RAIN Whither Water? Imagine Peace Helping Ourselves * « > -V ; • »v * » ,r> if ^ *i-V' ^ ^ « I*' W «. ’• w *••*5 -w- - - »w-fr, i ' ?w^. -3- /• -v--.=.v<' or Volume VIII No.4 $1.50 No Advertising
Page 2 RAIN January 1982 ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! All you librarians and mailbox watchers might want to note that there will be a longer-than-usual delay between issues next time. This is not a mailing problem. Our combined February/March issue (Vol. VIII, No 5) will be coming out in late February. Nothing to worry about— just some time for us to work on some other projects and regain our damaged sanity! —The Rainmakers P.S. Speak for yourself, John! —MR Dear You: I like seeing news on Native American resistance to the hard social path with its energy use implications. Lovins, Illich, Tom Bender, Lappe and Collins, Henderson are my favorites in your magazine. The two most important issues to me now are nuclear disarmament (and no nuclear power plants, too) and topsoil. This country has lost 40% in 50 years. Please review Soil and Civilization by Hyams sometime. I have Rainbook and Stepping Stones and like themn lot. Bioregions: I would like to see a lot of articles on them and ending nation-statism. Some Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder would be nice too. Keep up the good work. A friend, Larry Shultz Bradford, NH PS. “Paraguay Lost" was a great article. RAIN: I love your magazine and feel it is a very important publication. I especially like the feminist and non-racist perspective of the articles. Thanks. Nancy Metheson Helena, MT Rainpeople: I'm making use of your excellent magazine (finally). 1 just want to say "keep it up." It's very good and current. I hope it makes you happy. Charlie Martin Takoma Park, MD Dear RAIN: Love ya! I eagerly await the receipt of the enclosed order (you know how it is when you finally find what you were looking for). A million thanx. Drummond Reed Anchorage, AK Dear Rain: Been goin through my own change-of- seasons lately, and wanted to tell you that in the midst of my movement, I found you I Here in New Hampshire, acid has been the taste of our rain for too long, and so, it's a 'sweet-release'—your RAIN. Grateful! Patryc Spanos Newport, NH Dear Friends: Receiving and reading RAIN is a real joy for us here in Juba. It's a concrete reminder that some individuals (and agencies) have concerns and perceptions that might make this a better world to live in. That's reassuring. Vol. VIII No. 3 RAIN January 1982 Journal of Appropriate Technology RAIN Magazine publishes information which can lead people to more simple and satisfying lifestyles, help communities and regions become economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN STAFF: Laura Stuchinsky, Mark Roseland, Carlotta Collette, John Ferrell, Kevin Bell, Steve Johnson, Steve Rudman, Nancy Cosper, Tanya Kucak, Salena Baker. Linnea Gilson, Graphics and Layout RAIN, Journal of Appropriate Technology, is published 10 times yearly by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a non-profit corporation located at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Copyright © 1982 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photograph: Ancil Nance
' Thanks for what you do and for being an example of what can be done. John M. Villaume U.S. Embassy, Khartoum Dear Rainmakers: I recently received a much awaited response from ya'll telling me that yes sir, you did get my renewal. I can stop worrying now. To fill you in on some regional information from southwestern Pennsylvania, I'll do my best. This is the start of Appalachia just above the Mason-Dixon line. Forty years ago or more this was a boom area due to the tons of coal being mined in many small and large mines around here. Most of them closed down when oil became king. The result around here is many "patch" communities. They're old hamlets with rotting housing sheltering many people who are genuine rural folks out of work since the mines shut down. Fayette County has its share of problems with high unemployment, ailing transportation networks, lack of industry, high numbers of welfare recipients, and strong mob control of business (legal-illegal) and government. The work worth mentioning is being done by the Fayette County Community Action Agency, Inc. (I'm interning with them). They are currently working on a salvage project where they hope to recycle old building materials to use on aging homes in need of structural repair. It is a much more logical solution as compared to giving away free money for fuel payments. The latter is purely a political solution and is far short of a long-term solution. They are also working on a project that uses salvaged materials to build solar greenhouses for eligible recipients. They built one demo greenhouse with an NCAT grant and since then have broadened the project. Twenty solar window heaters were built last year using funds from DOE Small Grants award. Now private money is aggressively being sought. It's a very positive action group. Working for tomorrow, Steve Proudman Uniontown, PA Mark: Your piece on survival was the best on the subject that I've read and, I believe. I've read most of them over the past year or so. I think it is crucially important for you to keep the door open for these folk. I believe that you need them and they need you—as broadening and moderating influences on each other. Tom Bender, as you may have noticed, doesn't agree. He dropped off the list of contributing editors because he felt we weren't covering enough good stuff and were, instead, catering to the hard core. He has a point, of course. I do lean toward the hard core because it's the only way to talk to them, and I sincerely believe they are worth talking to. They are, after all, doing in very practical terms many of the material things that the counter culture tried to accomplish. And they are changing. Where the literature once was dominated by the sense of isolation that you noted, there is more and more now of cooperation, community and neighborliness. Miles Stair has written about it—even about getting into local politics. So have Mel and Nancy Tappan. I don't suppose people like Kurt Saxon ever will but, then, they have small audiences. Incidentally, at the moment, I think, our newsletter is the largest in the field. As for shifting the debate from preventing nuclear war to surviving it, I don't think that's the problem you see. In the first place, these people haven't been involved in the debate at all so far. Now, however, there are signs that they'll come down on your side I There is a sharp anti-nuke flavor in the literature and also a fairly wise recognition of the imperial foreign policy that could get us all killed. After