h RAIN Let Them Eat Weeds Real Security Experimenting With Micro-hydro VOLUME IX, NO. 5
Page 2 RAIN June/July 1983 IN THIS ISSUE... Articles Real Security—by Amoiy Lovins and Hunter Lovins.................................... 4 The Politics of Weeds—by Diane Cameron..................................................... 8 Is Socialism the Answer?—by Tom Bender..................................................... 12 The Game of Landfill Salvage—by Daniel Knapp.................................. .14 Computers, Cooperation, and Making Lots of Money While Avoiding the Dumb Death of the Species as We Know Us.—by Anne Herbert ... .16 Choosing the Future: Social Investing...............................................................18 Klamath Knot...........................................................................................................20 Water Under the Bridge: Experimenting with Micro-hydro...................... 26 RAIN: Journal of Appropriate Technology Volume IX, Number 5 June/July '83 Staff: Rachel Adelman Rob Baird Ann Borquist Nancy Cosper Steve Johnson Kris Nelson Jeff Strang Contributors: Robin Havenick Carolyn Hitchcock Alan Locklear Mimi Maduro Lance Regan George Resch Terry SoRelle Mary Vogel Graphic Design: Linnea Gilson Comptroller: Lee Lancaster Printing: Times Litho Typesetting: Irish Setter Cover Photograph: David Brown RAIN Magazine publishes information which can help people lead more simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions more economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published 6 times a year by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a nonprofit corporation located at 2270 NW Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Subscriptions are $25/yr. for institutions, $15/yr. for individuals ($9.50 for persons with incomes under $6000 a year). Copyright © 1983 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Features Calendar.................................... 38 Pacific Northwest Bioregion Report..................30 Access Information Agriculture................................10 Economics................................. 10 Energy.......................................... 3 Good Reading............................22 Information/Communication . .17 International Development........7 Working at RAIN has always been a very personal undertaking. Life and work—the merging and appropriate separation of the two—has always been a hot topic. RAIN has been dependent on individuals whose commitment goes far beyond 9 to 5, and the take-horrte pay. Running an organization on low- income salaries and devotion to good work has its advantages. For example, we hardly notice large economic recessions, since we are perpetually in our own personal recession. Raindrops................................... 2 Rush.......................................... 37 Touch and Go................ 40 Organizational Development . .11 Organization Reviews...............23 Periodical Reviews....................24 Social Investing........................19 Toxics........................................ 25 But there are disadvantages too. People tend to give it all they can, and then either burn-out or at least feel the need to make sudden and dramatic lifestyle changes. So people come and go. Usually the balance is maintained: as many new people come as leave. In the last year several key staff members have left RAIN. We have survived one transition after another. But the most recent person to leave RAIN has left us against her own will and wishes, and it has been a traumatic loss. RAINDROPS i
June/July 1983 RAIN Page 3 Nancy Cosper, who has been a primary mover behind RAIN for over two years, underwent surgery in March, and was discovered to have cancer. She is recovering from the surgery, and currently is undergoing monthly chemo-therapy treatments. There have been many moments of shock, anger and depression, and there have been many profound experiences, as we all face up to the fragility and uncertainty of life. In addition to the chemo-therapy, Nancy's healing is taking the form of an inspiring outpouring of love and support from her friends. The organization is undergoing great stress as staff members, including those of us who live with Nancy, make adjustments to this new way of life. While doing this issue of the magazine, we realized we were stretching ourselves thin. The deadline of the magazine felt oppressive. We decided after much deliberation that we could not personally afford to put out the next issue of the magazine (August/September). Instead, we will be publishing a special issue in the Fall, which also happens to be RAIN's tenth anniversary issue. We hope you can understand, and support our decision. We are also beginning the search for a new editor for the magazine. If you are interested, or know anyone else that might be, write to Steve Johnson at RAIN for details. Extending the Rain Family We like to think of RAIN readers as a unique group, a family of people with similar interests and perspectives. Without compromising our views, we also need to enlarge our family. We believe that the best source for new readers is our current family of subscribers. We have provided a small form for you to give us names and addresses of your friends who might be interested in subscribing to RAIN. We will send them a complimentary copy. If you know of libraries, bookstores, food co-ops, etc. that might like to carry RAIN, let us know about them too. Gracias. Name___________________________ Address Name_ Address ACCESS: Energy The New Alchemy Water Pumping Windmill Book Gary Hirschberg Brick House Publishing Co. 34 Essex St. Andover, MA 01810 $8.95,141 pp., 1982 Gary Hirschberg began his work with wind and solar systems at the New Alchemy Institute in 1977. Five years and much learning later, his Water Pumping Windmill Book combines remarkable technical knowledge and a vivid writing style to guide you gracefully through the laws of aerodynamics, water system design, installation, and maintenance. Maia Massion's clear illustrations lure you into the backyard to look for the perfect site for your own mill. Hirschberg discusses the economic and design merits of New Alchemy's "Sailwing" windmill at length. His tricks of the trade simplify the confusion of choosing the appropriate mill, for commercial or home-built systems. This book pays tribute to the work of the New Alchemy Institute and to the promise of wind for our future. "Windmills are on their way back. These gentle symbols of the past are also the banners of the future—symbols of a renewed kinship between humanity and the forces that sustain us." Community Energy Cooperatives; How to Organize, Manage and Finance Them Co-op Development and Assistance Project Conference on Alternative State and Local Policies 2000 