A List of Environmental and Telecommunications Events and Issues

October 31 to November 7, 1997









Published, Edited and Written by George Mokray for
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
gmoke@world.std.com

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Previous issues of "A List.." are available for your perusal at
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Listings

Saturday, November 1

Protests against the Harvard appearance of Jiang Zemin, the President of the People's Republic of China. Look for the crowds in and around Harvard Square.

9 am - 3 pm
Mass Public Health Association Fall Environmental Health
Conference
contact 524-6696
Carney Hospital, Dorchester

10 am
Rally against proposed Douglas, MA landfill
Presenters include Ross Gelbspan, author of _The Heat is On_http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0201132958/alistA/
contact Mary Anna Abuzahra at 508-943-8998
Webster, MA, route 16

2 pm
Community Hearing on the Impact of Welfare Reform: The Fight for Good Jobs for All
contact 491-2525
Arlington St Church, Boston

1 pm
Creating Coalitions in the Workplace: The Universal Challenge of Discrimination & Harassment
contact 576-3541
Cambridge Senior Center, 806 Mass Ave, Central Square

8 pm
National Organizers' Alliance Organizers with a Life Potluck Party
contact Cris at 628-5174 or Lizbeth at 491-7241
94 Forest Hills St. Apt.2, Jamaica Plain
Editorial Comment: Most of today's listings come from the Weekly Workers' Rights Calendar Heather Gonzalez (jwj@igc.apc.org) of Jobs With Justice posts to the act-ma listserv. Looks like a busy Saturday.

Monday, November 3

12:30 pm
Structure and Form
Waclaw Zalewski, MIT
MIT Building 56, Room 114

3:30
Status and Future of the Naval Nuclear Power Program
Kimberly Keithline, USN
MIT Building NW12, Room 222
4 pm
Numerical Investigation of the Origin of the Earth's Magnetic Field
Jeremy Bloxham, Harvard
Harvard, Haller Hall, Room 102

Skyrmions and Skyrme in Quantum Hall Ferromagnets
Allan MacDonald, Univ of IN
Harvard, Jefferson Lab 250
Editorial Comment: Skyrmions and skyrme?

Portly Plumes in Mississippi: Contaminant Migration and Mass Transfer in the Subsurface
Charles Harvey, Harvard
contact 617-353-2532 or earth@bu.edu
BU, Room B36, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Boston

4:10 pm
Pressing Concerns: The Hong Kong Media in an Era of Political Thought
Stephen Hutcheon, Syndney Morning Herald
Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 275

5:30 pm
On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0811813940/alistA/)
Felice Frankel and George Whitesides
contact 253-5249 or authors@mit.edu
MIT Building E15, Bartos Theater

Tuesday, November 4

Coupled Ocean Observation/Modeling Systems Symposium
contact 253-9305 for registration
MIT Building E15, Bartos Theater

12 pm
Democracy Matters: Who Speaks for Americans?
Eric Alterman, The Nation
Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 275

12:30 pm
The Under-Estimated Power of Culture
Regge Life, film and TV producer
Harvard, Coolidge Hall, Room 3

3:30 pm
A High Performance 0.20={\mu}m CMOS Technology with Copper Metallization
Suresh Venkafesan, Motorola
contact 253-4799
MIT Building 34, Room 101

4 pm
What Will It Cost the US to Sign an International Agreement on Greenhouse Gases?
David Hales, USAID
contact 493-1360
Harvard, Kennedy School, 79 JFK St

4:15 pm
The Role of Nuclear Transfer in Biological Research
Ian Wilmut, The Roslin Institute, Scotland
MIT Building 10, Room 250

4:30 pm
Microengine Structures and Materials
Kuo-Shen Sheng, MIT
contact 253-2481
MIT Building 31, Room 161

Forced Displacement and Humanitarian Action: The Changing Role of UN High Commission on Refugees in the 90s
Jeffrey Crisp, UNHCR
contact 253-3121 or lauries@mit.edu
MIT Building E38, Room 714

5 pm
Novel Approaches to Photo-Protection
Barbara Gilchrest, BU Medical Center
Harvard Medical School, Wellman I Conference Room
Editorial Comment: The real sunscreen advice.