all, many of these people are old line isolationists, i.e., anti-imperialists. At any rate, I think you must be very y ty practical when it comes to war. The Ad- ministration, as it gears up for the SHOW ' .G DOWN, undoubtedly is going to emphasize /( civil defense somewhere down the line. I hope that the scene may be set—by surviva-': lists—to oppose that as a bureaucratic nightmare, with a double-barrel emphasis 1) on , local and not national civil defense, and 2) pa: flat-out opposition to nuclear or any other i kind of war as being, among other things, ' % the ultimate excuse for Big Brother govera- ment. I know that Reagan is riding high right now. But every time he has to use police power to crank up for the next step in his Imperial Cake Walk or Corporate Wing Ding, he is going to piss off more and more of the middle class. And only when the middle class finally understands that NO big government, big biz president is their friend, will the stage be set for a good, solid AMERICAN movement toward—I pray, a decentralized, libertarian society. But, of course, we are all just dreamers when it comes to this sort of thing. What probably will mark our lives most in the long run will be our actions and not our opinions. I hope you will understand that my actions continue along the same lines as when last ' we had a chance to chat [see RAIN VII:2]. The newsletter is just an opportunity to extend it a bit. Karl Hess Editor, Survival Tomorrow Kearneysville, WV January 1982 RAIN Page 3 ACCESS POLITICS Questions and Answers About the Reagan Economic Program, by The COIN Campaign, 1981, 36 pp., $4.00 (bulk discounts available) from: COIN Box 53361 Temple Heights Station Washington, DC 20009 The COIN (Consumers Opposed to Inflation in the Necessities) is an informal coalition of some 70 organizations representing consumers, labor, senior citizens, religious organizations, women, minorities and community groups. The Campaign put together this common-sense handbook in response to requests from people all over the country concerned about the impact of the new Reagan economic program. The five major points of the Administration's program—huge budget and tax cuts, de-regulation (drastic reduction in government protections), enormous increase in military spending, and a policy of tight credit and high interest rates—are discussed in an easy to read question and answer format. Political cartoons and pithy quqtes from both COIN leaders and government officials are interspersed throughout the guide. The booklet does a good job of demystifying the Reagan program as well as pointing out its internal contradictions. There's even a brief chapter on an alternative program based upon controlling inflation and stimulating investment in the sectors of the economy which produce the basic necessities of life— food, energy, housing and health care. This is a simple and effective educational tool. The only thing I've seen that does a better job of cutting through the Reagan rhetoric is Budget Director David Stockman's embarassingly-revealing recent interview in the Atlantic Monthly.—SR '"
Page 4 RAIN January 1982 “Community Alert: Preparing for Energy Emergencies," full-color 31"x44" poster by Diane Schatz, available for $6.00 ppd. from Rain, 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. ) Diane and Joel Schatz—PRISM Inc. This September Joel Schatz (Oregon’s first director of Energetics, the state energy office, under then-Governor Tom McCall) had the opportunity to speak at the National Passive Solar Conference. His talk provided some positive images as an overview to the Solar scenario. We agreed later to run it as an article and I spoke with him to find ways to introduce the piece. I was concerned that the corporate turnaround he seems to describe might appear naive. His response—"It is not naive to leave out images of a potentially violent future. Flying bullets are on the news each day. What signals people are exposed to are what they respond to. Everything you can say that is beautiful, that reduces the general paranoia and teaches people whole vision thinking brings on higher possibilities. The magnitude of change we're capable of is completely unknown at this time." —CC TJiere is a TJiomas Jefferson quote in the Library of Congress engraved in marble: "He thinks too small who looks beneath the stars." I always thought that was one of the best early plugs for solar energy. In fact, my wife, Diane and I liked it so much that we inscribed it on a new poster that we did called "Community Alert; Preparing for Energy Erhergencies." The title is a disguised slogan for economic optimism. The picture was used as some kind of cultural Rorschach test of the future. In the early 70's, I became involved here in Oregon in the formulation of energy policy for the state government. I was actually a bureaucrat. It was the first state energy office in the country. At that time, I and many people were trying to take advantage of the incredible amount of wisdom generated for decades and break the news, essentially, to government people and to business people about the nature of stability. I felt at that time that 1 was doing the most noble, honorable, honest, spiritually intact activity imaginable—and found that I was continuously under attack by a variety of institutions in both the public and the private sector. At that time I met Howard Odum at the University of Florida. In my view he is a pioneer in the understanding of the relationship between energy and value and money and behavior and culture. I tried to interpret his understandings to state government and businesses in Oregon and throughout the United States and, as it turned out, to many nations of the world, and found some success but not very much understanding. My own concern was how to explain more clearly
