INSIDE! Windscale~ Free School*NATTA* LeysalndiaeTree Farms* Citizen's Band* Future Shock* Wind Charger* Albion* Lifespan* garden ~ i ~ ~ a g e s a sTerraces* o~ar Planning ploys and much more.
16
aims t o promote ami support a network ofautonomous workercontrolled radical bookshops n u k i n g available a wide range of constructive radical literature, acting as agit-prop cen tres in their areas, a n d providing solidarity and support to other community groups and projects. Anamus, 1-3 Market Street Lane, Blackburn 0 Bogus Books, 21 Prices Avenue, Hull 0 East Oxford Advertiser, 3 4 Cowley Road, Oxford 0 Fourth Idea, 1 4 Southgate, Bradford 0 Grass Roots, 109 Oxford Road, Manchester Mushroom, 15 Heathcote Street, Nottingham 0 **News from Nowhere, 48 Manchester Street, Liverpool 0 One-*Eight, 108 Salisbury Road, Cardiff 0 Other Branch, 42 Bath Street, Leamington Spa * Partisan Books, 1551 147 Archway Road, Lon don N6D Peace Centre, 18 Moor Street, Birmingham 0 Prometheus, 134 Alcester Road, Birmingham 13 0 Public House, 2 1 Little Preston Street, Brighton 0 Rising Free, 197 Kings Cross Road, London WC1 0 Single Step,.86 King Street, Lancaster 0 Third World Publications, 138 Strat ford Road, Birmingham 1 1
-
1
8
*Handles external correspondence **Handles internal mail. Send 30 copies of anything you may want circulated t o federation shops.
ĂƒË†1T BACK ISSUES Undercurrents back-issues are selling out fast - nos. 1 t o 6 have already passed into history an but 7 t o 14 can still be had for 50p each (including postage) from 11 Shadwell, Uley, Dursley, scriptions form on page 48 for further details.
Number 16 June-July 1976 EDDIES. The usual brew of News, Scandal, Gossip, Horror and Happiness. LETTERS. Your'chance to get your own back on us. CAN WE EVER TRUST THE NUCLEAR TECHNICIANS? Charles Wakstein argues that the problems involved in handling nuclear fuel reprocessing at Windscale are such that no one is really capable of doing the job safely. DE-SCHOOL. Romy Fraser explains what makes Kirkdale Free School tick, and why. WORKING ON ALL FRONTS. Dave Elliott analyses some of the issues thrashed out by the environmentalists, technologists and activists who attended therecent NATTA Conference. ,
THE LEY THAT NEVER WAS. Chris Hutton Squire recently put under the microscope one of the classic ley lines described by pioneer ley hunter Alfred Watkins, and found that it disappeared
. ..
STEADY, REDDY. Would thousands of bio-gas plants really be a more appropriate aid to Indian development than one big, hightechnology fertiliser factory, as Prof A K N Reddy argued in Undercurrents 14? Not necessarily, argues Richard Disnev, CITIZENS' BAND: WHY IS IT BANNED?There's no good reason why Britain should not establish a US-style Citizens' Band, to allow individuals to communicate freely by radio, says Richard Elen. CABINET'S CRYSTAL BALLS CRACKED. Undercurrents' amateur futurologist Peter Sommer has been scrutinising the Cabinet Office's recent, reassuring, report on the Future of the World. THE WINDS OF CHARGE. Godfrey Boyle gives another progress report on the evolving Undercurrents wind generator. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Woody urges that alternativists should withdraw their allegiance from Britain and invest it in a new, free nation, possibly called Albion. PEOPLES HABITAT: SPECIAL FEATURE - Undercurrents' contribution to People's Habitat. Kit Pedler begins by challenging the alternative society to start getting itself together. GARDEN VILLAGES OF TOMORROW. Britain urgently needs to increase her food production. and the establishment of new villages would provide an important means of doing so, argues Herbert ~irardet. THE WOOD FOOD GUIDE. Trees, says James Sholto-Douglas, are the crops with the greatest potential for feeding humanity, and re-vitalisingthe world's rural areas. THE DO-IT-YOURSELF NEW TOWN. If local authorities simply supplied sites and essential services, and allowed people to build their own homes, the results, declares Colin Ward, would be far more satisfactory than the alienating New Towns being built for people by bureaucratic Development Corporations. SUNSHINE ON CORONATION STREET. Clive Watterson and Howard Liddell describe Hull College of Architecture's scheme for "solar terraces'! which could be largely self-sufficient FREEDOM RULES-OK? The Lifespansommunity, high on the Yorkshire moors, is based on the ideals of libertarian educationalist AS Neili. Freer Spreckley explains how Lifespan is putting i t s ideals into action. PLANNING PLOYS CAN BY-PASS THE BYE LAWS. Are there ways to avoid (or win) confrontations with the local planners if you're "getting it together in the country"? Gary Burton lets us in on a few trade secrets. . REVIEWS. The Political Police in Britain, by T; ny Bunyan. The Sirius Mystery, by Robert Temple. Noise, by Tony Fletcher. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirszig. The Sphinx and the Megaliths, by J ohn Ivimy. Consumerism and thh ~ c o l o ~ i c a l Crisis, by Alan Roberts. Nuclear Power, by Walt Patterson. Business Civilisation in Decline, by Robert Heilbrohner. Marijuana Growers' Guide, by Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal. Plus Rounduo.
I
I
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'Director' of T'riends and b"'E member Co ;!ad in a white radiat few minutes later the reached the debating
i
Bern), FOE had decided to ret the comolernent and take the d bate to Windscale. Local people were invited to come along and "ration but a rally, altho ;xac;t distinction was nev
bated as nuclear power.' he
, pointing out that one in ople on the Windscale site orKed on safety related as Moreover, if our elected re tives were so concerned w
of some heat, nuclear hins, else. Another spc sed BNFL of 'gamblin,, hroniosomes' - a delig anhorical stick with win
Undercurrents 16'
NUCLEAR POWER in the U to the poMs on June Proposition 15 o n initiative', calls tor the nuc energy industry to prove, wit five years, to the satisfaction o the state legislature, that The effectiveness of al emergency systems is dem simulations ) The problems of nuclear waste storage and disposal can b e solve4 'with no reasonable chance' of a significant escawe t o the environment. Nuclear materials will b e adequately safeguarded from fhett or sdbotaee. compensation in case of a nucl accident b e removed and full compensation assured, an£tha
rated capacity. For every subsequent year that the safety require ents are not n e t , the plants wil ave to be derated a further 10% The campaiyi to enact sition 15 is organised by 5 for Nuclear Safeguards, an umbrella group uniting onmental and citizens group as the Sierra Club, Friends o arth, Calitornia Citizens n Groups. Another Mother the California Demon c ~and l the Phining and Conservation League Chairman of CNS is David Pesoni a San Francisco nubiic interest attorney and prominent ouwoner nuclfcar power in t h e state. nother anti-nuclear big ndme, aloh Nader, is also givin-sup~o nsurorisin~lythe initiative i s eing vigorously opposed by t h e -nuclear vote is Catizens ^or and Energv, an ndustryd PR firm which now calls 'No on Fifteen.' he vote is expected t o be e, although the pro-nuclear rces are outswending CNS o n publicity by a factor or about fifteen to one.