Florida Ave., NW Washington, DC 20009 $10.95 ppd., 1982, 239 pp. Here is a good guide to gaining local economic control through the development of energy co-ops. Better than any other current guide, it shows how community co-ops are viable options during hard economic times. This revised edition reflects the important insights gained since the 1980 version: adding renewable energy products and services to distribution co-ops, assisting community groups in developing energy co-ops, and self-financing of initial development costs. The guide also serves as a valuable tool for any cooperative enterprise, since five of the eight chapters address topics concerning all co-ops. Be courageous. Get this map, gather friends, and embark on a cooperative journey. — KN Tools for the Soft Path Jim Harding, editor Brick House Publishing Co. 34 Essex St. Andover, MA 01810 $11.95,1983, 288 pp. Reading through this anthology of articles, most of which have appeared in Soft Energy Notes, I was struck with the sense of how much the "environmental movement" has changed since the late 1960's. In the earlier days, energy—as well as agricultural or urban planning— was not an environmental issue. Now, here's this compendium of articles, representing some of the best critiques of current energy policy and soft-energy path solutions, from an old environmental group. Friends of the Earth, through their International Project for Soft Energy Paths. For readers of Soft Energy Notes, this anthology can serve as a one-stop shopping for all the good information the journal has published during its five years. For others, it can serve as a hop- skip-and-jump through the pioneering work of many people around the world who are developing solar technology, renewable fuels, efficient motors, energy- conserving and ecological farming techniques, and much more. -SJ —Penny Fearon
Page 4 RAIN June/July 1983 REAL SECURITY by Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins The Lovinses, past contributors to RAIN, are consultants active in energy policy in over 15 countries. This article is based on their book Brittle Power: Energy Strategy for National Security, published in 1982 by Brick House (Andover, MA). Brittle Power resulted from the Lovinses' 1981 study commissioned by the civil-defense arm of the Pentagon. It's rich in technical detail and cites more than 1200 references, but is easily understandable by the general reader. Though it will challenge military and Congressional decision makers for some time to come, its immediate worth to local leaders, activists, planners, and homeowners is considerable. America's security faces many serious threats. Strategic planners, however, have tended to focus almost exclusively on the military threat. They have largely ignored equally grave vulnerabilities in America's life- support systems. Such vital services as energy, water, food, data processing, and telecommunications are very easy to disrupt. Their failure would leave our Nation helpless. A handful of people, for example, cOuld turn off three-quarters of the oil and gas supplies to the eastern States, for upwards of a year, in one evening's work without leaving Louisiana. A few people could black out a city, a region, or even the whole country for months— perhaps for years. Attacks on certain natural gas systems could incinerate a city. Sabotage of a nuclear facility could make vast areas uninhabitable. All these could be accomplished by simple, low-technology attacks. And because terrorist attacks on the energy system are so devastating—yet cheap, safe, deniable, and even anonymous—they may become the most attractive form of military attack (as Libya and other countries have already threatened). Yet a free society has no direct means of defense against such surrogate warfare. In 1979, the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency commissioned us to survey the vulnerabilities of the U.S. energy system, and what could be done about them. We were shocked to find how far misapplied technology had already jeopardized national security. In effect. Federal energy policy was undermining the mission of our Armed Forces. Nor has this improved. Present policy subsidizes the most vulnerable energy technologies, to the tune of more than $10 billion per year. Thus it is our own Government which is making our Nation's energy supplies ever easier to turn off. America's energy vulnerability comes from excessive centralization and complexity. Most of our energy now comes from dense clusters of billion-dollar devices which take a decade to build. Most are computer-controlled with split-second timing. They deliver power or fuel over distances of hundreds or even thousands of miles, through networks that are elaborate, inflexible, tightly coupled, and hooked up so that they cannot work without each other. Electric grids depend on many large, precise machines rotating in exact synchrony, strung together by a continental web of frail aerial arteries. Without this synchrony, the grid cascades towards collapse. Gas grids, too, collapse if their pressure is not continuously maintained. Spare parts for the complex machines are often special-order items which cost too much to stockpile, yet take months or years (and unique, scarce skills) to make and install. It would be hard to devise a better recipe for easy disruption; massive, catastrophic failures; and slow, difficult recovery. But the stakes are high. The most obvious risks are to our lives and liberties. A well- planned attack on the energy system could cause abrupt lurches backwards, by decades if not centuries, in our economic progress and standard of living. Energy vulnerability has also allowed a major shift in the power balance between large and small groups in society. This, in turn, threatens to erode the freedoms and the trust which underpin Constitutional government. These risks are frighteningly real: so real that we deeply questioned whether they should be publicly exposed. Might it not be better to hope that they will pass unnoticed? However, it is already too late for that. Incidents ranging from the New York City blackout to the recent bomb-extortion incident at the giant Baytown petrochemical plant are part of a large pattern of technical accidents, natural disasters, and deliberate attacks