January 1982 RAIN Page 5 what we were talking about. Well, years went by, and I experimented quite awhile with new and innovative ways of trying to explain the nature of money and energy and behavior, and in just the past year a development has occurred in my life that I find extremely exciting and nearly unbelievable in its implications. It has to do with the "Community Alert" poster and what's about to happen to it. Let me run this down for you, because there's a lot of lessons that we've learned that have extreme implications for people who are trying to influence public policy. Just before the end of the Carter Administration, Diane and I were asked to put together that poster for the U.S. Department of Energy and National Council of Churches. This was partly because In the Fortune 500 there's tremendous talk of nuclear war. the State Department and the Defense Department jointly felt that it was a near certainty that the United States could lose oil from the Middle East because of the increasing turbulence in that part of the world and there was no preparation at the community level in this country to deal with that implication. We reviewed the emergency plans (if you can call them that) of every state in the Union. I would say that if you had to stake your personal stability on the sanctity of those plans, you'd have lots of problems. The cities assumed the states had something in place. The states assumed the Federal Emergency Management agency had something in place. The feds assumed the states had something in place. There is really no preparation. It hasn't been taken seriously and the challenge put to us was how do you begin to communicate to people en masse about the need to get their act together quickly in such a way as not to cause panic and make it socially acceptable to begin to do things. We resorted not to a format of scientific analysis, but to a childhood book illustration in extraordinary detail. We tried an experiment: we told a variety of people, "put the picture together." We assumed the Reagan Administration would not be interested in the picture because it stood for decentralization and all the thiAgs which are at least outwardly opposite to the philosophy coming out of the White House. The project just about died, so we asked for the copyrights in the hope we might do something with it. About April of this year I visited the governor of Oregon, Vic Atiyeh, who is a moderate/conservative Republican. I showed him the picture and talked about it in great detail. He liked it quite a bit and wrote a nice letter. I thought "well it's nice to have a good letter from the governor; I think I'll take that letter and generate more." So I went on a fact-finding mission to the administrators of Oregon's major state agencies. An amazing thing began to occur. They weren't simply writing endorsement letters, they were becoming very honest! They were saying things in writing on official letterheads that they don't usually say. The language was very emotional and they were extremely optimistic. In fact, the picture was used as some kind of cultural Rorschach test of the future. For example, the labor commission looked at it and said that if communities started behaving that way it would create more jobs, and people would have something to look forward to instead of something to dread. The director of environmental quality said that we would be using fewer fossil fuels, and so we would simply have a cleaner place to live. The administrator of state corrections said that he felt strongly that the major cause of crime is lack of identity, lack of community identity, lack of purpose, lack of neighborhood, and if communities began to behave the way they behave in the poster there would be an absolute reduction of the overall crime rate. The welfare director said it would give hope to people on the low end of the economic scale. The public utility commissioner said it would put a lid on escalating utility rates. It went on and on. We had some 20 letters from state agency administrators, each from his or her own point of view, saying if communities began to behave this way, it would only do good things. Now, for me that was astonishing, because I've had an interesting history in the Oregon state government and I guess I had given up on their learning process. The stress of the times, the information that's available is so extraordinary right now it's caught up with everyone. I thought, "why, this is just astonishing information." So I went to Washington, D.C. and I met with a variety of members of Congress—Republican, conservative members of Congress. I went to the White House recently (in fact, that was a marginal experience for me, partly because I was dressed in jeans and had to be checked out with the F.B.I. just to get in the gate even though Senator Hatfield had arranged the appointment for me. There were a few tense moments when I began to wonder "hey, you know, is this going to be like back in the 60's," but everything was fine). What I found in the White House was extraordinary receptivity to all this information. I found that the White House is essentially under seige. It's a very unpopular place with just about every special interest group in the U.S. In fact, the cab ride to the White House was pretty amazing. The driver was a grandmother about 60 years old, black, who said, "I don't mean to be disrespectful to the President, but if this don't get straightened out soon, there's gonna be guns in the street, baby." That was my opening line when 1 met with the White House people, and I found that messages like that are pouring into the center of government. There's an enormous amount of concern, a terrific amount of discontinuity among advisors who don't really know what they're doing. Many of the people making economic policy now are not experienced business people. It's a very insecure environment right now. I found terrific opportunities and potentials coming out of that bastion of government, believe it or not, because the business community in the U.S. is very, very unhappy about the untested, puzzling decisions that are being made and are producing paranoia and uncertainty in so many millions of people. In New York City I met with the heads of several major corporations in the Fortune 500. Some of those corporations have had tremendous increases in profits in the first quarter of the year, and you'd think they'd be Now is the time to do it. You can't be too outrageous. really happy but they're not. They're very upset, and there's tremendous talk about nuclear war. The water systems are failing. New York City now has 36,000-40,000 homeless people, and on and on and on. Their concerns are very real. I came back to Oregon, and with the help of a very dear friend, Norma Paulus (who, for those of you who are not Oregonians, is secretary of this state) went to visit primary businesses in the state to raise money to distribute the poster. The question which I put to corporate leaders in Oregon was if they would take a decentralized picture of society with all that's on that image and help us put many copies in the 1,500 schools in the state, all public libraries, all the city halls, all the college libraries, all the county seats. Recently, two Oregon private utilities and the Nike Shoe Company began the venture.* I frankly was very puzzled that the utilities first agreed to do this. Here in the state, food companies, all kinds of major mainline industries are now saying "we want our name to go on that picture because that is the future that makes sense." One inter- *Since Joel made these comments nine other corporations have signed on as sponsors of the poster.
