A List of Environmental and Telecommunications Events and Issues

September 5 to September 12







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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If you are interested in keeping Internet an open and free forum, contact
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Listings

Saturday, September 6

12 pm
Anthony Schinella for Boston City Councillor At-Large Campaign Kick Off - focusing on the lack of affordable housing in Boston, creation of "Green Zones" neighborhood parks on vacant lots and the creation of a local currency called "Boston Bucks" to retain wealth for city residents
contact 730-8483 phone/fax or ASchinella@aol.com
Old State House, corner of Court and Washington St, Boston

Sunday, September 7 (raindate Sunday, September 14)

Tour of the Orchards - The pledge fundraising Tour includes a 3 mile walking route, 10, 30, and 45 mile bicycle routes, and starts in Somerville, Dorchester, Cambridge and Jamaica Plain, with cider pressing and lunch at the end. It visits several of the nearly 60 Urban Orchards sites which EarthWorks has planted with communities since 1990. Pledge forms are available NOW. Grand prize is a Montague High-Performance Bicycle which folds. Over 2 dozen other prizes include dinners for 2, composters, gift certificates at bike shops, and more. Funds will help EarthWorks create Orchard Friends groups, purchase tools and plant material, and run the Schoolyard Orchards project.
contact 983-WIND, 776-6524, or 617-MA-EARTH (623-2784) x4 or erthwrks@thecia.net

Monday, September 8

7 pm
MA Green Party Steering Committee
contact massgreens@igc.apc.org
Clean Water Action, 76 Summer St, Boston

Tuesday, September 9

4 pm
Spatial Noise-Shaping in Neural Arrays and Distributed A/D Converters
Robert Adams, Analog Devices
contact 253-4799
MIT Building 34, Room 101

6:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Northeast Business Environmental Network Annual Meeting - Getting the Green Back
Doug Gutro, EPA New England
please RSVP Gail Schwartz at 204-2727 or http://www.nben.org
Holiday Inn, Tewksbury, MA
NBEN Members: $25.00/Non-NBEN members: $35.00

Wednesday, September 10

8 am - 11:30 am
Getting Ready for Competition: Changes in the Electric Industry
contact 262-1180
Westborough Marriott, Westborough

4 pm
1.8 Billion Years of Lithospheric Evolution: The Recond from the Grand Canyon
Karl Larlstrom, Univ of NM
MIT Building 54, Room 915

6 pm
Managing Turnaround Situations
Alphonse Lucchese, DAVOX Corp
contact 253-8240
MIT Building 10, Room 250
MIT Enterprise Forum members: $10; others: $15

Thursday, September 11

10 am - 11:15 am
Science for Humane Survival II - a Science for the People course Video Production for Social Change
Bruce Petschek, Seven Generations, progressive educational video production and distribution
contact salzman@umbsky.cc.umb.edu or http://hydra.cc.umb.edu/pages/salzman/ Science for Humane Survival
Room S-1-009, Univ of MA, Boston

6:30 pm
Environmental Roundtable
contact 350-8866 or julie_wormser@tns.org
MA Medical Society, 1440 Main St, Waltham

7:30 pm
Boston Area Solar Energy Assocation Lecture: Who Owns the Sun? Logical Solar Remedies for a Fossil Economy
John O'Connor, author (with Daniel M. Berman) of _Who Owns the Sun_ and president of Greenworks, Inc.
contact 49_SOLAR or hkv@solarwave.com
1st Parish Unitarian Church,#3 Church St, Harvard Square
Donations help provide BASEA Forums Series

Friday, September 12

7:30 pm
The Center for Campus Organizing Second Annual Fundraising Dinner and Silent Auction
Frances Fox Piven and Dennis Brutus
contact 354-9363, cco@igc.apc.org, or http://www.cco.org
The Ginger Tree Restaurant, 1366 Beacon Str, Brookline
$35 per person, $240 for a table of eight. Student rates available.

