Page 10 RAIN February/March 1983 This book fills the void between these well documented subjects by addressing energy conservation for urban areas. The first section deals with mechanical systems for weatherization in existing buildings ranging in size from a single family dwelling to large apartment complexes. The information, though not new, is well organized and very readable. The book also includes such issues as community energy systems, landlord- tenant relations, financing for groups, and alternative energy sources. Gail Katz Stop Burning Your Money: The Intelligent Homeowner’s Guide to Household Energy Savings John Rothchild Random House 201 East 50th St. New York, NY 10022 $15.50,1981,2S8pp. Have a few spare thou' that you're considering investing in'T bills or Swiss bank accounts or works of art"? Well, forget it. . . those items are passe in the world of investment finances. John Roth- child's Stop Burning Your Money is bullish on conservation. Even if you are not heading off to Wall Street, don't let the initial high-brow approach to home weatherization deter you from finishing the book. Your time will be well spent. Rothchild has compiled the most inclusive, comprehensive analysis of precisely what measures will save you money and how long the payback will be. Included are charts comparing furnace, air conditioner, and appliance efficiencies for would-be purchasers, a wealth of up-to-date information on conservation methods and materials, and what to look for in terms of energy efficiency when buying a house. Low-cost items such as caulldng and weatherstripping are big favorites on the market with storm windows falling off rapidly. Wood stoves are down, insulation is holding steady. Water heater wraps and flow restrictors are rallying, while active solar systems are showing mixed returns. Genera, eat your heart out. Even though I haven't had treasury bills in mind, this is the best book I have read for a hard-nosed look at the smartest way to spend your conservation dollars. And it's no secret, saving energy is one of the soundest investments a homeowner can make today. For inspiration on self-reliant living, read RAIN Magazine; for the dollars and cents brass tacks. Stop Burning Your Money is better than a broker. — Meg Roland Resettling America: Energy, Ecology, and Community Gary Coates, Editor Brick House Publishing Co. 34 Essex St. Andover, MA 01810 $14.95,1981, The expression of vision is often not found in the mainstream, but rather in the productive or reflective eddies of the culture. Gary Coates has put together a decade's worth of disparate, often little- known research and community ventures to complement his thesis in Resettling America. It is a prodigious introduction to what is becoming a global change in consciousness — that materialistic, centralized, and hierarchical ways of thinking and organizing of our economies are not only exploitative but ultimately selfconsuming. Linking appropriate technology, ecological farming, community and regional planning, sweat equity, and the contemplative communities of the Zen Center and the Abode of the Message, Coates illustrates an approach to regional planning that has its origins in the science ofecology, in a renew^ sense of the sacred, and in the value of living in community. Coates provides an excellent synopsis of resource depletion and environmental degradation as an introduction to the analysis of the available alternatives. It is not the technology itself that is new or alternative, but its application. The guidelines for this application emerge from a reading of the various projects — among them self-reliant cities, ecological villages, contemplative communities, community development corporations, and urban agriculture, all featured in the book's major section, "Expressions." The contributors represent a diversity of backgrounds and interests, but converge on some basic principles. The principles of biological diversity, nutrient cycling, and "no free lunch" are here applied, with people coexisting with rather than dominating other life forms and processes. Resettling America provides one of the most thorough and accessible introductions to the work in progress around the country, and, more importantly, to some of the conceptual framework that will ultimately unify this work in a science of ecological design and "right livelihood." — John Peterson Thinking the Unthinkable: A Declining Economy ------------ Inflation and Debt------------- The two economic indicators of unemployment and inflation must go together since they are so closely related. There seem to be as many explanations for both as there are schools of economic thought. This explanation focuses on energy as the critical variable. Economists generally agree that high energy prices are a major source of inflation, but they are unwilling to go on to the obvious conclusion — increased energy prices should mean falling incomes rather than cost of living increases. Energy is a fundamentally different kind of a cost item than the other sources of inflation. High energy prices are a reflection of scarcity; the only By Warren Johnson reason OPEC could keep on jacking their prices up over the last decade is because we did not have cheaper alternatives. Our import bill is now around sixty-five billion dollars a year — down from ninety billion — but this is still three hundred dollars for every American being sent out of the country to pay for oil, money that used to stay in the American economy. Avoiding this bill by developing our own domestic resouces would be more expensive. The Alaskan pipeline was the last good bargain, costing "only" eight billion dollars; the natural gas pipeline is estimated to cost thirty-five billion dollars since it must come overland all the way. The gas found in
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