Page 6 RAIN January 1982 Our next project is to try to visualize peace. We're asking ourselves the question that hurts our brains: "If peace broke out, what would it look like?" It sounds terrific. We've thought about it now for two or three months and collected some notes. We're going to start consulting and writing letters and talking with thousands of people—whoever has an idea. We're not talking about these ideas in the abstract—the ultimate political folly of the United Nations and most government foreign policies is that the conversation is so abstract that no one really knows what they are talking about. If peace were really pursued (given the extraordinary decadence of this culture and the extraordinary poverty of Third World nations whose materials we use to power our extraordinary decadence) what would life be like for us here next week? How would our clothing be different? How would our travel plans be different? What would we be doing differently in school? What kinds of jobs would we have? What would be the nature of business? What would be the nature of government? What would life be like for 153 countries plus the United States? What would it be like given the fact that the U.N. now records 5,000 religions on this planet? How do you strike some common sense resource balance and then picture it? What would it look like? How would we proceed? I'm convinced we can't move in that direction until we see where we're moving. Madison Avenue has known this forever; lay the image out and people will go for it. What we're doing now is building a systematic set of questions for widespread distribution to gather specific answers for the composition of wholistic peace imagery. Want to help Joel and Diane envision peace? Send your ideas to us at RAIN! pretation is that many people feel bad times are coming and it's important for people in the corporate world to do anything possible to become leaders and say what's happening, to put out useful information so that their public relations are intact when people consider buying their goods and services. There are so many changes occurring so fast in the corporate world that it's dizzying. So many people want to get on a track that's popular, that makes sense, that adds stability, even if it means a 180 degree reversal from values or practices that have generated profits in the past. These are not simply events occurring in Oregon, which has been known to be advanced in certain ways (much of that is illusion; some of it is true). This is typical of the business community in general. There's an enormous amount of information moving around. The game that's going on is "how do you make money from what has now become fashionable?" I expect that the utilities, for example, in addition to selling insulation will get into the business of marketing solar packages, hydro packages, wind generators for rural areas and anything else that will turn a profit. It's an extremely interesting time when most people involved in high finance know that the stability of the system is so fragile that if enough people don't support the ideas that are tried and tested and make sense, that they'll blow the entire experiment. This was particularly true of conversations in New York City where most of the orientation and dialogue had to do with increasing prospects for nuclear war. Partly because New York is United Nations headquarters, policy booths have been set up on the streets, closed-circuit TV cameras have been set up in front of foreign missions because of bombings and so forth. It's increasingly tense. The Second Special Session on Disarmament is coming up in the spring of next year and many people are now asking the most basic questions in the most unlikely places you can possibly imagine. What I'm hearing is that it's easy to go talk about whatever things you're interested in working with and talking to the people about what you're doing if you've got something that fits any way at all with the kind of public image and corporate direction that might make sense. Now is the time to do it; you can't be too outrageous. I believe that so strongly—I can't find the words to impress more strongly that I believe that's true. How long that window will remain open is a big question. I have travelled all over the world talking energy policy with all kinds of people and never found such receptivity to these kinds of ideas as I have in the past few months. And the diversity of support is totally astonishing. Ultra-liberal people, very conservative people, very young people, very old people, all wanting to take some What / found in the White House was r extraordinary receptivity. common sense and figure some way to make the money system do it. I love it. It's exciting. Someone asked me recently whether I think it's foolish to continue working towards all of these wonderful goals when our country is manufacturing plutonium and we'll probably all blow up. My instinctive response was "we'll never blow up in a nuclear war—it's not profitable." I hadn't even thought of that before. It just kind of flew out. That is, in a way, my consolidated interpretation of what I've been hearing, what I've been exchanging with people these past few months. □ □ —Joel Schatz
January 1982 RAIN Page 7 WORK Honest Business: A Superior Strategy for Starting and Managing Your Own Business by Michael Phillips and Salli Ras- berry, 1981,209 pp., $6.00 from: Random House 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 If you're thinking of starting a small business, or even if you already have, you may find this book to be indispensable. "Being honest is a superior way to do business. Being open about business is important, beneficial and necessary. . . . The authors have worked with over 450 open businesses [the Bay Area's Briarpatch Network] in the past eight years. Of these, less than live percent have since failed." They ought to know. Phillips, who co-authored with Rasberry the successful Seven Laws of Money, is a former vice-president of the Bank of California and was a key organizer of Mastercharge (now Mastercard). In this handbook-of-sorts they outline, with numerous examples, the principles and methods of honest business, from studying and opening the books to honest business management. The chapter called "Short Bits of Advice" is