Saturday, September 13

Food Project in Roxbury - a vacant lot near Dudley Square needs people-power to help transform it into a food production plot, work with local youth to haul away debris and prepare the soil for crops that will be harvested for many years to come
contact 491-4200 x256

Sunday, September 14

6 pm
Greater Boston Greens
contact 787-9521 or oggc@fcl-us.net
Community Church, 565 Boylston St, Boston

Monday, September 15

7:30 pm
Zero Population Growth
contact 484-7986, 225-8905 or breinan@ortho.bwh.harvard.edu
100 Lexington Street #B10, Belmont

10 pm
Affluenza
contact (206)443-4817 or http://www.kcts.org
WGBH-TV, Channel 2

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

Computer Organizations of NE (CONE) User Group List:
http://bcs1.ziplink.net/cone/sig
Signet Calendar of events:
http://www.signet.org/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar.cgi
Webmasters Guild
http://boston.webmaster.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

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Help Stop the Bulldozing of the LA Ecovillage

Editorial Comment: Landlords tore up my garden years ago to let weeds grow. Last year, Boston considered taking South End community gardens for a police parking lot. I read in _The Village Voice_ how the city government there continues to take long-term community gardens for housing developments (and letting empty buildings languish). Here's another example from LA which we have a chance to stop.


L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BULLDOZERS THREATEN ECO-VILLAGE AND GARDEN

Los Angeles Eco-Village in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment area, is facing a September 14 order to vacate imposed by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The nonprofit project is the nation's only public demonstration of a sustainable community-in-process in a central city location.

LAUSD intends to bulldoze the group's demonstration organic garden, office and the home of its executive director, Lois Arkin, pave it over, and put in two modular double classrooms to accommodate the District's class size reduction program. District officials have refused to accept a more cost-effective and timely alternative developed by the Eco-Village community.

Arkin and the Eco-Village office and community center occupy one unit of a 75-year-old historically significant four-plex which the District acquired in 1979. The other three units, recently renovated by the District, are used by the adjacent K-2 White House Place Primary Center (WHPPC) for essential school functions. The front yard orchard and garden double as the outdoor classroom in environmental education for WHPPC, along with an 80 year old sycamore tree and a number of small animals in the backyard.

In the jungle-like garden, children explore the plant and animal worlds while developing skills for working and relating in small groups. The unique program, developed by Eco-Villager Mary Maverick, depends upon the garden and its diverse eco-system, a product of five years of hard work by neighbors and other volunteers.

"Some District officials acknowledge that the Eco-Village is an important demonstration of exactly the kind of school/neighborhood partnership they seek, so we were completely shocked when we received the notice to vacate on June 12th," states Arkin. "We knew the District planned eventually to do something with the corner, but we had consistently asked school officials to include the corner building and gardens in any new plans for the school," she adds.

After a meeting on July 23rd with District officials aimed at trying to establish a win/win solution to the problem, Eco-Villager and architect Ian McIlvaine said, "District officals don't seem willing to recognize that they will be bulldozing a roughly $750,000 investment in donated services, labor and materials which Eco-Villagers and volunteers have given to the District and the neighborhood during the past five years."

Eco-Villager and attorney Jesse Moorman believes that a major problem in the District is the isolation of functions within the its sub-bureaucracies. "With this separation," Moorman explained "there is little or no coordination between facilities development and the educational process."

The vision of Eco-Village at White House and Bimini Place emerged from the ashes of the 1992 uprisings when the 17 year old nonprofit Cooperative Resources & Services Project (CRSP) began focusing on the two blocks around the school with the mission of promoting cooperation among neighbors while demonstrating how to live sustainably in an urban setting. Neighbors who did not know or trust each another before the uprisings, now regularly socialize, garden, mentor children, and work together to build a healthy neighborhood.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg has stated that she is categorically opposed to the demolition of the corner four-plex and gardens. Dozens of letters of support have been sent to school district officials from persons around the country and the world concerned about sustainable communities and school gardens. State Superintendent of Public Education Delaine Eastin has asked School Board Member Vickie Castro to give Eco-Village a 90 day extension while alternatives are further explored. Eastin wants to see a garden in every school in California. State Senator Richard Polanco has also urged the District to explore alternatives to demolition.

Eco-Village is part of the Global Ecovillage Network which demonstrates sustainable community development throughout the world. It also served as inspiration for the ecovillage experiment in St. Petersburg, Russia, sister city to Los Angeles.

