Solar Action Campaign with a series of barnraisings. Three of them have been dorie so far with two of the local TV stations coverii:ig the first one. All these barn-raisings·seem to be air heating systems, which is nice, but I'm anxious to start building a greenhouse or two. I'~e been doing my best to publicize solar by producing a series of public service announcements for TV, four 10-second blips . that show people a south-facing window as a solar collector, a south-facing porch as a greenhouse, air heaters, and a breadbox or batch water heater. They are currently play-. ingon two local channels and I've just delivered them to three more. I figure that it is important to put the image out and show people that solar is not some pie in the sky but a very everyday present pos,sibility. I ?lean, that starlight falls to earth don't it? Let it keep us warm. . I wish that the solar community could put • together a public education campaign using such public service announcements on TV. Solar Lobby is gettiqg involved in producing . some PSAs but only to rebut the nuclear industries' schlock or to advertise their own organization. Whayne DiUeyhay at Critical Mass is supposedly involved in a Safe Energy Communication Council, but I haven't heard from them what they are considering. Oddly enough, I saw a ~SA produced by the~lumi- •num Association thatwas everything I would want a solar spot to be. Its theme was "be a window manager" and it dealt with ·using a window as a solar collector, making it more efficient by caulking and selling it, adding double-glazing (aluminum_s!orm windows of course),.and using night insulation. All in 30 seconds. The more we can put such vital information out, the more people will use "it and the less they will believe the propaganda that tells them solar is only available in the future. • • All my best, George Mckray Cambridge, MA Dear RAIN,, I want to use this chance to say thanks. The whole magazine-content, graphics,· photos and the rest-are really excellent. I don't share your enthusiasm for Illich, however. He seems to me far too well fitted to the Mexican intellectual mania-lofty ·pronouncements with eyes cast down on the pobres, but palms up to take the largesse from the ricos. His instituto in Cuernavaca, I submit, fits exactly this theme. Twentyfive miles away some unpublicized priests are organizing farm cooperatives and co-op . banks for a small village with moderate successes-mind you I'm an intense anti-cleri- . cal: but the point is the quiet organizing of economically sub-marginal folks is more potent,than all the pontificating from a guy living·on donations from the Echeverria family (last president of Mexico) among others. Regards, Doug Elliott Worland, WY Dear RAIN, Regarding·the Jetstream wood furnacethere's been lots of publicity about the commercial designs licensed from the original design concept. Plans for building one your,- self, although not quite as compact or elegant, can be obtained from Hill at University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Ask for "Design, Construction and Performance of Stick-Wood Fired Furnace for Residential and Small Commercial Applications." Enclose $2.00. Dave Brook Anchorage, Alaska Dear Laura, Thanks for your letter of April 4, with copies of recent RAIN articles and letters regarding appropriate technology in international context. No one should be arguing that new (or improved traditional) technologies are the p!imary answer to the problems of the poor in the Third World, just as no one should be arguing that political change is the only answer to those problems. In fact, political change and access to appropriate technolo- . gies (and many other things) are needed. The advantages to be gained by the poor, for example in the rural Philippines, through the use of appropriate technologies are substantial, though ultimately limited by the political system. Ad the advantages to be gained through the Tanzanian political system are in fact severely limited by the bureaucracy (inappropriate institutions) and the lack of available technologies with which the Tanzanians can meet their own needs. Those who see only one path for useful work are not · opening their eyes wide enough. The use of the term "appropriate technology transfer'~ is troubling. "Technology transfer'' and ''appropriate technology'' have distinctly different historical origins and implications. The former term is used by people who assume that the poor need the technology of the rich, with all the hierarchical organizational patterns, unequal income.distribution, and negative environmental consequences that come with it. The latter term has been used by people who believe that-low-cost technologies can be adapted or developed to fit local cultural patterns, local resources and skills, environmental needs and constraints, and come out of and contribJuly 1981 RAIN Page 3 ute to a process of local problem-solving that has profound political implications. No doubt the term "A.T." has suffered some erosion .in integrity (a process we noted nearly 5 years ago), but the task for those who believe in democratic, participatory development processes is to defend the term and its useful connotations, not surrender it to those for whom it is one more buzzword to spice up warmed-over conventional development• stew. The "10 questions to ask about a development-project" you reprint are recognized as important by almost any group doing useful ~ork-indeed, these questions came from small groups <;loing thoughtful work overseas; they were compiled, not dreamed up, by the IFDP. Dickson's book The Politics of Alternative Technolo,gy is indeed a thoughtful, significant work. • Best wishes, Ken Darrow Volunteers in Asia •Stanford, ·california Hullo, you wonderful Rainmakers, I was just about to write y'all a letter to · find out what I can do for "the movement burnout" case I seem to be turning into. How is it that you always seem to know just what I need to make me feel better? We just got the April RAIN, well a bit slow, but that's just post-control; there are at least half a dozeri that I'd love to have and certainly a few that I'll order. Thanks for being around. You are all wonderful. Peace, Leah Warn World Information Service on Energy Amsterdam, Netherlands Correc~on Last month we lost track of the credit for the Lovins piece, Soft Path Hits Hard Times. It ended up at the end of the Coyote article. Wrong! The Lovins article was reprinted with permission from ruralamerica, Feb.I Mar. '81, $10/yr. from Rural America, Inc., 1346 Connecticut Ave. N. W., Washington, DC20036. Also, we neglected to tell you that Tom Athanasiou, who wrote "Strategic Solar: The Renewable War Debate" in the June issue, works with the Community Memory Project in Berkeley, CA.
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