a mini-encyclopedia of essential information, which alone is worth the price of the book. The people and businesses the authors describe in illustrating their points are at least as interesting as the honest business techniques they employ. Filled with models, methods and inspiration, the book is clear, direct and refreshing! The book's only weak part is the discussion of "honest business in the broader context"—stuck in the back under "Appendix B." The authors skirt over the relation of "honest business" to "benign capitalism" and sidestep the issue of business' responsi- bililty (not just goodwill) to its community. Likewise, the questions of growth and scale are addressed apart from concerns such as worker control (not just profit sharing), which somewhat sterilizes the political implications of honest business. Those who see "the system" as "the problem" might be a little put off by stories of enlightened California entrepreneurs, but they would be sadly mistaken to dismiss the message o(Honest Business. Open, honest business has proved very successful in major industries in West Germany and Japan as well as in the co-ops and boutiques of the West Coast. It is also the guiding philosophy, claim the authors, behind the successes of J.C. Penney, A.P. Giannini (founder of the Bank of America), Theodore N. Vail ACCESS (founder of American Telephone and Telegraph Co.) and William Cooper Procter (of Procter and Gamble—"honest return for an honest dollar"). Honest Business will not tell you how to make a lot of money. In examining the facts and fancy of money the authors tackle the illusions that money provides freedom, respect or security. "Rather than seeking possessions, develop strong friendships and become an interesting person. ... You can have a great deal of freedom and respect during your life and security in your old age." What Honest Business will tell you is how to start in business and how to stay in business—you could hardly ask lor more. —MR A few quotes from Honest Business: • Tradeskill is the cluster of attributes that allow people to effectively start and run a business. The people who have this set of attributes find them extremely valuable in their business lives. These attributes can be boiled down to four: persistence; the ability to face the facts; knowing how to minimize risks; and being a hands-on learner. Each of these is a necessary element of tradeskill, yet none of them individually is sufficient for business success. • What are the things we can learn about our businesses from studying the books ? Two good things are: what days off you can take, and when you can take a vacation. • To survive the onslaught of the mammoth agency [the IRS], keep accurate records and pay your business taxes. If you are not withholding your employees' taxes in your business when you should be, we suggest that your resulting anxiety is probably not worth it. Partnership is the solution we suggest. In the long run, you'll find that the emotional benefits of openness are worth finding a way to achieve it. • The concept of community is significantly different from the traditional business view of "the market." • In the successful collective, the issues of administration are separated from the issues of decision making. Individuals are selected from the collective to administer the decisions and report back to the decision making body. • Should you incorporate your business? There are four alternatives to incorporation: form a cooperative, operate a muddle, be a sole proprietor or become a partnership. • If you have a business that can avoid having employees, don't hire any. • Instead of "marketing plan," substitute the phrase, "two-year budget projection with explanations." Nearly everyone in business can tell you how to do this, and recognize one when it is done. Most of all, those people can realistically appreciate how unreliable such a projection can be in the real world. • "A partnership is a divorce agreement signed when the parties involved are still in love." • The unfortunate fact is that one out of five sexual relationships end with antagonism and sometimes hostility between partners. Thus, if your business relationship is important, it's not worth the 20 percent chance of jeopardizing that. Otherwise, you may have to quit your job or fire someone or do something drastic that will probably end up to be out of proportion to the sexual rewards in the first place. • Retirement is not discussed here. We don't know clearly what it is. Some people seem to have "retired" at age twenty-four, and others like Bucky Fuller never retire. Solar Food Dryer, by Ray Wolf, 88 pp., $14.95 from: Rodale Plans Rodale Press 33 E Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 Though not particularly elegant in appearance, this latest useful item from the Rodale workshops is one of the better designs I've seen. The simple front/back pass air collector utilizes a downdraft baffle lor increasing airflow through the dryer, and there is room for an electric backup for supplementing the solar heat if necessary. In general, it looks like it should work pretty well. The book is geared for beginners, with clear plans and instructions, and includes some useful information on food drying and storage times. Like the other books in this series, it also contains a considerable amount of fluff and is vastly overpriced, one of my pet peeves. Rather than attempting to appeal to the hot tub hobby farmer set, Rodale would do well to stick with a tighter, less slick format that is more affordable. —KB