White House Place Primary Center/Los Angeles Eco-Village Demolition Threat

Current Issues - September 1, 1997
MORE COST-EFFECTIVE, FASTER ALTERNATIVE
1. The alternative to demolition is cheaper and faster for getting kids off busses. It's a win/win solution. It does not require the acquisition of more land. The Virgil teachers' parking lot is plenty large enough to accommodate the two double bungalows. No relocation of electrical equipment is required. The Councilwoman, and the Virgil Middle School Principal support the closure of Council Street for parking for Virgil teachers. WHPPC teachers, principal, parents, children and neighbors want to see the corner saved. Children benefit most from saving the corner: both those already attending and those soon to attend.

ALL STAKEHOLDER PLANNING PROCESS
2. Eco-Village is requesting a 90 day extension to December 1, and will coordinate a process to include representative stakeholders in a series of meetings to create an interactive community design process for the long term plan to redevelop White House Place Primary Center. We're calling for a re-evaluation of the plan to demolish after that time. This is exactly the kind of proactive school/neighborhood partnership that LAUSD advocates for and that President Clinton and Vice President Gore have been promoting. The school/neighborhood interactive design process will be highly adaptable for other schools within the District.

POLITICAL SUPPORT
3. Eco-Village has political support. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, State Senator Richard Polanco and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin support an alternative to demolition. The Community Redevelopment Agency is also supporting the alternative.

RE-EVALUATION BASED ON NEW INFORMATION
4. A re-evaluation of LAUSD demolition plans for White House Place Primary Center is called for. Eco-Village is a rich educational resource for teaching children and the public about sustainable living. Facilities staff and school board member Vickie Castro were not aware of the corner as an educational and appreciating asset to the District when the decision to bulldoze was made. Now that has been made clear, it's time to re-evaluate. Eco-Village grew out of the 1992 Uprisings. It is the only public demonstration of the processes of creating sustainable community in a inner city location in the country.

HELP SAVE THE LOS ANGELES ECO-VILLAGE CORNER - SEPT. 4, 1997

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH & WE NEED YOUR HELP TO GO ALL THE WAY!

URGENT NEWS FLASH - ADDRESS LIST OF PEOPLE TO INFLUENCE

Note: For additional background information, please visit our website at:
http://alumni.caltech.edu/~mignon/laev.html
or call Lois for additional info (213/738-1254)

URGENT News Flash 8/29/97: We just received word that school board member David Tokofsky will introduce a motion in Tuesday's school board meeting (9/2) to explore alternatives to demolition. The City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, with the help of Board Chair, Chris Essel and our Councilwoman, Jackie Goldberg are taking a strong stand on behalf of Eco-Village. And our State Senator Richard Polanco, along with California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin continue to support the alternative to demolition.

THIS IS A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN THE EFFORT TO SAVE THE CORNER!

Your help is needed immediately to call or write school board members, and tell them you want alternatives to demolition of the Eco-Village corner at White House Place Primary Center.

1. If you are in the L.A. Unified School District, tell your school board member that you are in their district and the name of the organization you represent or are identified with. If you are not in the District, call or write as many board members you can (see phone and address list below). (Call the School Board Secretariat at 213/625-6273 or Lois at 213/738-1254 if you need to know whose District you're in).

2. Urge the board member to support the motion to re-explore alternatives to demolition of the Eco-Village/White House Place Primary Center corner.

3. Tell board members that you believe that their district can benefit from the work that Eco-Village is doing to demonstrate school/neighborhood partnerships in sustainable community development.

EVICTION UPDATE
The original 30 day notice to vacate was ordered for July 15. It was extended to August 14 by then school board president Jeff Horton. The District then gave a second 30 day notice extending the vacation date to September 14. As it stands now, a legal eviction process is scheduled to begin after September 14 unless an extension is granted by the School Board.

A NOTE ABOUT THE MEDIA
We encourage you to send copies of your letters to the press, especially the L.A. Times Metro Section (fax: 213/237-7679; Amy Pyle fax 213/237-4712), L. A. Weekly (fax: 213/465-2126), Hollywood Independent (Jillian Bailey, fax: 213/932-8250), LaOpinion (Jesse Linares, fax: 213/896-2171), The Daily News (fax: 818/713-0058).

CURRENT ISSUES
Please address your letter to Vickie Castro and Dr. Ruben Zacarias with copies to the others. Make your correspondence with these powers-that-be positive and upbeat. Here is a list of possible points to include in your own words and from your experience, or feel free to make other points. Taking just a few points is fine, no need to try to cover all the bases in every letter. Your letter can be very short as they have heard the background information again and again. Please note, especially, item #4 below.