Efficiencies of about 50% a t Hz are yielded by t h e ducks, their inventor be'ieveq that ntrol oscillating frequency the wave period is not ouit
These alternators can submerged substation 11 kV flexible cables. by the substation will b e rectifi and transmitted t o shore by ducks are made of steel or concrete sections together by compression. A recently proposed suggestion o tying sections together with Parafil synthetic fibre rope und tension wou'd p i v i d e a solid backbone whit? under high loa storm conditions would extend to absorb the shock So far research has been directed towards producing best shaped 'duck' tor a sin frequency But the main ai now are to study the performa of a heaving rig ant! to construc a string of ducks tor tests in a mixed sea tank
RO ENERGY GROWTH mav ve arrived sooner than most of had imagined. Provisional es from *he UK Denartmen* rgy show that consumptio 5, at 321 6 mullion *ons of equivalent, was the lowest 1969 and 3% lower than *h figure, which was itself ally depressed by the ree-day week A cornpanson the o e r ~ o dApril-December year indicates *hat the true was nearer 7%. Oil suffered the biggest fall, rdly surprising after m a s ~ v e increases; ~onsumpt'onwa  £ " o w Coal use rose by to I 2 1 million tons while atural gas further increased its e n e m t i o n of the market tn 6.0% of the +otal.
Many oeoole expected that company would try to co-opt ad created, which ancluded en to repair and renovatio ivities. Many consume
but influentidl magazine ctively taking up the ~rofitable h t*iese ootions and slick with of social utihty and profitable The frst signs of this hard line
materials, thus substituting the olanned meeting with the
The papers were all pectable and academ
sible engineers alluded to by
Overall this was a gathering of
rosoace engineers.
content with this step remains
Undercurrents 16
but nsilocin is a chemica! mushrooms are not.'
d is legal. However if t
s the general point co since both were jury
es seem that the
up a week later, the charge was in two parts; possession of cannab on the same bust, twenty five ounces of teaf. Under cross-
uch more intent on getting d d doing something. Alternative living in Ireland live and well. Even before
used most to remain motion1 there were rumours of great I n d t h i l e ~driving ~ o r n m i l l and s generdtors in remote parts of tl country After yoga and meditation ommissioncr. Only two months bet' ert advisory commit1 ewing the results o f a apparent adverse effec
y few of t h e rats that
intersnersed with ĂƒÂ§nnouneeme of more films and discussions. until early morning when peopl sleeping bags and some \lee Most oeoole seemed to irferested in pmcDcdl mdtt getting thin3s done That 1-i not to sav t'lat ideals and wosibtlities
lyses of the data were nested. A statistical anal normal practice in evali ours. Hence the hiin. The l'ood and Drug ministration now hiis anuther rry: would all their previous t'e" ev:tlu.ilions stand u p ID
Undercurrents 1 b
ernative Living', it mbracing adventure iary and watch this space
Xaver Monbailliu, c/o PAYSA, Land Use Consultants, 30 Rue Sadi Carnot, 92 VANVES, Paris, France. It will cost about  £ 3 for full
UC.Contact Rob Faton, Cambridge 42661., r above address. Idren but therdwill also be Street aft demonstrations, puppets, pon -exhibits plus AT. Everyone welc AL is the title of an event organised e FOR and the Conservation Society. y/Hants Border Group. It will take pla aturday, June 12 from 2.30pm-midnigh berlcy Civic Hall, Surrey. Admission is £ dents 7Sp) or Sop for the afternoon. Ther be craft and cookery demonstrations, ous speakers, and a film and folk. concer evening. The I'OE stall will have a small lay. Details from Mrs M. Chapman, cston Cottage, Crawley Ridge, Camber1 . Camberley 21903. Accommodation vidcd at Sop per night in Camber NTISHOE EARTH FAYRE will 0 for five days at Combe Martin. mation from P.A. Smith, Kings be Martin, N.Devon. Windmills, s, hands, and. little green men! M AND THE EXPRESSIVE ARTS lecture/discussion evenings at the Terrace. The 6 t h lecture in the led Transcendental Meditation and hich will take place o n June 9 at 7 p.m. Beqhara and the Unity of Existence wull be o n June 16 at 7 00, and o n June 23 there will be a discussion involving all t h e lectures in of art in general, further infoma
toqrgphic study o^rnanual labour about
the farm i s an exhibition runpine ding until the end of onditions of agricultural
rience to anyone who lace o n Saturday June 12.