Page 8 RAIN January 1982 Moving the Mountain: Women Workingfor Social Change by Ellen Cantarow, Susan Gushee O'Mally and Sharon Hartman Strom, 1980,166 pp., $4.75 from: The Feminist Press Box 334 Old Westbury, NY 11568 Moving the Mountain is an unusual, useful, and powerful book. It is at once an introduction and a contribution to recent American history (and, especially, herstory); it brings us as close to its subjects—three women active in the social struggles of this century— as any good novel does to its main characters; it illustrates how to use interviews, or “oral history," so that events and movements come to life and can be understood from the perspective of those who engaged in them. The book draws most of its power from the lives and voices of its three women: Florence Luscomb, now in her nineties, who has worked in feminist, labor and peace movements for over seventy years; Ella Jo Baker, a civil rights organizer who developed cooperatives in black communities during the Depression and helped form SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), a key organization in the 1960s struggle of black Americans for political equality; and Jessie Lopez De La Cruz, the first woman organizer for the United Farm Workers, who has recently joined with other Mexican-American ex-migrant workers to purchase land and operate a successful cooperative farm. Taped in hours of sensitive interviews, Luscomb, Baker, and De La Cruz reflect on the movements they helped form and still influence, on their personal and political development, on the strains and satisfaction of lives committed to social change, often at the cost of other concerns, such as those of family life. All three emerge as real and many-sided—independent, perceptive, strong-willed, humorous. We learn not only what they did and when and why, but how they felt and feel about those long years of dedicated, and often lonely and frustrating, activity. This by itself makes the book a rare one, for studies of activists too frequently turn them into historical monuments—distant, one-dimensional, preachy. Moving the Mountain, on the contrary, reads like a collection of fresh and life-filled letters. The authors have edited their interviews around key questions and provided background information and occasional analysis, but they wisely refrain from tidying everything up. The result is a labor of care and love; filled with starts and stops, thoughts and afterthoughts and with the vibrant coherence of whole human beings who have preserved their integrity over decades of struggle. Thus, Florence Luscomb not only takes us through the Woman's Suffrage and Labor movements in the first third of this century, but tells us why she never chose to marry and why she feels men will be "very great gainers" from the feminist changes still to come. Ella Baker conveys the "deep sense of. . . being part of humanity," ac-
January 1982 RAIN Page 9 quired in part from her early family life, on which she built her conception of community organizing (e.g., start where the people are, re-establish bonds of unity between the poor and not-so-poor, appreciate whatever contribution ordinary people can make to the • And she reveals conflicts within the black civil rights movement, in particular, how she challenged “male-dominated leadership" to ensure that crucial decisions would be made by those living “under the heel" of racial oppression and by those young southern students who combatted that oppression at the risk of their own lives. And from Jesse De La Cruz, we find out about the degrading and criminal conditions of farmworkers (rampant sickness, malnutrition, and unsanitary housing; $7.35 in wages for a ten-hour day, as late as the 1950s) and how the UFW, after years of failure, finally became strong enough to reverse most of those conditions. But we learn as well of her own development late in life, from a full-time wife and mother of six children who viewed politics as “something foreign, something I didn't know about. . . . True Romance was my thing" into a courageous and articulate field organizer, adept at coping with hostile police spraying tear gas and With no little envy I have watched as members of my family, progressive and conservative, teen-aged and elderly, have all been touched and engaged by it. pesticide on strikers and with teamsters armed with clubs, dogs, and “huge rings." The uses of this book are as varied as its protaganists. For anyone interested in his/herstory, it illustrates how face-to-face interviews can rescue important and neglected areas of common past; for organizers and social critics/theorists, it sheds light on how to build and maintain organizations that do not become top-heavy with age, and it provides models of organizers who have not been “burned out," but remain intact and resilient despite years of setbacks and deadends. And it gives us all a vivid (and to my mind, unsurpassed) sense of how women approach social transformation—the distinctive supports they create, their way of using, sharing, and restraining leadership, the connections they make between friends and home-life,on one hand, and their organizational and political activities on the other. But for me the book's most remarkable feature is its wide, seemingly universal, appeal. With no little envy, I have watched as members of my family, progressive and conservative, teen-aged and elderly, have all been touched and engaged by it. There is a kind oi magical inclusiveness about it; it crosses boundaries easily. Though written by and about women, it speaks no less fully to men; for readers of movement magazines like RAIN or Community Jobs, it can convey much of what a career of full-time organizing is like; but at the same time, the book makes organizers seem more approachable, more credible—almost next-doorish—to those distant from, or even suspicious of, their aims. Part of this magic comes from Moving the Mountain's generous reliance on direct and eloquent photographs, its simple but solid and unpatronizing way of supplying essential background data, and its adroit blending of personal and activist dimensions in the lives of De La Cruz, Baker, and Luscomb, But mostly, again, the women themselves are veteran boundary crossers, and in giving us such clear access to their voices, the book itself moves a bit the mountain that usually divides us from those unlike us in sex, race, vocation or age. Moving the Mountain, then, is not only an extraordinary and useful book but a hope-giving one. It can help build bridges, guide us toward new (or assist in rebuilding old) coalitions. My only reservation is that it seems to shy away from raising critical (or self- critical) questions. What (for example) would Baker, De La Cruz, or Luscomb have done differently? What assumptions or tactics did they discard along the way or do they now see as misguided ? How do the three contrast in terms of vision or strategy: do they disagree, for example, on where and how contemporary social change can best take place? How far do their ideas and approaches really