WHO TO WRITE TO: HERE ARE ADDRESSES, PHONES AND FAXES FOR THE DECISION MAKERS

Vickie Castro, Board Member, 2nd District (our elected board member) 450 No. Grand Ave., Rm. A-201, L.A., CA 90012, 213/625-6180, fax: 213/626-2815

Dr. Ruben Zacarias, 450 North Grand Ave., A-217, L.A., Ca 90012, 213/625-6261, fax: 213/617-1794

Use Vickie's address and fax number as above for the following six board members. If you are faxing, you can send one fax to 213/626-2815 with a cover sheet requesting that the letter be sent to all seven board members.

Jeff Horton, 213/625-6386 Julie Korenstein, President, 213/625-6388 David Tokofsky, 213/625-6383 Valery Fields, 213/625-6387 George Kiriyama, 213/625-6385 Barbara Boudreaux, 213/625-6382

COPIES SHOULD ALSO GO TO:
Jackie Goldberg, City Councilperson, 13th District, 200 N. Spring St., Rm. 240, L.A., CA 90012, 213/485-3353, fax: 213/613-0819

Dr. Marta Bin, Belmont Cluster Leader, 1320 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90017, 213/625-5110, fax: 213/977-0474

Beth Louargand & Bob Niccum, P.O. Box 2298, Los Angeles, CA 90051, fax: 213/633-7239

Please SEND A COPY OF YOUR LETTER TO LOIS ARKIN, 3551 White House Place, L.A., CA 90004, 213/738-1254, fax: 213/386-8873, email: crsp@igc.apc.org

Los Angeles Eco-Village: a sustainable community in process and the west coast node for the Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA)
http://alumni.caltech.edu/~mignon/laev.html

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Ouje-Bougoumou Honored

Editorial Comment: To show that we as a species are not self-destructedly stupid all the time, Ann Stewart (Stewartship@compuserve.com) sent me this good news. Ouje is a real success story and should be praised and studied by anyone interested in a sustainable future.


Any of you who are inclined to send congratulatory messages to the community of Ouje-Bougoumou, people would love to hear from you. Would that the rest of society would commit to sustainability! Please note that Douglas Cardinal is the architect for the Smithsonian Museum's new National Museum of the American Indian, almost ready to break ground on the Mall in Washington DC.

P R E S S R E L E A S E
Cree community selected to be official project at Expo2000 to be held in Hanover, Germany

(Ouje-Bougoumou, August 20) The Ouje-Bougoumou Cree community in northern Quebec was informed today that it has been selected as an official project of the worlds fair, Expo2000, to be held in Hanover, Germany from June 1 to October 31, 2000.

Ouje-Bougoumou is the newest of the nine Cree villages which comprise the Cree Nation in northern Quebec. The new village was constructed between 1991 and 1995 after decades of forced relocations which saw previous village sites destroyed in order to accommodate the regions mining industry. In the course of constructing the new village several unique community development initiatives were successfully introduced, including a village-wide heating system which utilizes wood waste from nearby sawmills, a community-developed housing program which emphasizes individual home ownership and community self-sufficiency, and a unique architecture which runs throughout the entire village developed by native architect, Douglas Cardinal. The guiding principle in the construction of the new village was the concept of sustainable development.

Ouje-Bougoumou has gained significant recognition nationally and internationally for its community development initiatives. It has received several awards from the United Nations and from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Ouje-Bougoumou was selected to present an exhibition at Expo2000 because the worlds fair organizers believe that Ouje-Bougoumou represents a very tangible expression of the theme of the worlds fair which is the balancing of humankind, nature and technology.

Upon learning of the selection of Ouje-Bougoumou by the Expo2000 organizers, Chief Abel Bosum, who has led his community through a difficult political struggle to gain acknowledgment of the rights of his people and who managed the construction of the new village, stated: This level of international recognition is truly humbling, and at the same time, it confirms what we have said over and over for many years, that if you give aboriginal people the resources to build their own futures according to their own philosophies, there takes place an enormous unleashing of creative energy which is positive not only for us but for the larger society as well. Aboriginal self-government is a win-win situation.