7 pm
Expressing Diversity Through Performance: Autobiographies of Learning
Joan Berg, artist/educator
Harvard, Longfellow Hall, Askwith Lecture Hall

TECSChange Computer Packing Party
30 computers repaired and tested by Earn-a-Computer students since last April are going to a "civil network" in Mexico and to the three URACCAN campuses in Nicaragua. TECSChange can also use packing materials; computer and monitor boxes, bubble wrap, used clothes, etc. There will be pizza and beer.
contact tecschange@tecschange.org or 783-1668
Watertown

Wednesday, November 5

Coupled Ocean Observation/Modeling Systems Symposium
contact 253-9305 for registration
MIT Building E15, Bartos Theater

11 am
2-D Photonic Bandstructure Effects in Nanochannel Glass Materials
Armand Rosenberg, Naval Research Lab
contact 253-8504
Mit Buiding 34, Room 401B

12 pm
The Past and Future of Airborne Reconnaissance
John Entzinger, Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office
contact 253-0133 or llevine@mit.edu
MIT Building E38, Room 615
Editorial Comment: The second military/science event listed for this week. Get ready for a future of bird-sized drones with advanced surveillance equipment sniffing out chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. Or just following "suspicious persons."

Genetics of Human Evolution
Maryellen Ruvolo, Harvard
Harvard, Peabody Museum, Hall of the North American Indian

Racial Construction of Citizenship
Evelyn Higginbotham, Harvard Divinity School
Harvard, Du Bois Institute, Barker Center

Urban Environmental Health
Patricia Hynes, BU School of Public Health
contact 353-3083 or cees@bu.edu
BU, STO 141 (Lounge), Boston

The Law of Cyberspace
Larry Lessig, Harvard Law School
contact Nora_O?Neil@harvard.edu or http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/iip/hbbss.html
Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 301

12:30 pm
Priorities in Conflict: Health or Human Rights in Central Africa
Peter Rosenblum, Harvard Law School
contact 243-4311
Harvard School of Public Health, FXB Building, Room G-11

4 pm
The Origin and Evolution of the Nitrogen Cycle
Paul Falkwoski, Brookhaven National Lab
MIT Building 54, Room 915

Why a Science of Mind Implies the Transcendance of Nature
Francisco Varela, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris
contact 253-7891
MIT Building 34, Room 101

Are We Overstating the Economic Costs of Environmental Protection?
Richard Morgenstern, William Pizer, and Jhih-Shyang Shih, Resources for the Future
contact 495-1820 or 495-8833
Harvard, 79 John F Kennedy ST, Room 332

5:30 pm
Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies
David Nye
contact 253-5249 or authors@mit.edu
MIT Building 34, Room 101
Rob Reiner, film director
contact 495-0740
Harvard Science Center, Lecture Hall B

7 pm
Boston Virtual Reality Group and the Boston SIGGRAPH Chapter of the ACM: VR for Archeologists
Eben Gay, ERG Engineering and Learning Sites, Inc
contact 621-3309, brenden@media.mit.edu or http://www.media.mit.edu/~brenden/bostonVR/bostonVR.html and http://www.siggraph.org/chapters/boston
GTE Laboratories, 40 Sylvan Road, Waltham
Editorial Comment: Both of these groups have their own announcement listservs:
To subscribe to the boston-vr-announce e-mail announcement distribution list, send the following line in the body of your message to majordomo@world.std.com:
subscribe boston-vr-announce

For SIGGRAPH/Boston send e-mail to siggraphdistrib-request@cs.umb.edu if you want be added or dropped from their list.