threaten contemporary forms of oppression and exploitation, e.g., the nuclear arms race? And how could their diverse concerns and organizations be brought together to augment thqir isolated impacts? A final “summary" or "re-visions" section in which the organizers and their interviewers reflect on questions such as these would, I think, sharpen the book's focus and make it even more coherent and instructive. But the omission of such a section is a minor and reversible defect in an otherwise fertile and compelling book, which, more than any other I know of, can open the reader— almost any reader—to the heart and spirit of social change organizing. —Len Krimerman Len teaches philosophy at the University of Connecticut. ACCESS WOMEN International Women andHealth Resource Guide edited by ISIS (Women's International Information and Communication Service) and the Boston Women's Health Collective, Inc., 1980, $5 from: Boston Women's Health Collective Box 192 West Somerville, MA 02144 This 177-page annotated resource list includes references across the country and continental boundaries specific to women and health. A plethora of organizations and publications have addressed women's health issues, yet rarely, the authors claim, are these pursued from a women's perspective. Concise descriptions of women-run, wom- en-authored and women-oriented publications and organizations reflect both the range and similarities of women's concerns around the world. Citations are made in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German, varying according to the source. Although this first edition is geared toward English-speaking readers, future editions—a goal of the editors—will be geared toward those of other tongues. Interspersed throughout the Guide are brief article excerpts, introducing chapters on reproductive issues, women's role in health, drugs and drug companies, food, child bearing, menopause and aging, health and the environment, and self help. A brief chapter on audio-visuals features films on topics such as a sterilization program in Brazil, and women and occupational work hazards. Organized by subject area and cross-indexed by region/country, the material in this guide is easily accessible. A valuable reference tool for anyone interested in health or women's issues. —LS
Page 10 RAIN January 1982 Women in a Hungry World StudylAction Kit, by Lucy Richardson, Gerald Ciekot and Judith Sherk, 1979, from World Hunger/Global Development Project American Friends Service Committee 15 Rutherford Place New York, NY 10003 "Agricultural extension officers visit the men, not the women, with their advice about new tools and fertilizers. . . . Intermediate technology inventions—for making bricks or better ploughshares—have almost all been directed at lightening the male workload. . . . And as women are expected in most societies only to work in connection with the home, parents do not see the same purpose in sending their girl children to school as sending their boys. Girls grow up, therefore, steeped in the old ignorant ways of their mothers. Society and home make rural women into the first enemies of progressive change." (Waking Up To Women) Women in a Hungry World is a study/ action guide designed to inform people of the issues facing women in developing countries, explore the relationship between their experience and our own, and educate oneself and others to take action—effectively. The guide is divided into three sections: "What's Happening to Women" (the experience of domestic workers in Peru, the impact of "modernization" on women); "Population" (the impact of unemployment and education of rural women, on attitudes toward population levels, the power relations behind family planning) and "Solution and Action Suggestions" (examples of successful programs, policy suggestions, ideas for action, and an evaluation of the US AID Program and potential). Additional readings, audio visual resources and discussion questions are included for the leader's use. Since 1975 the role of women in development has gained recognition and the goal of "integrating women into development" has been repeatedly hailed. Slowly the needs of women are being recognized; informed and active support will move us further along. —LS RESOURCES Municipal Composting: Resources for Local Officials and Community Organizations, by David Mcgregor et al, 1980, 42 pp., $4.50 ppd. from: Institute for Local Self-Reliance 171718th St. NW Washington, DC 20009 I wish this book could appear on the desk of every local bureaucrat burdened with such decisions as choosing a new landfill site or approving a garbage-to-energy plant. Certainly, the book is a must for citizen activists concerned with garbage and recycling. It has always made more sense to me to compost organic wastes in my own backyard, but some people (apartment dwellers) can't or won't. Starting a composting program on the neighborhood or municipal level educates people and turns organic wastes into a renewable resource instead of a landfill addition. You won't learn how to run a composting program from this book, but you'll get a concise introduction to the ideas (composting of yard waste; sludge, and refuse; use of earthworms; source reduction; as well as government policy and community action) and an invaluable list of resources—not only books and articles, but also addresses of municipal officials and community groups with experience in some form of composting. Let's start treating garbage not as a problem, but as a resource! - TK GOOD THINGS The Daily Planet Almanac for 1982, Terry Reim, Editor, 1982,224 pp., $3.95 from: Planet Books P.O. Box 1641 Boulder, CO 80306 This is my favorite book for bathroom reading. It even comes with the traditional alEDICTIONS FOR 198^ FISHI