For further information, please contact:
Chief Abel Bosum at 418.745.3911 or Paul Wertman, Advisor, at 613.761.1655
email: ouje@magi.com
visit our website: http://www.ouje.ca

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Evidence of Global Consciousness Change

Editorial Comment: This is Guy Dauncey's (gdauncey@islandnet.com) editorial from the latest issue of Econews (http://www.islandnet.com/~gdauncey/econews/), a monthly from Vancouver Island that is similar to "A List..." in intent. Guy does very good work and reminds us that there may be a significant minority of us who aren't so stupidly self-destructive as most public policy would seem to imply.


GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS CHANGE - THE BIGGEST STORY OF ALL

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the bad news if you're concerned about the world and its environment. Everywhere you look, the signs say 'Trouble ahead', from the continuing assault on forests and fish stocks to the steady increase of climate-changing greenhouse gases.

At one level, the actions that are weakening the world's ecosystems are driven by the corporate desire for profits and the consumer's desire for material affluence.

Behind those desires, however, is the consciousness that guides them. And consciousness changes - it is not just a passive responder to whatever happens to it.

"Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better ... and the catastrophe towards which the world is headed - the ecological, social, demographic or general breakdown of culture - will be inevitable."
Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic

Recent surveys indicate that this revolution is underway, with a power and thrust that give it enormous significance :

* 55% of Americans consider nature to be sacred and/or spiritual. (National Opinion Research, 1994)

* 19% of Americans say they have practiced meditation, 12% within the last year. (ABC News/Washington Post, 1996)

* A majority of Americans (63%) think that the start of the millennium should be a time for 'prayer and reflection', rather than for 'fun and parties.' (17%). (Yankelovich, 1997)

In 1995, the Merck Family Fund commissioned a major US study of US citizens' views on consumption, called Yearning for Balance :

* 88% agree that 'Protecting the environment will require most of us to make major changes in the way we live.'
* 82% agree that 'Most of us buy and consume far more than we need; it's wasteful.'
* Asked what would make them much more satisfied with their lives, 66% said "If I were able to spend more time with my family and friends"; 47% said "If I felt I was doing more to make a difference in my community"; 21% said "If I had a nicer car" and 19% said "If I had a bigger house or apartment."

28% said that in the last 5 years they had voluntarily made changes in their lives that resulted in making less money, such as reducing work hours, or even quitting work. When extrapolated, this suggests that more than 50 million Americans have 'downshifted' to simplify their lives.

The Trends Research Institute of New York described 'global simplicity' as one of the top 10 trends of 1997 : "Never before in the Institute's 17 years of trend tracking has a societal trend grown so quickly, spread so broadly, and been embraced so eagerly."

Duane Elgin, author of Voluntary Simplicity and Awakening Earth has just co-authored a new study called Global Consciousness Change : Indicators of an Emerging Paradigm, from which this data is taken. ($5 US+$2 shipping. Cheques to The Millennium Project, PO Box 2449, San Anselmo, CA 94979. It can be downloaded for free from http://www.awakeningearth.org). He feels that "a new global culture and consciousness have taken root and are beginning to grow in the world. This represents a shift in consciousness as distinct and momentous as that which occurred in the transition from the agricultural era to the industrial era roughly 300 years ago" - when we first embraced science, and the objectivization of matter and nature.

This month, Seattle's KCTS Channel 9 is airing 'Affluenza' (see Diary [and Listings]), which the producers define as 'An epidemic of stress, overwork, shopping and debt caused by the dogged pursuit of the American Dream,' with symptoms that include 'the bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from one's efforts to keep up with the Joneses.'

Throughout the NorthWest, people are meeting in study circles to learn about voluntary simplicity. Here in Victoria, Jackie Robson of the NorthWest Earth Institute (250) 361-9446 is starting a number of new groups this September.

A revolution is underway. In the USA, 10% of the population is consciously exploring new ways of living consistent with the paradigm, with younger women in the lead, and a further 13% have high levels of ecological and social concern, but give a lower priority to personal growth, either spiritual or psychological.

Something is happening. As Margaret Mead said : "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." So let's get changing !
Guy Dauncey

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_Charging Ahead_ by John Berger

Henry Holt and Co, 1997 ISBN 0-8050-3771-3
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0805037713/alistA/)

This is an exhaustive and exhausting survey of the recent history and possible future of renewable energy in the United States. It is essentially an overview of the renewable energy field since the first oil crisis in 1973 and brings the classic _Golden Thread_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0917352076/alistA/) up to date. It is also a great book to give any investor who is thinking about putting money into renewables.