on energy systems around the world. Brittle Power documents such attacks in 26 of the United States and in 40 foreign countries. These attacks are now occurring about once every ten days (especially in campaigns by Soviet-trained guerrillas). They are becoming more frequent, intense, and sophisticated. The United States has so far been very lucky. Yet, leading experts on world terrorism doubt this luck will hold. Currently, Federal policies are systematically making the energy system more vulnerable. The devices being promoted as the backbone of America's energy supply for the 21st Century are precisly the most vulnerable ones: offshore and Arctic oil and gas, big pipelines, and huge power plants (especially nuclear ones) linked by long transmission lines. Twenty-billion dollars in subsidies are being offered to build uncompetitive synthetic- fuel plants—a technology so fragile that both times it has been tried (in Nazi Germany and contemporary South Africa) the plants were promptly and successfully blown up. These policies of Strength Through Exhaustion are said to be driven by the need to stop importing oil. To be sure, that is an urgent problem. One saboteur in a dinghy could cut off 85% of Saudi Arabia's exports for three years or more (the time needed to manufacture some key parts of the oil terminals), then repeat the attack. But we have the means to solve the problem of imported oil. Technologies now exist to make cars and buildings far more efficient. Just those two measures could save more than enough energy to eliminate U.S. oil imports within this decade. This is faster than a power plant or synfuel plant commissioned now could deliver any energy whatever. An energy-saving program, too, would cost only a tenth of the money required to build the power or synfuel plants. But reducing oil imports—now less than 10% of America's energy—wouldn't buy much security if our domestic energy supplies remained highly vulnerable. Such "solutions" as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may offer a false sense of security, but actually are part of the problem. One person in three nights could knock out the three pipelines needed to deliver the Reserve's oil to refineries. The loss of three of the biggest domestic pipelines could indeed be more serious than a complete cutoff of oil imports. Winter damage to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (it has already been lightly bombed twice) could even turn it into the world's largest Chapstick® as 800 miles of hot oil congealed inside. Unfortunately, modern energy systems are so complex that nobody can predict how they might fail, even accidentally. Worse still, designing them to be reliable in the face of predictable kinds of technical failures does not provide, and may even reduce, an even more vital quality—resilience in the face of incalculable failures (such as sabotage). Few energy engineers today have this quality in mind. They therefore design centralized, monolithic systems which don't fail often (at least without help), but when they do fail, they fail big. How, then, can the American energy system evolve toward greater resilience rather than less? How can we prepare for a surprise-full future—one that may hold increasing uncertainty, unrest, and even violence? The answer may be found by examining many kinds of engineering—and above all biology, with its billions of years' experience in coping with surprises—to see how systems can be designed for inherent resilience. Our research yielded 20-odd design principles which could be applied to the energy system so as to make major failures of energy supply impossible. Such a system would be far more efficient, diverse, dispersed, and renewable than today's. The things we should do to save energy and money also turn out to be virtually the same as those needed for real energy security. The most resilience per dollar invested—the "most bounce per buck"—comes from using energy very efficiently. Wringing more work from our energy can not only eliminate dependence on the most vulnerable sources (such as oil from the Persian Gulf), but can also make failures of other sources milder, slower, more graceful, and easier to fix. A key to resilience is gradually to replace centralized energy sources with many dispersed ones, richly interconnected—the strategy of a tree which has many leaves, each with many veins, so that insects' random nibbles won't disrupt the vital flow of nutrients. The value of such dispersion was reproven in the Northeast Blackout of 1965, when the power engineer in Holyoke, Whatever military might has accomplished, then, it has not yet made us truly secure. Perhaps it never will. June/July 1983 RAIN Page 5 Massachusetts, was able to unhook the city from the collapsing grid and hook up instead to a local gas turbine. The money saved by not having to black out Holyoke paid off the cost of building that power plant in four hours. Renewable energy sources can enjoy the benefits of interconnection when you wish but can also stand alone when you need to. Thus, Department of Energy officials in 1980 had just cut the ribbon on a West Chicago gas station, powered by solar cells, when a thunderstorm blacked out the city. That was the only station pumping gas that afternoon. Likewise, a Great Plains farmer who uses windpower recently saw on the TV evening news a report that his whole area was blacked out. He went outside and looked. Sure enough, all his neighbors' lights were off. So he came back in and watched his wind-powered TV some more to see when the neighbors' lights would come back on. Many people would like to be in that position. By a happy coincidence, the efficiency gains and the many kinds of renewable energy sources which, together, are enough to meet essentially all the long-term needs of an advanced industrial economy are also the cheapest energy
Page 6 RAIN June/July 1983 options. Thus the “insurance premium" we must pay for energy security actually pays us back. A "least-cost energy strategy" combining efficiency with appropriate renewable sources (as the Harvard Business School's energy study recommended) could save Americans more than two trillion dollars in the next two decades, provide more than a million new jobs, and solve many environmental and social problems. Indeed, such economically efficient investment is the only way we will be able to maintain a dynamic economy. The problem of secure and affordable energy supplies is being solved—but from the bottom up, not from the top down. Washington will be the last to know. The solutions that individuals are finding (with important help from the innovative community programs described in Brittle Power) don't need and probably can't even tolerate the mandates of Soviet-style central planning. They rely instead on a truth familiar to both Jeffersonians and free-marketeers: that most people are pretty smart and, given incentive and opportunity, can go a long way towards solving their own problems. Best-buy, accessible energy investments can simultaneously enhance Ameria's military preparedness and protect the individual choice and civil liberties that are central to the vision of our Republic. Thus a decentralized process, based on accessible tools as simple as the caulking gun, can—given a few decades' steady implementation—remove