TECSChange Computer Packing Party
30 computers repaired and tested by Earn-a-Computer students since last April are going to a "civil network" in Mexico and to the three URACCAN campuses in Nicaragua. TECSChange can also use packing materials; computer and monitor boxes, bubble wrap, used clothes, etc. There will be pizza and beer.
contact tecschange@tecschange.org or 783-1668
Watertown

7:30 pm
The Not-So-Secret Life of Carl Jung
Eugene Taylor, Harvard Medical School
Swedenborg Chapel

Thursday, November 6
Second Nature 1997 Northeast Regional Workshop on Education for Sustainability
contact 292-7771, workshops@2nature.org, or http://www.2nature.org
Trinity Conference Center Cornwall, CT

11:30 pm
The Cross at Auschwitz: Catholics and Jews in Conflict
James Carroll
Harvard, Rockefeller II

2 pm
The Art of Thought
Todd Siler, Psi-Phi Communications
Harvard, Longfellow Hall, Askwith Lecture Hall

Global Environmental Change and Food/Water I:
The Marine Food Chain--James J. McCarthy
Effects on Agriculture--Richard Levins
contact 432-0493 or http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge
Cannon Room, Building C, Harvard Medical School, Boston

4 pm
New Developments in Offshore Technology
Fiyro McClelland, Marine Geosciences
contact 253-7186
MIT Building 1, Room 350

4 pm
Some Topics on Mechanics of Fibrous Structures
Ning Pan, Univ of CA Davis
contact l_m@mit.edu
MIT Building 5, Room 234
Geology of the Icy Galilean Satellites as Revealed by Galileo Imaging
Robert Pappalardo, Brown Univ
MIT Building 54, Room 915

Virtual Communities
Howard Rheingold, _Virtual Community_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060976411/alistA/) and Amy Bruckman, MediaMOO
contact http://media-in-transition.mit.edu
MIT Media Lab, Bartos Theater
Editorial Comment: I have promised Howard heckling or rotten fruit and hope to have dinner with him after the presentation.

4:15 pm
Liquid Fuel Visualization Using LIF in a PFI Engine
Mark Dawson, MIT
MIT Building 31, Room 161

4:30
A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data
Gary King, Harvard
Harvard, 9 Bow St

5 pm
The Rebirth of the Goddess
Carol Christ
Harvard, Andover Hall, Sperry Room

7 pm
TECSChange Computer Packing Party
30 computers repaired and tested by Earn-a-Computer students since last April are going to a "civil network" in Mexico and to the three URACCAN campuses in Nicaragua. TECSChange can also use packing materials; computer and monitor boxes, bubble wrap, used clothes, etc. There will be pizza and beer.
contact tecschange@tecschange.org or 783-1668
Watertown

8 pm
Our Tradition of Sedition
William Safire, NY Times
Harvard, Kennedy School, ARCO Forum

Friday, November 7

Second Nature 1997 Northeast Regional Workshop on Education for Sustainability
contact 292-7771, workshops@2nature.org, or http://www.2nature.org
Trinity Conference Center Cornwall, CT

9:30 am
Our Tradition of Sedition
William Safire, Marvin Kalb, Pauline Maier, Margaret Marshall, Daniel Schorr, Gerald Seib, David Shribman
Harvard, Kennedy School, Malkin Penthouse

12 pm
Managing Nuclear Materials in Russia
Matt Bunn
Harvard, Littauer Building, Room 370
Editorial Comment: If you check the last few issues of "A List...," you will find there have been more presentations on nuclear issues than usual this Fall. Including another this week on the US Navy's nuclear program.

3 pm
Novel Hydrodynamic Instability in Interfacial Liquid Films: The Beauty and the Beast
Sandra Troian, Princeton Univ
MIT Building 66, Room 110

4 pm
Burning to Go: Combustion and Pollutant Formation in Engines
Simone Hochgreb, MIT
contact 252-1490 or 253-1925
MIT Building 1, Room 114

Controlling Interfacial Interactions to Manipulate Polymeric Nanostructures
Tom Russell, Univ of MA, Amherst
Harvard, Pierce Hall, Room 209

6 pm
Talking Back to Fast Track
Maria de Los Angeles Lopez Garcia, Mexican Frente Autentico Trabajadore
contact 491-2525
Centro Presente, 54 Essex St, Central Square