About a third of the book relates the experiences of various researchers and companies in the solar electric field. Here you can learn all you'll need to know about single crystal, polycrystalline, and amorphous photovoltaic devices and the companies that are bringing them to market. Or the proximate cause as to why they didn't. It is a story of technical success and financial failure that repeats and repeats itself in the face of environmental unconcern and unstable markets buoyed by cheap oil. The story repeats again with biofuels and geothermal and takes on additional shades with the relative success of windpower as the company that pioneered windfarms, US Wind Power/Kenetech, files for bankruptcy. Only the decidedly unglamorous techniques of energy efficiency are an unqualified success, and even that "renewable" option suffers from neglect in a marketplace that sucks down fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow. _Charging Ahead_ ends with the development of hypercars, super-efficient vehicles that promise to change the way we think about transport.

_Charging Ahead_ is very good at what it does. It is a thorough introduction to the state of the art in renewables from a technical and business standpoint. My problem is that the adoption of renewables is not simply a technical or business problem. It is a political problem. When 60-70% of the people say that they support renewables and efficiency as an energy source and as public policy, when those figures have held solid since 1973 until today, why is it that neither the marketplace nor the Department of Energy budget reflect that popular preference? The easy answer, and perhaps the correct one, is that the political and economic power structure don't want to see either renewables or efficiency. As Steve Strong of Solar Design Associates says, "I'm very bitter about what Reagan did to the solar industry. I saw a lot of my friends lose their business, go bankrupt, lose their homes. Very, very well-credentialed scientists and engineers that were on staff at SERI (the Solar Energy Research Institute) were terminated with half a day's notice, with no severance pay, and in such a forceful, disrespectful manner as to deliberately and permanently sour any desire to be involved in this industry again. It was a scorched-earth policy. It was not just a lack of enthusiasm for renewables. It was (a) deliberate, vindictive, and orchestrated campaign to snuff it out in as forceful and as vehement a manner as they could." That attitude still exists and will become more forceful and more vindictive as oil, gas, coal and nuclear begin to lose market share and money to upstart renewable strategies. Didn't Trent Lott, the Senate majority leader, dismiss "solar hippies" recently? Do you think that Rep Dingell or Sen Breaux welcome the entrance of hypercars and solar collectors into the marketplace? Do you believe that the major energy companies will ever fall over themselves to sell consumers a photovoltaic panel that can provide them with all the energy they will ever need without wearing out and without the addition of one more gallon of oil and gas or one more pound of coal? John Berger does not address these issues. He does not even seem to recognize their reality. That fact is my only major problem with this book.

_Charging Ahead_ gives the reader a fine overview of the renewable energy field. I only wish that Berger had dealt with the political realities as well as he did with the techical issues and business stories.

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Education 4 Action Coordinator Job

Editorial Comment: Here's a job with all the cachet of Harvard/Radcliffe and none of those pesky classes.


Education 4 Action is a student collective at Radcliffe College which gives grants to students and student groups who do social action.

Education 4 Action Part-time Coordinator position:
Required/Preferred Education, Experience, Skills: Minimum of two years experience in a community organizing or social action organization required. Experience working with students preferably experience in undergraduate student-organizing is essential. Experience with consensus decision making is important. Must have the ability to develop and implement programs, excellent organizational and communication skills, and experience and interest in working with women and men of diverse racial, ethnic, class, and sexual-orientation identities. Boston-area resident with contacts in local social action and grass roots political organizations is preferred.

Duties & Responsibilities: Office of Undergraduate Programs, Radcliffe College. Reporting to the Assistant Dean, is responsible for assisting students in planning and implementing Education for Action programming and for coordinating student, staff, and volunteer involvment. Develop and monitor budget. Assist students in developing and evaluating social action and education programs, administering grants, funding appeals, preparing publicity and newsletter. Propose, review and implement policies in consultation with Assistant Dean and Dean. Collaborates with Harvard Public service and race relations offices, and outside programs as appropriate. Attends staff meetings and represents Dean on committees and events as appropriate.

For more information call (617) 495-8604. Fax cover letter and resume to Dean Joanne Allen-Willoughby at (617) 495-7644.