a major threat to national security. The importance of energy resilience to national security may hold wider lessons. First, focusing exclusively on centralized military planning to counter overt military threats may build costly Maginot Lines while the back door stands ajar. Indeed, there are many back doors: energy is not the only hidden vulnerability of our interdependent industrial society. The average molecule of food is shipped some 1300 miles before an American eats it. Drop a few bridges across the Mississippi and Easterners will soon starve. New York City's water arrives via two antique tunnels, each too small to permit either to be shut down for inspection or repair. A smart computer criminal could probably crash the whole financial system. There are doubtless other key vulnerabilities not yet discovered, and someone had better start finding out how to reduce them. Second, better security may not cost more money. At least in the case of energy—and probably of water, food, and data processing too—real security is the best buy. It is what a genuinely free market would produce if we had one. Third, better security doesn't necessarily come from Washington. It may indeed come best from the village square or the block association, rather as the Founding Fathers envisioned the local militia. The parable of energy security reminds us that real security in its widest sense begins at home. It includes a reliable and affordable supply of energy, water, and food; a healthful environment; a vibrant and sustainable system of production; a legitimate system of self-government; and a polity that preserves and refines our most cherished values. Most people who thus enjoy "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" will simply want to be left alone to enjoy them—not to fight anyone else. But such assets can only be safeguarded by protecting our neighbors' similar assets lest, deprived, they seek to take what we have. Perhaps real security, then, comes not from reducing our neighbors' security but from increasing it, whether on the scale of the village or the globe. Untold treasure has been devoted to a different theory of providing strategic security, by the actions of a central government and the greatest concentration of technical genius the world has ever known. This effort is currently costing our Nation more than ten thousand dollars a second. Yet in 1944 the United States was militarily invulnerable, while today, thirty thousand nuclear bombs later, it lies entirely exposed to devastation. Those bombs are said to have deterred nuclear attack, and perhaps they have so far. Yet in an era when the explosive power of a World War II can be packaged to fit neatly under your bed, bombs can arrive not only by missiles (whose radar tracks mark their origin for retaliation) but also by Liberian freighter, rental van, or United Parcel Service. If Washington disappeared in a bright flash tomorrow morning, but nobody said, "We did it," against whom are our strategic forces to retaliate? Anonymous attacks, whether nuclear or via a vulnerable energy system, cannot be deterred. Whatever military might has accomplished, then, it has not yet made us truly secure. Perhaps it never will. The roots of real security go deeper; they need greater nourishment than armies and missiles alone. One vital element of defense, for example, is a political system so firmly based on shared and durable values that it can never be subverted or taken over. Some Scandinavian strategists even suggest that military security comes foremost from organizing on such patriotic foundations a standing Resistance that will make one's national territory impossibly disagreeable for anyone else to occupy. The nuclear threat is terribly important. So is countering it as best we can (since it cannot really be defended against). But the complexities of that task must not obscure our understanding of our Nation's basic strategic assets. These include a geography that shields us against physical invasion from overseas; a freedom of expression that shields us from ideological invasion by exposing concepts to the critical scrutiny of an informed public; an ecosystem much of whose once unique fertility can still be rescued from degradation; a diverse, ingenious, and independent people; and a richly inspiring body of political and spiritual values. To mature within these outward strengths—strengths more fundamental and lasting than any inventory of weaponry— will require us to remain inwardly strong, confident in our lives and liberties no matter what surprises may occur. This in turn will demand, in the spirit of our political traditions, a continuing American Revolution which expresses in works a sincere faith in individual and community effort. It was that faith which inspired our Republic, long before strategists became preoccupied with the narrower and more evanescent kinds of security that only a faraway government could provide. It is that faith today, the very marrow of our political system, which alone can give us real security. □□ Reprinted with permission from the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, March 1983.
June/July 1983 RAIN Page? ACCESS: International Development Who's Involved With Hunger: An Organization Guide Linda Worthington, Ed. World Hunger Education Service 1317 G St. NW Washington, DC 20005 $4.00,1982, 50 pp. Being "involved with hunger" covers a broad range of topics in this directory, including appropriate technology, domestic hunger and poverty, U.S. agriculture, local self-reliance, and international development. The activities of the organizations described range from research and education to political advocacy and grassroots organizing. There are special sections listing government organizations, which include the United Nations, U.S. Congress and federal agencies, regional and statewide groups, and church-related organizations, which have traditionally been involved in hunger concerns. Each of the 400 entries has basic access information and a brief description of the agency and publications. If you are "involved" in any facet of the hunger issue, you will find this directory a useful resource. —RB Appropriate Technology and Rural Industrialization Marilyn Carr Intermediate Technology Development Group 9 King St. Covent Garden London WC 2 8HN UK $3.00 ppd., 1982,23 pp. One of the problems developing countries face is the tremendous rural-to- urban migration, which leaves the farms understaffed and severely overcrowds the cities. Carr outlines some of the alternatives available for developing rural industry in order to create new jobs, raise rural incomes, and provide more basic ser\nces such as water, health care, power, transportation, and education. Strategies discussed focus on encouraging the development of