Saturday, November 8

7:30 am - 4:30 pm
Volunteers to Build a Bike Path Bridge Over the Neponset River - remove old ties from bridge, place new stringers (with help from MDC crane), place and nail planks. This is heavy work and the volunteers should be sturdy people who can lift wood and bang big nails. Also looking for a few extra 5 lb or so sledge hammer (or similar) to bang in the 8" spikes.
contact Rich Kleiman at 727-9693 x293 or Rich.Kleiman@state.ma.us or dmink@cfa.harvard.edu
Neponset River in Dorchester Lower Mills

Second Nature 1997 Northeast Regional Workshop on Education for Sustainability
contact 292-7771, workshops@2nature.org, or http://www.2nature.org
Trinity Conference Center Cornwall, CT

Sunday, November 9

9 am
Volunteers to Build a Bike Path Bridge Over the Neponset River - remove old ties from bridge, place new stringers (with help from MDC crane), place and nail planks. This is heavy work and the volunteers should be sturdy people who can lift wood and bang big nails. Also looking for a few extra 5 lb or so sledge hammer (or similar) to bang in the 8" spikes.
contact Rich Kleiman at 727-9693 x293 or Rich.Kleiman@state.ma.us or dmink@cfa.harvard.edu
Neponset River in Dorchester Lower Mills

Second Nature 1997 Northeast Regional Workshop on Education for Sustainability
contact 292-7771, workshops@2nature.org, or http://www.2nature.org
Trinity Conference Center Cornwall, CT

Friday, November 14 - Saturday, November 15

Vacant Lots to Common Ground: Strategies for Community-based Brownfields Revitalization
contact 627-3162 or brownfields@tufts.edu
Tufts Univ, Medford

Saturday, November 15

First Annual Massachusetts Recycles Day
contact Craig Ruberti or Kathi Miria at MassRecycle 338-0244

Friday, November 28?

International Buy Nothing Day
contact http://www.adbusters.org/Pop/buy0dayposter.html

Thursday, November 20

8:30 am - 10:30 am
Benchmark Your Environmental, Health and Safety Practices Against Others
Barbara Bernstein, WasteCap of NH: Sheila Burke, Hampshire Chemical; Tad Lincoln, NBEN; Bill Lindsey, Veryfine Products/Balsam Spring Water
contact (978)557-5475, execdirector@nben.org, or http://www.nben.org
Hampshire Chemical Co, 2 East Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH
"Seating is limited. Please respond by Nov. 17, 1997 NBEN Members & WasteCap Contributors: $20 Others: $40 Please bring check or cash to the event"

Sources for Listings:
MIT _Tech Talk_ :
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www
Harvard _Gazette_ :
http://www.news.harvard.edu/hno.subpages/hno.calendar.full.html
Harvard Environmental Resources On-Line:
http://environment.harvard.edu
MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs calendar:
http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/envir/earth.htm
Earth Day Network international/national listings:
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/EarthDay/ednethome.html
Earth Day Greater Boston calendar:
http://www.earthdaygb.org

act-ma the Massachusetts activists mailing list:
subscribe by emailing majordomo@igc.apc.org, leaving the subject line blank and typing "subscribe act-ma" as the message

Peace and Justice Events Hotline at (617)787-6809

Computer Organizations of NE (CONE):
http://bcs1.ziplink.net/cone/sig - Special Interest Group list
http://bcs1.ziplink.net/cone/cal/index.html - calendar
Boston Webmasters Guild
http://boston.webmaster.org

Community Technology Center Network
http://www.ctcnet.org

Table of Contents




Organizing on the Right

The Promisekeepers (http://www.promisekeepers.org/) came to Washington DC a few weeks ago. One of the promises these men make is, "A Promise Keeper is committed to pursuing vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises." Another thing they do is meet together in small "Brother" groups of six or eight between their large public meetings and have books, videos, and study courses to support this activity. This tactic reminds me of the affinity group organizing the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance used in the 70s. My own affinity group was the most productive organization I have ever been a part of and all of us who participated in that group are still friends with a deep trust of each other twenty years later. This is an extremely effective organizing technique. I wonder why the religious right seems to be using it so much more widely than the rest of us.