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Computer Tutors need for TecsChange

Editorial Comment: The TecsChange model is one I think should be replicated all around the world, not only with computers but with all sorts of electronic and electrical appliances. We are wealthy with our waste. It is time to mine the resource and learn how to repair what we usually toss. As my friend Milt Raymond says, "There's no such place as 'away.'"


VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ONE EVENING A WEEK, TO HELP URBAN RESIDENTS DEVELOP COMPUTER HARDWARE REPAIR SKILLS. .

Since 1992, TecsChange volunteers have been collecting used computers, checking them out (replacing broken parts), and donating them to progressive grassroots groups in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. To date, we've shipped over 150 computers.

We're ready to start the third round of classes in the City of Boston. It's a joint project with the Community Technology Center at Tent City, which was recently started by Mel King. The goal is to involve youth and other residents from this mixed-income housing development and people of color in greater Boston in an "earn-a-computer" program, modelled after the earn-a-bike program implemented so effectively by Bikes Not Bombs. We want to bring computer skills (not to mention computers) to an underserved group: youth and other urban residents. We also want to touch on the POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REASONS behind the uneven access to technology, and demonstrate how computers and on-line information can be used as an organizing tool.

The program will involve skills training, some political discussions, and (hopefully) a few laughs all around. Mel King has been providing the space, and is very committed to the project. He is also looking for donations of equipment. Almost twenty students have earned computers through the first two rounds of the program.

The program works like this. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, for six weeks, students will come to the Community Computing Center. We want to have 10 to 15 students and about an equal number of tutors (plus a couple of us "old timers" running from station to station to help out with more complicated problems). Each session will be broken into:

45 minutes of talk/video/slides on a relevant AND INTERESTING topic 2 hours of repair work 15 minutes of cleanup

The goal is for each student to test three or four 486 and/or 386 computers during their training -- one for them to take home, one for TecsChange to donate, and one for the Community Computing Center to install at a public location at Tent City. That's about one computer every 3 sessions. It's been a challenge, but it's been working well. We'll make sure that there are enough computers and spare parts so students won't have to waste to much time with broken parts.

We will have different sets of tutors on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it's not too much of a burden on anyone. So we need some more tutors to bring the total up 20 tutors who can commit to one night a week from mid-September to the end of October. We have some backup tutors to cover for you if you can't make it on a given night. Newer tutors just need to be familiar with using computers and be used to breaking down problems and solving them. We help and learn from each other along the way, and there will be people there with a lot of experience each night. Much of the work will be very elementary -- replacing a floppy drive, installing a modem, running diagnostics on the hard disk -- and there will be more experienced volunteers around to help out with more difficult problems. There are also a number of tutors that have been through the program once or twice so we have a good base to build on. There are several facilitators that are there both nights to provide continuity.

We're also planning a "train the trainer" session on Monday Sept. 15th at 7 PM, which is where you'll realize how simple it is to do basic repairs on a PC, and get helpful hints from the tutors who’ve done this before. The classes will start on Monday the 22nd and end on Wed. Oct 29th.

Tent City is one block from the Back Bay T stop, near Copley Place. There is parking at a Boston Public School lot just two blocks away.

Please let us know if you would like to volunteer, or if you know of sources of equipment. And please pass this on to any friends or co-workers who may be interested. Thanks for your support.

Charlie Welch and Aram Falsafi for TecsChange
tecschange@tecschange.org
http://www.tecschange.org
617-783-1668

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20th Century Comments on the 21st Century Classroom

The 21st Century Classrooms Act (http://world.std.com/~gmoke/ALIst.Aug2297.html/#21st Century Classrooms Act) has brought forth more response than any other article "A List..." has published. Here are what other readers wrote about it.