e physicist operating t lear heat twice because
i q it but such tests were qot ~ a d uqtil e offer the accideqt! All this was going on iqside a heavilv glaqce one shielded chavber aqd a t Tight think that t+e fire would have do no n o r e than fill the chamber with moke, but 10 such luck, or rather qo ~ c foresight. h Believe it or not there was wav the smoke could get o u t into the orks~ace!There were holes, called enetration~'~ deliberatelv ielding. The designers of relied 0; a sort o f Gacuum cleaner svstem always to be sucking zir from the wockspace through these penetrations into the processing chamber so that in priqciple none o f the smoke would have got out against the inward flow o f air. 9ut the inward flow was chosen in a rather vague wav, as the government report said, and was not powerful enough t o cope with
1
ioactive dust, mainly r u t h e ~ i u m rial is a lot more radioactive radium, in fact more than
awed from the 1957 accident itselcJ
..
.
,
W Q P C - ,c\ 7 - r
qmr'
1'
q r ',, - , , v 7 ~ : ?3. r
rbed the dose for one bundredyeors in jess than tweqfy minutes.
n1.11isf [ ~ tliis r sort of iniiden:. -here were e ~ ~ , ~ c ~ ~plLi~i, . i l i o ~for i otlivr 41-1dsof incidcnr 11~111101 for this hiqd of incidcq:. A > i t LIIC~C f~ilurc5CJ: ordiriCirvi7aqinii:io~i'ind 1orebigI11~ , i i t i ~ thf: n ?Fr:. t~ial>Llgcnlctlt wcrcn't (?.id criou?!h :he rem-: 0' tile Cliicf Nucledr lnsoccto: tries to excuse !his lack of imagivtioq $qc! roresie+t t y sdving :list :+e\i +d.d 99 evacuation pldns for ttii, kind of iqcic'cq+ 5ccausc they hadn't h2d dn i n c i ~ k n of t :+is kind before. T!1at1s like savinq we liavcn': had J fire drill becdusc wg: ~NT': had a fire vet!
nuclear chain rea
high it was and had t o be reset
u t the control rods a little but this had to be done corefufly. \\/hat went wrong
[
Undercurrents 16
1
o~ the floor where the first alarm went o f f and had t o be found. e The man who read the instrument didn't get t o them right away; he delayed by someone who wanted t o have his hands checked for conta tion and he didn't have the authorit t o evacuate the building, but had to in touch with someone who did. There was no loudspeaker system which down ten flights of stai e keep Fridays free for outings to
kids.
found two other men who hadn't hear the shouted warning. The safety people
educated as an individual and at
s were made to the
and the Pornets (8-1 I years). The
wherp the there 1s a relaxed 6~tmosphcrc ree to dcbciop themseibes on dl1
le could not work w ~ t h o u tth lp o f the parent^ Most o f the te to the runnlng and malndidn't even know immediately in the building and who wasn't The fact that they didn't w e ~ l a n sprepared in advance for s dowo t4e plant was marginally less worrying, but what is worrying is attitude o f the \4/indscale safety rn ment two years after the e recare the I 5 7 and '73 inci different.
parents can share their children's sch
wi// b p Q wmber of pluces uwa~~uble
inadequate, again in spite of the warning of :he 1964 study. In both the emergency plans were inadeouate. Engineers, not only the ones at 'A1i scale but elsewhere too> who are the people we rely on to do engineering safely, don't seem to be able t o do it: they make dumb mistakes and don't learn from their past mistakes. Unless the public begin to look ovcr the ~ h o u l d e of r ~ engineers In a very c r ~ t ~ ~ a l dnd ~ntormedway before he ekent, I rear thai we ~ i r cgoing to have >om< redli)~ nasty ac~~derit>, v ~ h ~ cwill h tnake the VJ~ndscdIe1957 <ind 1973 accidents look like Sunday school plcnlcs. c\>ries %"3'<s+ein
the uutumn. For more in formution about the schoo/p/effse
socially useful jobs, it is not surprisin~ thaL groups oc workers - like those at Lucas Aerospace - +ave initiallv a5 a maner of self-interest, c+allenged tqose who ~re5ent:+is s i t u ~ . t i oas ~ inevitable.
the central question is: what is the n likelv agent o f social change?
t h y survive only i f thev feed whatever bit o f t+e yarket has 5een left to them by the monopolist firms. All in all it seems that although cooperative experiments are to be welcomed in terms o f their educative value, for the moment, constrained as they are by the unchdnged capital~stenvironment which 'orces co-operatives t o compete wit+ straight capitalist concerns, and even with each other, they WIII remain marg~nalto the central struggle - industrial confrontations occurring in conve?tional
owle at V A V A s+ marxist view that
ned at NATTA !JV t ards on the Lucas A
would help generate confident and c o q bative organisations - a major tactical
pinning5 of the status quo.
A udit are keen to pass on their accu
Ia lr
eople and relatec! t o existing com-
Y+
operate witbin, but a!. the same time
Mundey's catalvtic visit
. The group has joined wi ding and of the relation betwe
be prepared to accept, aIb2it
as been to generate well
prime motivation for mo is saving the planet from as opposed to the more p
the danger, for example, that 'stop-it' protest campaign of variety could risk confrontat
about nuclear Dower will taken; ot\er options for s
atter
0'
tactical
US
k n o w ~f you want a cop
I I
I
I
"udped s o l e 9 ' ' "he fenuiqe (but raidon)' t>^ree-oointepsinto <-our-c~oi~ter-s, without
' p r i ~ i e channels ' to be used ^or two-
unications are restricte
a matter to oublic attention. The sub-
within the same system, although r to ooint out that the CB e States has become some what chaotic in some places. This, 1 believe, is due to insufficient control o ales and licensing. When a rig i s bough
pplv for a licence. I would suggest tha in the UK, the licence application shou
., ,
Is 1-8 and 10-23 for use for ion between units of the , and Channels 10-15 and 2 ts of different stations (see
ildwood ' ~ o u s e 1976. , ch of this section is adapted from the Radio Operators Handbook, published CB Excessories inc., 5852 Dewev St., llywood, Florida 33024. C regulations concerning CB are in Part 95, FCC Rules & Requ/ofions,available from the Superiitendent o f Documents, inting Office, Washington, reign subscriptions for Volume V I . contamine arts 95.97 & 99 are 6.70 US Dollars).
through the media bv sions, local radio p sentations, leaflets, car stickers, an the usual paraphernalia required to b
a n d within t h e law.
n t o d a t e o n r u l e s a n d ~ru<i'edures.
a n d wiselv.
Nil & ANSWERS AROI'T CP OMS - 1kep-n your CB know 87 answers i n this book You I I
E N S BAND R
v of life of individuals or the mmediate protection of property, ommunications necessary to rend ssistance to a motorist. t w i l l be noted that two channe cated (27.235 and 27.245MHz there appears to be no reason hould not be allocated in the s of standardising eq suggest that channel made as thev are in the Iternatively they could be allocate
WWAYSTO I W R O V E YOUR CB RAJ?IOÑSto generator whine rerulator rasp, and other tources of noise an4 intpr f ~ r f n c e Discover how to clean trouble shoot, repair, and align equipment This f f y n t t y up^atwiedition showsyou what to buy and w%atto build ¥sa RADIO ANTENNAS - A an: lets you use to the utmost t e trans n power allowed by the FCC With c o m ~ l e e up-to-date , gun)?. You can v~ monev ~rnnr-wnc ,hv, tnst~iltnm " and r " ba?" or mobile a n f n n vourwlf ~ ~ ^4 S-0 R
FROM CB TO HAM R E G 1 Broaden vour involxernent W radio Have fun - talk to other as a ham This txmk oPers know hob you need to put v on the air Enqi-Guide to C B RADIO F R S - N o w -in plain English -read CB rtgs can make the trucker's life convenient It's like h a v ~ n ga n "ex your c a b - f e e d ~ n g y o u tips on eq limn sin^, rules, and more
East-Guide to CITIZENS BAND RADIO- Learn or brush up on the basics of radio the eas\ way - through conver tonal text and 170 hotographs Thi'i to read guide is packed with CB infor ow to get your license, avoid FCC citans, choose and install equipment, and ore Even if you tack electronics knoww . this revised edition can help you p t oreout of CB radio u.2~
out.. .mail toda OR 15-DAY
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suggest - the result o f over-conservativisr n the mining industry. Resources are y a function o f cost within anism that brings supply an nd into equilibrium. They e si that in many cases the co cycling may be higher than the rimarv metal from new (albeit incr gly low-grade) ores. There are thre istdkes here. first, the essential pr f mineral resources from a national oint of view is one of access at the rice. There's not much comfort in i f the forms in
oing to get them. Resou
head of this uni an economist w
of the breeder
a r~egiiqibleeffect on the machines' tartinvharacteristics). "his is still a bit too high to enable e windmill to take advantage o f the ainlv low wind speeds in our region, we're planning to replace the snail ley on the alternator, which has 18 th, with an h e n smaller one having onlv 12 teeth. When %is is done, we shou'c! h?ve a 5: 1 eear ratio, and the ould begin t o charge in winds
rms: certainly there
ich ""oilow, however, relate to a 4 1 gear ratio.
ing about the future
a smaller part in ~eoole'slives. FW1T and then by the beneficiari h e n it 'cuts in', the alternator immediately produces a charqe o f about 2% amps, correspondinc; t o a power outout o f 30 watts. Strange!', the current does not seem to rise verv much even when the wind gusts t o about 20 moh. seauence 0'' i t s recommendations whic FWT ignores is that an 'unbalanced' growth o f big tech energy concerns md actually retard economic development
I s i t a manoeuvre withi
ng to the current v beyoqd redemotion.
a sci -iario which rui I
along the foil ' " h e kew t o most of -he world's
"eter Sommer / n t u r c Wo'id 7 r i rd^ HMSO 60n
Connecti in the 'batte sensed' mode instead o f ti be sensed' mode (see DC 15) seems to result in an only slightly greater charging current. Another contributing "actor to this low charge mav be the cable resistance. A t the moment, we're just using ordinary household appliance wire, but we will be reverting to heavy 35A 'cooker' wire soon. We've found that i t is, however, 3ossible to get quite 4 lot more power 3ut o f the alternator by decreasing the aatlerv voltage 1.e. by connecting the ?aUet\ terminals to the 10 volt 'tap- -. .
o the way cultures are he1
ves t o one of the
followinp they deserve! P ~ h a o swhat matters i s th ich Albion is born. This is all o f us to thrash out. Me
that means 'the
corresoondents, news hounds and local isers, (see UC 13, 1A, 15 $or pefully, the meeting i q help generate some more articularlv volunteers t o act as corresoondents in the London an surrounding area. For example, we have more than 200 subscribers in Lon and another 200 in the 'home counties', but no correspondents as yet. (Surrey, Essex, Middx, Herts - where are you?) There shou Id be Undercurrents people at the Festival for some o f the time, manning an UC book/mags stall, But on June 5, after lunch (3 pm) will be the main Undercurrents Readers' Meeting. See you there. . . . Although there was a good response to the article in UC 15, remember we still need correspondents for many other ^eqions - particularly rural Wales and Ere, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, Wilts., ?ants, Herefordshi Beds., Salop, Leice Cumbria, Glasgow and. f you are interested contact. Regional Network ave Elliott 39 Holland "ark, London W l 1 AU5.
e and time again, thoro
5%people cainot live without country people. 9ut thev can certainlv live without f'nowky them. Country peoole are usuallv behind glass, seen through a car or train window or on the odd farming programme on TV. ^hey are always on tractors or combine harveste it seems, and the machines are getting those who actually produce the eat. In Britain they have been ge fewer every year for the last cou
ITY CANNOT BE without co ng about - so we usuallv don'
does not even consider pro-
caoital-htensive meth
land to produce virtually alt the food need.' ^om the recent White Pape our own resources1 published in April 1975, i t is obvious that the government is not really willing to face up to the chan ing world situation. The Paper simply calls for an annual increase of 2.59' . food production over the next ten or so. That's all. Increases are propos for cereal, milk and meat production i t is suagested that vegetable product10 will rewain at present low levels. Eve nore capital and energy-intensive methods are suggested to achieve the 2.5% amual increase. A continued su or ever-increasing a~lountsof imported
t Owen held th
too trickv for eovernments to become involved in. and Japan, Britain's industri depends almost entirely on
latest examples of ng competition in
ess which has not y
output as agricultural Ward stress in their
scientifically worked out to accord with soil and climatic factors. One of the T I O S ~ important factors in such schemes should
; they can purify polluted atmosand generally conserve the environ-
Undercurrents 1
nt in Britain was sparked off at en ties o f Tomorrow and built into post-war planning legislation and policy. I should like to look at the New Towns ovement through anarchist spectacles, defining anarc ism as the social philosophy of a non-governmental society. the earliest Fabian Tracts declared that "English Socialism is not yet st or Collectivist, not yet defined in point of policy to be classi?ed.
an association based on a common
which the minorities resorted for increase of the State's
lic authorities have no role. Thev ndispensable role, which for short cail site and services. I f you are
and nearer to the folk-mote self-govern ment than representative government c ever be." Kropo t k i n's Fields. Factories and Wo
s back in the thirties when the
in'as the vehicle for social enterurise ?-
Ktupolkin's book was re-issued I
planning and the ideologists of at that time. There are similar c
vou as the most significant field since Howard's. When the First Garden City Limited was started, it was not conceived as a fo -uriner o*' action bv the governmental
f housing in the cities of the Third
ed product right from the ons, no planning consent, takes into account the
ard wrote Garden Cities
place in the sun. It ' a t Sir Patrick Aber r London Plan o f 1
Technologv, savs they of enquiries everv week. The Mational Centre 'for Alternative Technoosv at Pantperthoe in Wales was ocew
ain access facing o n munal street to the
-sprout bank where varieties o f these
bought from a battery that it would be good A silly idea this, for th replaced them and the
Id like to open a food e school, a theatre, an re. We would also like
the bills. A community in ntial tools such as cars and ee A.S. Neill, Summerhilll, a R
appliances (and nonev) are oooled for all to use is 10oanacea for the ill ejects o f ryonev but it does enable us to minimise the crushing burden of our own greed. liant life w y e very ignorant when we came, but in the short time we have been h a nu-be- o4 skills The work is done by working groups fop specific projects which dissolve back into the community when their task i s done. The natur leader o^ one ~ O U often D takes on apprentice' role on another orojec eveyone has experience o f leading followine md this acceptance of Ie and following does not impair the gene equality or democracv of the village. Community equality is also sustained bv our system of holding all money in pool from which each can tak to their needs. We hold that the commonwealth of Lifesoan is a collective one i i which it is impossible to measure :he cont-ibution o f any individual. Veetinqs are held, on the average, every two weeks unless there i s nothing to meet about. Thev ?ct as a confluence where iqformation too boring for anv other time i s exchanged and as a of resolving dispute with everyone pvsent. Meals
were compromised and incomplete. One o" these couples split their tight bonds and freed themselves from the security o the other but retained a i affinitv. I n the other case, where two children were involved, the children fully understood