new industries in rural areas and supporting the growth of established rural businesses. To date, individual countries have tried a number of different approaches. However, little research has been done to determine what works best and how to avoid oft-repeated mistakes. This report emphasizes the need for a method, based on empirical research, of determining the strategy which is best suited to a country's particular social, political, and economic needs. Such information would be most useful to governments who are faced with the difficult choices inherent in setting a national development policy. —AB Guatemala! The Horror and the Hope Rarihokwats, Ed. Four Arrows PO Box 3233 York, PA 17402 $6.00,1982, 300 pp. In the spring of 1982,1 visited a Guatemalan refugee camp in Honduras and asked a young boy how he felt about life in the refugee camp. "Well," he replied, "I like it here better, because back home they kidnap and kill people." In refugee camps in Honduras and El Salvador, I heard countless tales of murder and military repression, but the simple, matter-of-fact quality of this child's statement touched me most deeply with a sense of the tragedy of Guatemalan life. The Horror and the Hope takes a hard look at the roles played by the U.S. government, the American media, and the multinational corporations in Guatemala. It examines the activities of Argentine and Israeli governments in developing the computerized apparatus of military repression, and it analyzes the nature and history of the various Guatemalan resistance movements. But most importantly, it calls us to action. This book provides the foundation and the resources for a strong movement against U.S. support of repression in Guatemala. The final section includes information on projects such as the Guatemalan tourist boycott, teach-ins and petition campaigns, books, films, and speakers. —Terry SoRelle Environmentally Sound Small-Scale Forestry Projects Peter Ffolliott and John Thames Coordination in Development (CODED Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) 1815 N Lynn St., Ste. 200 Arlington, VA 22209 $5.95,1983,109 pp. Community developers, take note! This excellent book was written for those of you in Third World countries who are not forestry experts, "but who want. . . general guidelines for planning environmentally sound small-scale forestry projects." The authors stress that "environment" refers to the people and their customs, laws, and economy as well as to the soil, plants, and animals of a given area. Trees are planted by people and people care for them; a project is successful only if they feel involved and committed to its goals. From: Environmentally Sound Small-scale Forestry Projects Ffolliott and Thames balance the people-oriented information with a thorough introduction to the physical/biological aspects of forestry. They answer questions ranging from "What is agroforestry?" to "Why is fuelwood management important?". CODEL and VITA have collaborated on two other books in this series that are also extremely helpful; Environmentally Sound Small-Scale Agricultural Projects, and Environmentally Sound Small-Scale Water Projects. —AB
Page 8 RAIN June/July 1983 THE POLIHCS OF WEEDS by Diane Cameron In the early 1970's, the migration of (mostly young) people to rural, farm, and wilderness areas was identified and labled by mass media as the back-to-the-land movement. To some people, it was a bold but short-lived experience; a short course in the rise and fall of civilization. It's just plain tough out there to make a go of it. Many moved back to the cities, or continue to yoyo between the city and country. But to many people, living on the land became a way of life, and out of this was spawned a far-reaching alternative agriculture movement. The alternative agriculture movement has grown by leaps and bounds over the last ten years. Knowledge about both successful and unsuccessful methods of small-scale, ecologically sound farming has been spread by communication networks such as Tilth as well as by publishing giants such as Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening. The most recent insights about appropriatefarming methods have been inspired by two complimentary farming techniques: the permaculture ideas developed by Bill Molison; and the "no-till" method espoused by Japanese farmer, Masanobu Fukuoka. The generic term for the new direction might be referred to as biological or ecological farming-^a wonderful blend of the alternative agriculture and environmental movements. It boils down to the fact that the best farming is almost non-farming. Farmers, while still performing food-producing roles, also serve as bio-regional custodians, caring and enhancing the natural landscape—the native plants and wildlife. At the same time as the back-to-the-land movement has been evolving, a complimentary movement has taken place in the city—the urban or community garden movement. While, even several years ago it was delightful enough just to see a garden in the city, now the movement is mature enough to support its oxon research and suffer the political consequences of being taken seriously. In the "Politics of Weeds," Diane Cameron describes one community's—Bloomington, Indiana—experience with urban gardening when people are confronted with ecological farming techniques. The questions raised seem both important and curiously absurd—What is a weed? What is food? How can you garden ifyou don't garden? —SJ The gardening movement in Bloomington was organized in the spring of 1981 by some members of Bloom- ingfoods, a local grocery cooperative. One goal of the cooperative had been to provide low income people with wholesome food at affordable prices, yet it had fallen short of its goal. Fresh vegetables and fruit, along with nuts, grains, and dairy products, are bought primarily from regional wholesalers. Some co-op members wanted to have locally grown, less expensive produce, and cooperative gardening looked like a practical answTe hr. e gardeners found a suitable plot in a five-acre field owned by Indiana University. The University agreed to lease the land to Bloomingfoods' parent organization, Bloomington Cooperative Services (BCS), under certain conditions. These included mowing a strip of land where the Garden bordered the road, mowing anything that was not part of a garden, and keeping the place “neat." With these provisions agreed to by the signers, Bloomington had a community garden. It was later named “Wild Grove Community Garden," after its large stand of wild garlic. Wild Grove has now gone through its second summer, and about 50 people have grown everything from fava beans to basil and hubbard squash. Edible wild plants also proliferate there, and these “weeds" have been a source of conflict between the University, the City, and the natural gardeners. Some gardeners objected to the lease's provision calling for mowing because they feel that wild plants are too valuable to mow. Weeds, in fact, form the basis for the “wild gardening" philosophy guiding many of the gardeners. Not all of the original gardeners Were against the mowing, however. Weeds, according to Dee Blair, a member of the Bloomingfoods board at the time the lease was signed, “became a point of controversy, and the garden was no longer “a cooperative, harmonious arrangement." Mike Andrews, one of the original garden organizers, was among those opposing the mowing. "The people who least wanted to cut the weeds were the ones with the strongest connections to the garden in terms of livelihood," reflected Andrews. The philosophy of the natural gardeners has been eloquently expressed in The One Straw Revolution by Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. According to Fukuoka, the best, most natural diet is one that takes what is offered by nature, each season in turn offering its own specialties. He calls his method "do-nothing farming, where one relies on a natural balance of cultivated plants, green mulch, insects, and climate to control weeds, pests, and blight. Much of the eastern part of the garden plot had been beaten down into a virtual hardpan by bulldozers—the site had previously been a basket factory. The soil was badly eroded in places. Wild plants such as vetch, sweet clover and lambsquarters were building a new soil on
June/July 1983 RAIN Page 9 Wild plants, by definition, require less constant care than domesticated strains. What they do require is a careful stewardship of the land. This conservation ethic may necessitate political action. the hardpand and slowing erosion. The wild plants stabilized the land and made it available for gardening. Some of the crops being grown at Wild Grove are from seeds obtained in unusual ways. The hubbard squash plants are from seeds trashpicked from a local grocery store's bountiful dumpster. Several species of melon and herbs are "heirloom plants" that derive from grandmothers' and aunts' gardens. Many crops, such as tomatoes, 'volunteer' to return on their own year after year by reseeding themselves or recycling through compost piles. The net effect is an astounding variety of cultivated crops. The variety of wild crops in the garden is great. Andrews and Hill Craddock, an art student and botany enthusiast, conducted an inventory of wild plants at Wild Grove and catalogued over 100 edible varieties. Fifty were found to be "significantly useful," having important nutritive or medicinal properties. These included rosehips, hollyhock, and, of course, garlic. The wild plants have other value. They serve to heal, protect, and bring fertility back to eroded or bulldozed soils. Vetch and wild sweet clover fix nitrogen and put organic material deep into the clay layer. Lambsquar- ters, another deep-rooted weed, can help to bring moisture to the soil during droughts by opening up channels. No-till gardening is popular at Wild Grove, and for good reason. Several people who insisted on rototilling their gardens found that certain hardy weeds rapidly germinated and overtook their vegetable crops in the disturbed soil. Several gardeners said they'd eventually like to become completely dependent upon wild plant stock, since it is more disease and insect resistant. "These plants are so hardy, they represent an improvement over cultivated varieties. I hope that people learn to be a lot more sensitive to the links between the wild plants around them and the plants they're actively cultivating," mused Andrews. Wild plants, by definition, require less constant care than domesticated strains. What they do require is a careful stewardship of the land. This conservation ethic may necessitate political action. Although many gardeners reaped a bountiful harvest after the first summer, political and legal problems still plagued them. The weeds, and the construction of a tipi in the middle of the garden, became a sore spot. The weeds bothered a nearby lumberyard, afraid of a fire hazard and rodent infestation. They also bothered the city, which has an ordinance requiring all weeds taller than one foot to be cut down, and the University, which wanted its land kept neat. Bloomington Cooperative Services, tired of receiving complaints about the garden, went to the University to wash its hands of the matter. The University agreed to not hold BCS responsible, and from then on, an ad-hoc group of devoted natural gardeners took over responsibility for the garden. When the University announced plans to sell the land as "surplus" property, in response to complaints about the garden after Wild Grove's first year, the gardeners responded with lobbying visits and letters to University administrators and trustees. Several gardeners compiled a book with photos, drawings, poems, and essays about the garden, which was used as a public education and lobbying tool. The University reportedly did not want to renew its lease for the site because the mowing clause and other provisions had not been fulfilled. Wild Grove's status was still uncertain by March, 1982, but the gardeners sowed their seeds anyway. Finally, well into the spring planting season, the University granted permission to garden for another year. By the fall of 1982, the tall weeds had become too much for the city and University. Tractor mowers came out to the garden unannounced and mowed about 75 percent of the fall crops. The devastation prompted gardeners to change the local weed ordinance. The gardeners persuaded City Council member Pam Service to sponsor an amendment to the weed control ordinance that would redefine "weed" as a "non-useful plant." The amendment, which was passed by the City Council in November, gives a reprieve to any wild plants deemed "useful" by the gardeners. For the committed natural gardeners. Wild Grove's members are proposing long-term dedication of the tract to natural gardening. Says Andrews, "Communications are beginning to straighten out after two years. That was our biggest problem—people didn't understand what we were trying to do—or that weeds don't bite." Perhaps a national community gardening movement could evolve into a kind of "Garden Party" network of people developing the political skills necessary for gaining access to gardening space. That way, politics wilt become more closely tied with livelihood, and wherever people move they'll have access to garden space and wild perennials. They'll reap a harvest of cooperative self-reliance. □□
Page 10 RAIN June/July 1983 ACCESS: Agriculture ^MOLTlPtiNOnONAL fi07er^' ' wirki^^po pmtwn %' yt4 ipirch’ bencf/i^W »^(/fZ5£? of- h^^/mY •^ooidsdf’ivii^^ •^(0^d'W^(hxsi'9'om) o^(mof-hcrn€^ (omiij^^dJsrJ •Miof-l^ From: Gardening for All Seasons Food Marketing Alternatives for the Inner City The Consumer Division Community Nutrition Institute 114619th St. NW Washington, DC 20036 $10.00,1982, 91 pp. Access to food for inner dty residents, especially those with low income, has steadily declined over the past 15 years. Food Marketing Alternatives for the Inner City addresses this problem by offering marketing strategies based on the resources of the residents themselves. Strategies discussed include neighborhood organization to preserve local supermarkets, joint venture supermarkets, supermarket co-ops, farmers' markets, the food systems approach, and innovative methods such as computer assistance. To help inner city groups determine the marketing methods suitable for their particular areas and conshtuencies, each chapter includes at least one case study of an existing marketing arrangement along with access information to organizations and publications. Each chapter also contains a comprehensive "action checklist," invaluable to those implementing their chosen market strategy. Overall, this book is an extremely well-organized guide, a highly useful urban community action tool. -JS Gardening For All Seasons The New Alchemy Institute Staff Gary Hirshberg & Tracy Calvan, Eds. Brick House Publishing Co. 34 Essex St. Andover, MA 01810 $12.95,1983,309 pp. Those creative people at New Alchemy have been at it again, transforming paper and ink into gold. Gardening For All Seasons is the fruit of New Alchemy's extensive research and experience in gardening systems, bringing together horticulture, nutrition, domestic design, soil maintenance, aquaculture, fowl rearing, edible silviculture, community, food preservation, and (whew!) nutrient recyclmg. Anyone who ever thought that gardening begins with seeds wiU have a definite change in perception no matter how selectively this book is read. In fact, the extent of integration and focus on cycles is enough to make the new gardener plead in frustration, "But where do I start?" Happily, the book remains silent. Gardening For All Seasons does have a New England emphasis, but the superb presentation makes this book just as valuable to those of us outside the region. After all, any gardening book which devotes ten pages to worm culture has to be worth its weight in chicken manure. -JS ACCESS: Economics Working Free John Applegath' AMACOM 135 W 50th St. New York, NY 10020 $6.95,1982, 207 pp. Unemployment as an indicator of the failure of our economic system may be based on false assumptions about the relationship between work—as in "earning a living"—and an individual's ability to achieve a quality standard of life. FuU employment may be an unattainable goal, which is not to say that society cannot continue to find better ways to enhance the individual's quality of life, or that we are doomed to years of unemployment statistics. Instead, what we are facing is a radical shift in our concept of work. If we only apply our cliches about employment, that, for example, everyone should be working 9 to 5, earning money to "buy" their life support system, then we wiU continue to perceive unemployment as a sign of failure. Working Free is an excellent introduction to new ways of perceiving work. It is a practical guide to many creative altema-
June/July 1983 RAIN Page 11 lives to the 9-5 job syndrome. It gives many personal accounts of people who are trying new arrangements and describes their successes as well as failures. It is, in some sense, a sequel to the popular What Color is Your Parachute, and includes a good research/reference section for people who want to begin experimenting. -SJ Crunch* of Giants (*Gross Universal Cash Heist) R. Buckminster Fuller St. Martin's Press 175 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10010 $8.95,1983,98 pp. As Fuller charts in Crunch, his sequel to Critical Path, the corporate giants not only propagate nuclear weaponry, but also steer the economic course of the planet. The giants, supemational corporations, are now implementing a ten-year plan to spend six trillion dollars on weaponry, says Fuller. He believes "we now have only 50 months to exercise our option to convert all Earthian industrial productivity from 'killingry' to 'livingry' products and service systems." Upsetting words, especially from this ahead-of-his-time philosopher-inventor. What does this book recommend we do to transform the giants' grip? Inform ourselves. Learn how the giants play the game. In the meantime, we would also do well to only spend money on what makes sense for a sustainable future: buy locally produced, handmade, recyclable, low energy and resource consuming products and food. —KN Economics, Ecology, Ethics: Essays Toward a Steady State Economy Herman Daly, Editor W. H. Freeman and Company 660 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94104 $7.95 ppd., 1980, 372 pp. While most economists were still pondering the implications of The Limits to Growth in 1972, Daly, just a year later, assembled into one book the most insightful essays on how a sustainable economy might work. A decade later, this revised edition still provides the most complete picture of finite planet economics. From Ehrlich, Georgescu-Roegen, and Hardin to Schumacher, Boulding, and Daly himself, the economic model becomes clear. After reading it, share it with your "voice" in D.C. —KN ACCESS: Organizational Development The Nonprofit Organization Handbook Tracy D. Coimers, Editor McGraw-HiU Book Company 12216th Ave. New York, NY 10020 $29.95,1980, 740 pp. This volume is an excellent reference tool for nonprofit organizations. All of the major topics are covered thoroughly, including incorporation, management, volunteers, fundraising, public relations, and finances. Over twenty-five writers contributed chapters to the book. A few of the chapters are overly technical and some of the material is more useful to a large rather than a small organization. Whatever the topic, however, any organization will find helpful information in this book. —RB How to Do Leaflets, Newsletters and Newspapers Nancy Brigham PEP Publishers PO Box 289, Essex Station Boston, MA 02112 $7.95,1982,144 pp. I discovered the first edition of this handy "how to" when I started my first community relations job in 1977. Since that time. I've used it as my trusty "bible" for developing community information materials and newsletters. My second "bible" is Mark Beach's Editing Your Newsletter (See RAIN, Vn:8, Vn:10). Brigham's new edition provides an in-depth review of the editorial role and answers to such questions as why publish, why have guidelines, and why advertise. Nine chapters clearly outline the publishing process and examples are boimtiful. Typesetting and printing are discussed as well as planning and scheduling strategies. Also