RAINDROPS Oct./Nov. 1983 RAIN Page 3 Some magazines entering their 10th year of publication might boast of a phenomenal circulation milestone—but not RAIN. Today, there are about as many people reading it as when it began. Not the same readers, of course, and the staff has changed as often as the readership. While in its life, RAIN cannot claim to have altered the course of history, it has, nevertheless, had influence greater than its circulation figures would suggest. It is difficult to document the ways RAIN has influenced people and events. It has always been a subdued force, not proclaiming itself from the mountaintops. When RAIN started, there were only a handful of other communication vehicles attempting to give voice to the many social change movements then emerging. RAIN was able to review most any document published about solar energy, while today we receive an index to solar energy articles each month that is the size of RAINBOOK! RAIN has never stood still for long. As staff and society have changed, so has RAIN. But somehow, we believe, the magazine has kept a certain special quality through the years—something we refer to as "RAIN magic." Whoever has been at RAIN at a particular time has managed to bring forth some new ideas and perspectives, keeping the magazine at the forefront of change. And despite RAIN's generalist quality—something no marketing consultant would encourage—it has survived. At RAIN, we are always looking to the future, always "in transition." But just this once, for this special anniversary issue, we are looking backward and forward at the same time. In these pages, you'll find articles that review our own history and the history of the social change movements we have long followed. You'll also find visions of what is in store for the social change community and for the larger world during the coming decades. We feel that by putting together this special issue we've gained some important perspectives on RAIN's continuing role as a vehicle for change. We think those perspectives will help us to serve you even better in the future—and we look forward to bringing you many more issues of RAIN!—the Rainmakers Read RAIN, but Plant a Tree In nine years, RAIN has used up about 1,694,000 pounds of paper, or 13,552 trees—31 acres worth. Our readers have their work cut out for them, so to speak: to make up for our use of trees, they need to plant about 70 trees each! However, as Nancy Cosper points out, a number of our readers are Hoedad tree planters, and they plant thousands of trees. Taking that into account, RAIN could even take some credit for a silviculture surplus.—SJ
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz