January 1982 RAIN Page 15 Water, Energy & Land-Public Resources and Irrigation Development in the Pacific Northwest: Who Benefits and Who Pays, Idaho Citizens Coalition, 1981,109 pp., $5.00 from: Idaho Citizens Coalition 216 N. 8th St.,Rm 604 Boise, ID 83702 The idea of a water shortage in Oregon seems absurd as I look out my window on our fourth straight day of rain. Yet the fact remains, increasing demands for a finite supply of water are depleting Oregon's groundwater supplies. A host of reasons can be offered for this, among them urban growth, energy development, projects and irrigation of farmlands. Each of these contributes to a problem that has intensified PHILOSOPHY Eco-Philosophy, by Henryk Skolimow- ski, 1981,117 pp., $6.95 from: Marion Boyers, Inc. 99 Main St. Salem, NH 03079 Alternative life styles do not [only] require living differently hut also knowing di/- ferently. We must he able to provide a rational justification for our new life styles, which will amount to nothing less than providing a new rationality. We must he convinced in our hearts and minds that frugality is not a depressing abnegation and self-dewith our rapid population growth. The Idaho Citizens Coalition report. Water, Energy and Land offers a probing and insightful analysis of one aspect of that tension. Public subsidies in the form of higher electric bills have played a significant role in the the development of this region's agriculture. The expanded use of irrigation in agriculture, a trend that is expected to continue, is examined ;i light of its impact on the region: The demise of the fishing industry, the expansion of industrial farms, the loss of family farms, and increased agricultural exports. Amply documented and clearly written. Water, Energy and Land poses a challenge to the current path of agricultural development and the justification for the use of a public subsidy for irrigation. The accompanying article explores some of the arguments contained in the book. —LS nial but an act of positive manifestation of new qualities; only then will it become elegant frugality. Therefore, alternative lifestyles must signify not only changes in our technology, economics and patterns of living, but changes in our morality, rationality, and conceptual thinking. . .. The overall aim [of Ecological Humanism] is not only to provide a new philosophy but, above all, to provide a new purpose, a new inspiration and a new hope for mankind; to pave the way for new tactics for living. With this ambitious objective set out in front of him. Professor Skohmowsld attempts to outline a systematic "eco-philoso- phy." Apparently this is the first time this project has been undertaken by a professional philosopher. Professional philosophers will want to read this book. Amateur philosophers will be happier reading this review. Skolimowski argues that "knowledge does not provide enlightenment but confusion; the amassing of information only furthers the process of alienation." This is evidenced by an unprecedented scale of learning (and supposedly knowledge) occurring in conjunction with an unprecedented estrangement of persons from one another and their environment. "The cause must lie, then, in the nature of the knowledge we pursue. Knowledge alienated from the human mind and human values in turn de-sensitizes and alienates the people who acquire that knowledge. . . . The twilight of scientific reason, which we are witnessing today, is not necessarily the twilight of humanity. Scientific reason will have to wane and to release us from its overpowering tentacles so that we can repair the strained relation between knowledge and values." What Skolimowski proposes is an alternative to alienated knowledge, an attempt to integrate knowledge and values. "Eco-phi- losophy insists that the human project is a re-discovery of human meaning, related to the meaning of the universe." After demonstrating the ecological and holistic inadequacy of contemporary philosophy and neatly disposing of several major philosophers, past and present, Skolimowski reins in on architecture, arguing that alienated space is the visible expression of an alienated, mechanistic philosophy. The true purpose of architecture, he claims, is "to continue, enhance, and celebrate life." So far so good. A bit later he argues that "real progress is not made by loud, ostentatious, pushy ma-i jorities, scientific or otherwise. It is made by small and obstinate minorities." This is certainly true in an evolutionary sense, and some interpretations of social history concur as well. So far still OK. Where Skolimowski goes overboard, however, is with this statement: "In our lowbrow culture, which is so often proletarian in the worst sense, the architect must assert his role as a patrician, must lead instead of bowing to acquisitive and material preferences . . . the egalitarian ethos (or the anti-elitist stance) too often tends to be standard, undistinguished, careless and morbid, thus ultimately leading to anti-quality spaces." Yug! That may be a valid assessment of typical suburban developments, but some of us "lowbrows" have been designing and building spaces that are environmentally sensitive and pro-quahty for many years now, and the last thing we need is a class of (even benign) architect-patricians telling us what to do! It's too bad. This book is great ammunition for those taxing discussions with conventional philosophers who don't seem able to understand anything but philosophese. What Skolimowski needs to do now is descend from the ivory tower, walk down the hill, and discover the social ecologists, appropriate technologists and others who, without waiting for him to pave their way, built the road in the first place. —MR A xtvfik Is more than an amenity, it is a treasure, it ofers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it JUSTICE OLIVtn WE.no ELL HOLMES,
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