According to reports, one of the groups the Promisekeepers come out of is Dr James Dobson's Focus on the Family (http://www.fotf.org). I remember seeing a report on one of the news magazine shows about Dr Dobson and his group. They send out a response to those who write them on the same day they receive the card or letter. When people call, they offer immediate help and network callers to local members. Focus on the Family focuses on providing practical help to mothers and families. As I recall, Dr Dobson, a psychologist by training, said something like, "If we can get the mothers, the children will follow." They work at making sure their members get something real and practical from their participation in the group. I wonder why so many of the community and environmental meetings I go to seem to be more about talking than doing.

Both the Promisekeepers and Focus on the Family are valid organizations that work hard at meeting their members' needs. I know they both have other agendas that violate my sense of justice but I wonder why it seems to be the religious right that has learned the lessons of the civil rights, anti-war, and anti-nuke organizing history. I'd like to be part of an effective affinity group once again.

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Wearing Your Computer On Your Sleeve

I went to the First International Symposium on Wearable Computers Monday and Tuesday, October 13 and 14 at the Marriott Hotel in Kendall Square. That Wednesday, the Media Lab presented their latest wearable technology at Kresge Auditorium before their corporate sponsors and other notables with Leonard Nimoy as mc. In the evening there was a fashion show of conceptual collaborations between technologists and fashion designers that flowed all over the Media Lab's Weisner Building. To my eye, none of them really built on the work I had seen the last two days. I left the fashion show early.

At home, over the week-end, with my Mac Performa 475 and 8 Megs of memory limping along on System 7.5.1 turned off, with "A List..." on frustration hiatus for the first time, I thought about the things I saw and didn't see.

I didn't see what I wanted but I did see what is currently possible - flexible computers in a belt for around $5000 (the ViA Wearable, contact them at http://www.FlexiPC.com), production models of glasses with unobstrusive built in displays (from MicroOptical Corporation), T shirts with fiber optic cable woven into them to monitor all my vital signs (from the US military), workable keypads embroidered on the sleeve or left front panel of jackets (from the Media Lab), a Pilot pda with pressure sensitive pads on its edges to make a chording keyboard so I can type one handed (from the Univ of WA).

After sleeping on it for a while, I thought about what I really wanted and came up with a couple of designs that I didn't see:

The Pilot pda with the chording keyboard body, a full color display, and a built in video camera and audio recorder. A wireless modem (another monthly service charge), easy connection to desktop machines, removable storage (disk, CD, tape, or memory card), and a printer (full color preferably). The camera can be used as a scanner and optical character reading software would be included. It would also have a way to attach a small paper notepad to it as well.

(The next day "Computer Chronicles" reviewed Nikon's Coolpix 300, a "personal imaging assistant" with which one can take color photos and add written or audio recorded notes through a touchscreen or with a built-in microphone. It has a full color display, is a little bigger than your front shirt pocket (or the Pilot), and costs about $700 list.)

Another design I thought of was a net glove - threads and small cables circling fingerpads and running up the palm and the back of the hand like the skeleton of a glove to a wrist band bracelet which could hook into the sensate shirt and a wearable network. It would serve as a kind of PowerGlove, motion tracking the fingers so that you can chord an air keyboard and manipulate virtual space. Taking it out a little further, the threads and cables would be an exoskeleton capable of force feedback and augmentation. You might be able to power the thing by clenching or unclenching your fist, or amplify your grip when you want to open a particularly sticky jar (or give somebody a particularly hearty handshake). While we're at it, the center of the palm could become a flexible display (maybe electronic ink and paper). I could actually draw pictures on my palm and display them, type a dissertation with the virtual keyboard with my other hand tied behind my back. Alternative keypad and display on the back on the hand? Why not?

The glasses I want would be able to display over my whole field of vision, allow me to vary the size of the image, shrink the window and put it into a small corner, or make the data transparent to annotate visible reality or become opaque cyberpunk mirror shades so that I could swim in the infostream. Audio available through the earpieces, of course, pull down microphone, and built in camera option all in the same eyeglass frames. All wirelessly connected to my "personal area network" by small, imperceptible electric impulses interacting with my already existing bio-electromagnetic field or aura, if you will.