addressed are budgets (those rascals!), fact-finding, and the logistics of the copyright law. This manual is geared toward the volunteer newsletter editor or publicity person for a community-based, nonprofit organization. The table of contents pinpoints which sections to delve into first as a crash course for beginners. So, whether you are a novice at publishing community injformation, or a seasoned editor or committee person, this book is a "must" for your bookshelf. —Mimi Maduro Gift Giving Guide Funding Exchange 135 East 15th St. New York, NY 10003 $7.15 ppd., 1983,64 pp. The Funding Exchange is a network of seven alternative, community-based foim- dations. This guide is an effort to respond to the questions of their donors in relation to, "the method, mechanics, and tax implications of tax-deductible giving." The 1981 Tax Act made a number of changes in the rales for charitable giving. which are outlined here along with more recent changes. Topics covered include unusual ways to give, limitations on charitable deductions, trusts, loans, deferred giving, wills, and more. —RB Small Time Operator Bernard Kamoroff BeU Springs Publishing PO Box 640 LaytonviUe, CA 95454 $9.95 ppd., 1982,190 pp. Have you ever thought of starting your own business? If so, read Small Time Operator first. This technical manual covers aU the basics of starting and running a small business. The first section covers financing, legal requirements, and other aspects of "getting started." Bookkeeping is discussed in greater detail, from petty cash to profit and loss analysis. There are pointers for the growing business that needs to hire employees or form a partnership or corporation. Another detailed section covers a favorite topic of every small business—taxes. The appendix includes access information for a number of books and periodicals, and there is even a complete set of bookkeeping ledgers. For anyone that is wilting to take on the challenge of starting a small business, this practical guide will help you become a successful small time operator. —RB
Page 12 RAIN June/July 1983 Is Socialism Sodalism, in various shapes and sizes, is repeatedly put forth as a solution to our economic woes. While the abuses of big business and "free enterprise" are well known, the specific strengths and weaknesses of public, nationalized, or government-run businesses need to be examined more closely. Many of our economic problems are inherent in any economic enterprise—public or private, and a concept as broad as socialism is unlikely to solve such problems. Public ownership of businesses can offer several advantages, including lower capital costs, greater public control of policies, less incentive to externalize costs and to ignore external social benefits, and some potential freedom from traditional ideologies concerning profit vs. viability. Like private business, public enterprise has its own particular pitfalls. Without the downward pressure on costs that exists in a competitive industry, public ownerThere is a big difference between '"making a killing" and "making a living." ship generally lacks any effective mechanism to remain reasonbly efficient. Organizational bureaucracies have an ever-present tendency to expand, and public bureaucracies have demonstrated difficulty of discharging incompetent or lazy civil servants. In addition, there may be political pressures to retain obsolete local plants or retain unprofitable services that considerably overreach any potential social benefit. A public enterprise can be unwisely pressured to take in workers to relieve unemployment or as political patronage. And without competition, there is little incentive to seek improvements or means to evaluate effectiveness. There is little to show from the history of nationalization and public ownership in Europe that either private or public enterprise consistently provide greater efficiency or social benefit. As Clair Wilcox states in Public Policies Toward Business, "Observers of the performance of the nationalized industries in Britain, for instance, are inclined to agree that gas, electricity, and road haulage have been well run and that railroads and coal mines have not. But this judgement would doubtless be passed on the performance of the same industries, under private enterprise, in the U.S." In the Soviet-dominated Communist countries of Europe, an uncritical belief in the correlation between size and efficiency has overshadowed other factors and resulted in severely damaged economic performance and ineffective use of labor, capital, and transportation facilities. Although their larger production units are equipped with the newest and best machinery and have the best managers, several analyses have shown average unit costs increasing with the size of the plant. While industrialization was probably achieved more rapidly under state ownership, the centralization of control, rigid hierarchical structures, and excessive scale of factories have proved incapable of meeting the problem of intensive growth. Production planning is too inflexible to respond to the desires of individual consumers, and workers seem to have little interest in productivity or reduction of materials costs. The result of U.S. experience with public enterprise is equally varied. The privately owned, pubUcally "regulated" telephone monopoly is technologically competent, well-operated, but often accused of numer-juggling to hide excess profits. The U.S. Post Office became a national disaster in terms of service and costs. American private enterprise passenger rail service is almost extinct, and a failure when compared to the excellent and improving rail service of other countries. On the other hand, municipal ownership of public uhlities has been somewhat more successful than private utilities. Even accounting for the lower costs to public utilities of tax-free bonds and lower taxes, municipal power costs the public 18 percent less than private power. Eliminating stockholder dividends alone saves 11 percent of every dollar paid to private utilities. In addition, public systems spend less on public relations, political donations, executive salaries, and internal bureaucracy. Yet public power has proven scarcely more open to public participation in issues of nuclear power, conservation vs. generation, and other policy issues. Economically and technically, both private and public enterprise have records of failure and success. The technical requirements of some industries favor oligopoly or monopoly, with inherent problems for the public whether privately or publicly operated. In other areas, public and private operations compete or coexist successfully, each with somewhat different costs and benefits. The failure of public enterprise to attain higher
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