From: "Guthrie, Melissa" <MGUTHRIE@FTCMPDMAIN.CO.SYMBIOS.COM>:

I passed the following article from A List to the head of our company's IS department, and it ended up in the hands of our General Counsel.... Here is his reply:
-------------------------------
To all:

Be leery of this legislation. The sponsor of this program/act is a certifiable dolt and therefor there is no way that this legislation could be either well thought out or decently drafted. Randy (a/k/a Duke) Cunningham was an F-4 pilot in VF-96 on the Constellation (the Conny) when I was with another F-4 squadron. I knew Cunningham's RIO (the "backseater" if you will), Bill Driscoll, real well from our days together in basic training at flight school. Bill was able to certify Cunningham's weak mind but no one could fault Cunningham's flying. Incredibly, Cunningham was able to shoot down five migs to become the Navy's only ace of the Vietnam War. Anyway, Cunningham ain't flying no more. Amazingly (or maybe not), he's a Congressman now. I guess you can cash in on five migs with the Republicans in San Diego. In any event, I can assure you all that Cunningham ain't no smarter now than he was as JO in the Navy. So, beware of any act sponsored by this guy (and he don't sponsor many, believe me) because they gotta be full of holes (like the plane he flew on his last mission which ended up in the Gulf of Tonkin).

Nuf said. You copy, over?

From: Boston CWA <bostoncwa@cleanwater.org>:

I agree that the law appears to make little sense; companies do not get rid of computers that are that new.

However.

After 2 years, a computer is still useful to the original purchaser. But, they are certainly worth far less than the original price. So maybe companies could be talked into giving away newer stuff for such a big tax deduction, maybe it would be worth the hassle.
But then, would such speeded up product cycle be "good", from our point of view?
Is this all a devious plot by computer hardware makers?
-k

From: Paul Wendt <pwendt@dnsmain.vw.org>:

My "midnite" comments on the second of two:
> <3> 21st Century Classrooms Act
. . .
> from http://www.house.gov/cunningham/new.htm
>
> [5 Aug 97]
> . . . The 21st Century Classrooms Act, developed by Rep. Randy "Duke" >Cunningham (R-CA) will have the greatest impact on our K-12 classrooms >of all the provisions in the tax relief measure.

Probably so. "Tax relief" will have greatest impact when concentrated in large subsidies for a few particular activities, rather than dispersed in small subsidies for many activities or in a general decrease in tax rates.

> Key Points
> The 21st Century Classrooms Act provides businesses an expanded tax > incentive to donate computer equipment and technology to our >elementary and secondary schools. Generally, companies donating >computers to qualified schools within two years of purchase, can deduct >the full purchase price of the computers.

According to the illustration (deleted below), value after two years is about 40% of purchase price. So, counting the tax-deductible contribution at full purchase price is a big deal:
- big enough to ensure that almost all charitable donations of young computers (under two years old) go to K-12 and other eligible organizations, rather than to other charitable sinks;
- certainly big enough to cost some taxpayer money ($270 million by the estimate below);
- probably big enough to persuade some corporations to replace a computer within two years rather than three (the rule of thumb cited by George in the editorial footer).

> And we will accomplish this without adding another layer of Washington, > D.C. bureaucracy,

probably.

> or increasing government spending.

such concentrated "tax relief" should be considered a form of government spending.

> How does the 21st Century Classrooms Act discourage computer >"dumping" on schools?

It doesn't discourage "dumping".
If it puts enough newer computers into schools, some schools that now accept older computers will be able to say, "Thanks but no thanks".

> The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates its revenue impact at -$270 > million over that time.

That is the estimated net size of the subsidy. Note, this incorporates some numerical answer to George's first question:

> Editorial Comment: I wonder how many companies change computers >every two years. The cycle I've heard is more like three.

and it directly estimates an answer to his second:

> I also wonder whether this program will result in lower tax revenue > collected due to the tax break given.

----Paul

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The Begging Bowl

The resuscitated _Whole Earth Review_ has just been published. Now it is called _Whole Earth_ and page 41 includes a favorable review of "A List..." It's in the same section as the works or David Korten, Amory Lovins, Charlene Spretnak and others. This set of resources is labeled as "Paradigm Warfare." Well, maybe. I prefer my pretensions to scholarship and the Taoist concept of the scholar warrior but, whathehell, I'll take it as a compliment. After reading the Whole Earth books and magazines since they first came out, it is somewhat daunting to find that my work is now a resource that fits their criteria for usefulness. What next?

Well, some remuneration for my efforts would be nice. The total this year is $717 from 21 people, breaking last year's total of $625 from 15 people. Of course, good wishes, prayers, articles, comments (and there are getting to be more of those, thank you very much) are also acceptable currencies of exchange in my quixotic gift economy. I appreciate having you read my work and thank you for your kind attention. This is what I love and have to do. That others find use in what I write, edit, and publish is a continuous blessing and miracle to me.

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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