For the longest time, I have thought about an acupuncture T shirt with magnets built into the cloth along the meridians and over the most important acupuncture points. I wonder if this augmentation of the human bioelectromagnetic field would be useful. I also wonder at the health effects of the electrical fields, microwaves, radio waves and electromagnetic pulse. Does the ubiquitous computing all the folks at the symposium and the fashion show are banking on have unforeseen environmental and health effects? There are some who think so and are protesting the microwave repeater stations various companies are installing in cities around the US to take advantage of the new PCS (personal communication systems) frequencies the FCC has allowed. I tried to raise this point at the symposium but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. I guess nobody else has read _The Body Electric_ by Robert O. Becker (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0688069711/alistA/), an orthopedic surgeon who developed an electrical stimulator to speed bone growth and a critic of electromagnetic pollution from such things as transformers and high voltage lines.

I didn't see anything like the stilsuit in _Dune_ but would be interested in smart clothing that not only included wearable computing and communication devices and the batteries and energy generators to run them (currently being imagined as part of your shoes) but also made use of body heat and processed our wastes (fast composting colestomy bags anyone?). But then I have also imagined strains of seeds that would sprout into edible, nutritious meals a few minutes after you pissed on them. For survival situations, you know.

However, reading the articles I clipped from a recent Sunday _Boston Globe_, I came across the most radical idea of all. In the October 12, 1997 Learning section, Alan Cromer, a professor of physics at Northeastern, wrote:

"As potentially revolutionary as paper, the personal computer will remain an extravagant education aid until manufacturers agree to design and produce a stripped-down school model with standard software in the $200 range. The availability of a cheap, universal school computer over time would allow every teacher to incorporate technology into daily instruction. A lightweight laptop with portable power source and no hard drive that could be carried in a backpack and plugged into a six-volt adaptor at school or at home would do the trick. A 1.4 megabyte floppy disk could accomodate everything a student is likely to need."

I'd add that the standard software would have as close to perpetual support as possible so that the kids would never have to buy upgrades.

Somehow I don't think that either the folks at the Media Lab or working for their corporate sponsors are staying up late working on such a bare bones idea. They are all too interested in the next big thing to see us all choking in the dust of their technological drive.

I have watched the wearables idea take off in the last few years from a few cyborgs walking around at MIT to hundreds around the world now, including production lines and delivery trucks. You can download instructions on how to build your own "Tin Lizzie" wearable for around $3000 in off-the-shelf parts from http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables/. Tom Zimmerman, inventor of the DataGlove and an old friend, demonstrated his early work on personal area networks for me years ago. I have listened to Thad Starner and Steve Mann on a number of occasions. I can see that this stuff is going to be on the market in much more refined packages within the next few years. But having had to think about all this information in the midst of my own struggle with the gremlins of high technology (it was so bad that not only was my computer down but my phone machine broke, too), I have come to some uncomfortable conclusions. I felt a true schism between my imagination and the way the field is developing. I saw no real consideration of the full range of possible consequences of these new machines. Finally, as I have had more time to think about it, I feel that the future the Wearable Symposium and especially the Media Lab dog and pony show presented are old and tired and not at all close to what is needed, useful, or desired.

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What Do You Want from the President's Council on Sustainable Development?

Editorial Comment: Marty Kraft (martyk@COOP.CRN.ORG), a great neighborhood organizer from St Louis, MO, posted this announcement to the Ecocity listserv (to subscribe email listserv@segate.sunet.se and type SUB Ecocity {your name}). I have my own jaundiced view of the President's Council on Sustainable Development as during the last iteration I tried a number of times to get information on their scenarios for transportation and energy use and never even got a response let alone the information requested. If I honestly thought they'd listen, I might send them that particular piece of feedback.


President's Council on Sustainable Development
Announces
A NATIONAL SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

What could it do for you?
What can you do for it?
Please send your ideas.

