomic bomb. -1 : 1953 I MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Development of the hydrogen bomb by the United States and the Soviet Union . •• .~1960 •• 7 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT The Cold Wos be&ins to thaw . •• ~1963 l2MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Sicnina of the PanialTe" Ban Treaty. Codes should acknowledge the place of thermosiphon systems, the legitimate need for low-cost, owner-built options, and a class of skilled solar installers who do not have to be plumbers. Formation of such a performance code should be done through the joint work of plumbers, solar businesses, code officials, the Oregon Department of Energy, low-cost solar designers, and engineers. As part of this attempt to establish a pragmatic code process, the state or region should establish a test lab that works with these people to avoid the high costs of the national testing labs. This would also make the process more relevant to the new state code. Until a lab is set up, as part of a long-term field test plan, the local author • on time." "Bridging the Gap:" Labor & Anti-Nuclear Cooperation? Over 200 labor and anti-nuclear activists joined forces in January for a conference on "Labor and the Nuclear Issue" in Oakland, CA. Organized by the Abalone Alliance Labor Task Force and the Bay Area Rank and File Coalition, and co-sponsored by AFSCME 1695, SEIU 535, and the Office and Professional Employees Local 29 , the conference aimed at " bridging the gap" between the labor and anti-nuclear movements and exploring areas of common interest. The gathering was marked by the diversity of participants-though few minority people attended-and by the wide range of unions represented . Following Barry Commoner's keynote address, fifty people, mostly rank and file union activists, joined the largest workshop, "Organized Labor and the Anti-Nuclear Movement. " The labor people came from such unions as United Auto Workers, SEIU, postal workers, hospital workers, steamfitters, construction workers, public employees, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents most nuclear plant employees in California . The fertility of ideas in this workshop was impressive. Labor activists made it clear that though they opposed nuclear power they were unable to give much energy to anti-nuclear battles since their main priority is to defend their unions against attack and to preserve hard-won gains. Some advocated the formation of a labor party. A woman from the American Federation of Teachers urged labor and environmental movements to join forces around a common economic strategy for the 1980s. Labor and anti-nuclear activists found that though they have different short-term priorities, there are overlapping areas of common interest in which to work together in the future, especially around the economics of energy. The success of the conference may be an indication of growing cooperation between diverse grass-roots movements in the 1980s. -Stewart Burns Stewart is a writer and anti-nuclear activist in the Bay Area .
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