January 1982 RAIN Page 11 manac punch holes so you can hang it where it'll be handy. There is more information of a somewhat random nature in each little quick-read chunk than most books put across in far more formidable formats. Learn the secrets of giant vegetables, how to forecast the weather, who started some of my favorite rumors and even a lot more practical stuff. Standard almanac fare: sunrise and set times; lunar cycles, planting info, tide tables and fishing guides are all included, too. —CC Basin and Range, by John McPhee, 1980, 1981,216 pp., $10.95 hardcover, from: Farrar Straus Giroux 19 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 I was biased from the the start: John McPhee is one of my favorite writers, and I majored in geology at Princeton. McPhee writes about geology and Princeton geologists (his characterizations are right on mark!) and Nevada. Have you ever driven through Nevada? I did, fast, on my way to Portland. There's a bar every 100 miles, a jackrabbit every 100 yards, sagebrush between jackrabbits, salt flats, test ranges, gravel roads turning into the horizon with signs like "Cortez Gold Mines, 62 miles" or "Deadhorse Well, 31 miles." Why Nevada, of all places? McPhee wanted to learn how the New Geology was different from the Old Geology: "What I did first off was what anyone would do. I called my local geologist." His local geologist, Princeton professor Kenneth Deffeyes, told him that "This Nevada topography is what you see during mountain-building. This is the tectonic, active, spreading, mountainbuilding world." Basins and ranges are the "stretch marks of the continent." It's the cutting edge, it's where things are happening, and it's exciting. Geology is an adventure story, what with the geological time scales and encompassing "Big Picture" that have always entranced me, but not many geologists write as if it were. Deffeyes talks and McPhee writes that way. To McPhee, maps are "as prodigally colored as drip paintings and equally formless in their worm-trail-and-paramecium depictions of the country's uppermost rock." Like an alchemist, he absorbs the jargon of whatever subject he's writing about and turns it into enthusiasm. "Geologists communicated in English; and they could name things in a manner that sent shivers through the bones. They had roof pendants in their discordant batholiths, mosaic conglomerates in desert pavement." That's just his warmup exercise. This is the most exciting book I've read in a long time. You won't learn everything about geology, but what you don't learn here you'll certainly hunger for after tasting this book. (Re)discover the wonderfullness of geology. —TK BUILDING From Daily Planet Almanac Adobe: A Comprehensive Bibliography, by Rex C. Hopson, 1979,127 Pp., $6.95 plus $.50 shipping from: The Lightning Tree P.O. Box 1837 Santa Fe, NM 87501 Browse through the 1321 references in this book and you'll discover a long and varied history of building with earth. References are sorted into three categories: books, journal articles, and films/maps/plans. This list would be more useful if the citations were annotated or at least if the best sources were indicated. It is a comprehensive list, though, at least up to 1979. Particularly well-covered are articles from American Southwest periodicals. —TK Mud, mud-the potential of earth-based materialfor Third World housing, by Anil Agarwal, 1981,100 pp., $6.25 from: Earthscan 10 Percy Street London WIP ODR United Kingdom Tubali, torchis, soddys, cajon, kacha, nog- ging, cob, adobe, teroni, swish, bauge, chi- ka, pise, jalous, tapia, wattle and daub, and mud are some of the words used to describe the use of earth for building. Gounberilles, bustees, jhuggis, callampas, gecekindu, and favelas are some names for slums or squatter settlements, where about a quarter of urban Third World populations live. This book is about the potential of earth- based materials for Third World housing. Like a Borges story, the length of the piece belies its contents: not one muddy sentence or spare word. It is a solid, clear, concise, and comprehensive account with chapters on the housing problem, building materials, the case for mud, and country surveys—examples of mud buildings around the world (including a Detroit cooperative formed in 1942 to make rammed earth houses!). Tm tempted to use jargon to describe the book. Agarwal gives examples of poor people preferring a high-status but substandard cement block tin-roofed house to a lower status but high quality mud house. Tm tempted to call this the "gray revolution"— the introduction of a piece of American or European technology with no regard for local climate, needs, or resources. Echoing the thoughts of most architects and planners, Hassan Fathy realized that "we, with our modern school-learned ideas, never dreamed of using such a ludicrous substance as mud for so serious a creation as a house." (Fathy, an Egyptian architect, wrote Architecture for the Poor—reviewed in RAIN 1:9.) And what could be more appropriate technology than building with mud? Not only is it cheap and readily available, but mud houses are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than concrete houses. Various indigenous architectures have evolved to cope with the idiosyncracies of mud: vaulted roofs instead of unstable flat roofs, additions of other materials to stabilize and waterproof the mud, overhanging eaves to prevent water erosion, platforms of baked bricks to eliminate water seepage from the ground. Without architects, most societies have created beautifully designed and crafted forms of shelter suited to the bioregion and the needs of the people. (Five and six-story houses are made out of mud in Yemen!) Agarwal also advocates self-help, quoting Fathy: "One man cannot build a house, but 10 men can build 10 houses." Facts presented honestly, in a soft voice, have real power. We read of a housing project that, because of bureaucratic delays, doubled the cost of houses being built cooperatively—from $150 to $300. Our cdnr cern over rising housing costs pales in the face of statistics on housing costs in other parts of the world. In Madras, for example, 63% of the households can't afford to buy a $570 dwelling (average cost) because they don't make the minimum monthly income of $36 required to repay the $5 due each month on the house. My own book-lined garret feels extravagant compared to what most of the people in the world live in. Read this book not for any "romantic notion about earth buildings or about living in harmony with nature," but for excellent information on the potential of mud for basic shelter and for insights into how people live in the rest of the world—a good lesson in cultural relativism. Put it on your bookshelf next to Food First; it's that good. Highly recommended. —TK
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