The President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) has begun a planning process for a National Summit on Sustainable Development scheduled to take place in early 1999. The purpose of the summit is to catalyze a national movement toward sustainable development and to use the event as an opportunity to better articulate the concepts and opportunities of sustainable development to the American public. The summit will bring together representatives from government, business, community, and non-profit organizations to exchange information and learn from each other; and showcase ideas, technologies, and practices that reflect an integrated approach toward Americans' economic, environmental, and social equity goals. We want to celebrate successes, transfer lessons learned, and galvanize further action to implement sustainable development throughout the nation. Proposals have been made to hold accompanying regional and local events as well.

In an effort to make the planning process as participatory as possible,In an effort to make the planning process as participatory as possible, the PCSD is seeking your ideas and comments. Please send your responses to the following questions by, Monday, November 24, 1997:

What outcomes would you want from a Sustainable Development Summit?

What could a national Sustainable Development Summit do for you, your organization, or your business?

What components would you like to see as part of the Summit?

Do you think that local and/or regional events before, during, or after the national summit as well as satellite downlinks would be a good idea?

Other ideas?

Both anonymous and signed comments are welcome. To receive regular updates on the conference planning, please include your full name, title, affiliation, address, telephone, fax, and email information.

Thank you.

Please send written comments by Monday, November 24, 1997 via email (preferably), fax, or mail to:
Conference Coordinator
President's Council on Sustainable Development
730 Jackson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20503
email <infopcsd@aol.com>, fax: 202 408 6839

Table of Contents




Radio Free Allston Gets Busted

Editorial Comment: Stephen Provizer (improviz@gis.net) sent out this alert. Now is the time for all good friends to come to the aid of their community media.


DEAR RADFRALLERS:
Yes, we were busted on Tuesday at 5:15 PM by the FCC. Here's the story:

I was running the board for the 5:00 show when two agents walked in and their ID's proved they were from the FCC.

They asked me if I had a license to operate a station and the usual aggressive (albeit controlled) exchanges ensued. They told me that I was in non-compliance, etc. and had to close the station down or face fines, jail and so on. They took photos of the equipment and readings from the transmitter. Nothing was taken.

I asked if there had been complaints against us and they said there had been-by other stations; that we had caused co-channel interference. Is that true? I don't know.

They had no papers with them, but since jurisdiction and legal processes in this area are so grey, I decided to close for the short term. After we get legal advice-and I'm counting on the ACLU to step in that this point-we will know whether we can begin broadcasting again while the legal process commences.

In the meantime, it's obvious that our campaign-petitions, the Big Event, letters to legislators-has to be accelerated. I expect that we will get a lot of press out of this and we need to move fast to take advantage of it.

The steering committee is going to meet tonight or tomorrow night and we'll set a time and place to hold a full-station meeting very soon-probably this weekend.

We're doing good things and being treated like criminals. Somethings got to change.

Steve Provizer
Radio Free Allston (106.1 FM)
562-0828
http://www.tiac.net/users/error/radiofreeallston/

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More DAMN Radio

Editorial Comment: Thomas Lane (tl001c@uhura.cc.rochester.edu) sent this to the Corporations listserv (corporations@envirolink.org). We need more diversity in everything, especially in imagination and points of view. Direct Action Media Network (DAMN!) and the A-Infos Radio Project are providing one small avenue for that increased diversity. Let's use it to great advantage.


THE A-INFOS RADIO PROJECT
http://radio4all.web.net

I'd like to welcome you all to check out the A-Infos Radio Project (radio4all.web.net), a system for archiving and exchanging broadcast quality alternative radio programming via the internet. We just introduced it at the Media & Democracy Congress in NYC to an enthusiastic response.

Several major progressive national shows are going to distribute their programs over it, and activist media are already using it to cover events that even the "alternative" media overlooks. All of us involved feel it is a highly viable alternative to satellite distribution and will be a great resource for activist media, independent journalists, Third World reporters, and micropower, community and college radio stations around the world.

The Radio Project is the audio component of a growing organization of media activists called the Direct Action Media Network (DAMN!), part of an even larger effort to build an independent media federation. You can find out more about DAMN and see some sample event coverage at http://www.tao.ca/earth/direct.html

The micropower radio movement has re-awakened many activists to the power of radio as an organizing tool. Radio is extremely economical and one of the few mediums that can readily reach people who haven't already taken an interest in alternative media. The cost of getting micropower equipment powerful enough to reach a 5-10 mile radius is well under $1,000, and with new internet resources such as the Radio Project it is possible for small activist stations to draw from a rich source of programming and for no-budget journalists and activists to deliver content to an international audience. Together we can coordinate national programming that can offer a serious challenge to the corporate media -- such as a truly alternative daily news program, as a number of community stations are now doing in light of the ongoing problems at Pacifica. They are hooking their feed into the Radio Project in the coming weeks!

NATIONAL STUDENT ACTIVIST RADIO SHOW
Are you interested in working on producing a national student activist radio program? Would you be able to get it on your college radio station? Would you integrate national news reports, commentaries, interviews and segments with local-oriented content?

We can use the Radio Project to exchange content and distribute the show around the nation (and globe). What we need to do is get students from as many campuses as possible to produce segments for a national audience, plus get slots on as many college/community stations as possible. This could be a great organizing method -- think of it as a weekly Democracy Teach-In!

Let's talk. Respond to this list, or if you prefer contact me at tom.lane@lol.shareworld.com, (716) 256-2370

Thanks,
Tom

Table of Contents




The Begging Bowl

Thanks for all the messages of support during the unplanned hiatus of "A List..." I appreciated each and every one and thank you all for your patience. To tell the truth, I took the time to think about what I have been doing for the last three years and whether I really wanted to continue. It is obvious that the "A List..." Begging Bowl is not going to make me an honest workingman any time soon. (The present total for this year stands at $749 from 23 people, out of over 270 subscribed to the listserv. I still haven't bother to figure out how to access the statistics for the Webpage.) I do have three years worth of archives full of articles and opinion that may be worth something to somebody somewhere down the line. Or not.

I am having fun shouting and gesticulating from my own electronic soapbox and know that some of what I am publishing is useful to at least a few people. That's about all I expected or can hope for. Thanks to my choice in parents and grandparents, I can live within my narrow means without further support. But it would be nice to stop drawing down the bank account and actually earn my own living.

Another thing is that I am getting a little jaded. I don't go to as many events as I should and those I do go to seem to be repeating much of what I've heard before. Maybe I've learned all I can from MIT and Harvard and it's time to "graduate." I also find that I don't have the energy or patience to go to all the conferences that I should attend "professionally." Especially since I haven't been able to get press credentials lately. (The Wearables Symposium cost me $330 even though I started asking for a press pass as soon as I heard about it last January.) Maybe I am fooling myself, but I feel as if my thoughts are becoming clearer as I go along, too. I don't want to stop writing (truth is, I probably can't stop writing, big mouth egotist that I am) but sometime I get tired and sometime, as we are all aware, the Net goes down and my computer crashes.

That's what I'm thinking about as I look for a new computer. It was really sorta kinda restful not to spend a coupla hours a day on the Net and the Web but it's nice to get back into the flow of exploration and discovery again. Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do. Thanks for reading.

How "A List..." works:
If you want to have a listing included in "A List..." please send it to me before noon on the Friday before the event and if said even is deemed suitable for coverage, it will be included in the appropriate edition of "A List..." Articles and reviews, ideas, rants and opinions are also solicited. Publication is up to the erratic discretion of the editor.

"A List..." is also a listserv. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to the listserv by emailing a-list-request@world.std.com, leaving the Subject line blank, and typing "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" as the message.

"A List..." is a freeware/shareware publication. If the information is of any value to you, please contribute - money, information, encouragement, prayers and good wishes are all valid currencies for feedback and will be gratefully appreciated by
George Mokray
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
gmoke@world.std.com

This publication is copyrighted to George Mokray and the individual writers of the articles. Permission to reproduce is granted for non-profit purposes as long as the source is cited.

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