e have largely 'deschooled' ourselves. s and adults learn side by side in the
rdinary business of living. All conentional educational institutions have in ommon the absolute requirement: the
therawv beneficial to relieve suporessed resentments that have built up. '-'owever, onlv a few sessions were needed before i t became clear [ha* we were delving into trivia and had seen through the real tensions. An ong4ng theraov developed in the light o f the insights gained 'rom the *'orma1 therapv. It i s a mistake often ade to expect communities to run oothlv like institutions geared to "iciency or well-oiled machines. Ă&#x201A; situations that must the emotion?! tides of their members. Crises erupt repeatedly
cal construction of a weir was wages of three people workiig out to
formers from a local college and school who arc coming here once a week as part of their schooling, ""hrough local involvement of this kind we aim to broaden our educational activities to the larger community. We hope that by way of our free approach to education some of the joys of our life-style will catalyse chaises in
Lessons are provided for the kids and
others passing through, if they could be accurately expressed in words, would fill a book. Living closely together has had a seminal effect on our understanding of ourselves and of others. We have learnt the value and meaning of commiseration bv experiencing the sympathv o f others when in need and the responsibility of condoliig others when i t is called for. r e expression in deed and word cou
the case oT two couples, both made up of ersons who seemed half submer in each other so that their oersonalities
but each time they subside into a higher level of unity and stabilrty.
n 0m;*;,;. What is the signifi~dnceof a smal of people high on the moors to the social politics of those not so high on those moors? "olitics of the ordinary kind pass us by, except when we offer tea to election candic'ates who brave the elements to visit us. But as a community we become political because o'our collective approach to issues. In fact we have a verv definite role to play, the moq' 8 so because we are constructive. Every 1 time a woman from here roes out on a buildiqg job that a man would usually do we become significant. i t is surprising ed peoole are. A t the local
had tre~endoushrluence. Our i~c'ependeice leaves us 'ree to out into practice theore*:icalideas without having to compJon ise.
Undercurrents 16 The local planning authority's policies on these confusing issues can be learnt bv n ~ u i r i n gin general terms o f the olannii ention the address o f the property ma.v ould be a written document somewhere the offices o f each planning authority, hich outlines each o f these polices. opies o f these documents must be freely you consider a particular prooerty to worth your while, and vet doubts
'thout alarming either
If this is where you' then this article is wri
972. Even if your proposal also requir tanning permission then this is not ecessarily cause for dismav. A reasona
matters is not bliss - at the inconvenient and time-cons
initially you should remember that these officials are nice enough people in their own way. With some aopreciation o f the
t Order speaks for itself, and the
o specify works which must be out before a vacant property is solid walls, a comolet
o" walls which should m?xi'num number os occupied, as guideline exoerience there are n rules of this kind. paving occupied the cottage, you
whichever i s the greate of the existing dwell1 measurement before ermission. It should
In any event, .itiousc reouires permission fro authority under the Bu
xtent that he inspects and makes a i der. The owner o f the property should now, if you are in contact with him. permission under the Building Reeula-
ere i s normallv
t may well pay \ou to services of someone who does.
, 1175, estimates the 1975 a t ?bout
lines o f the open country Settlements in which a emphasis i s put on t energy must be laid the whole, houses s
ifesto of the Comr*un/si in, London, 197A,
be recognised as one o f th
eroded as a result of de-f
niqht well-insula he system also includes
nlit enuallv between ond don and signed to provincial forces. ' I t i s idea hich are (now) policed . . . this is Sn ~ - -- of - t- .-h -r rec iselv, the. nremkr anch.' Their role from the s t en to carry out surveillance a unteraction of political move ring the hunger marches of the th thev 'infiltrated the movement' - - , foil ed its leaders, and prepared lists u militants 'to be arrested*. And the haven't changed much, although t
information is gathered on w o
, and information ministers i s on a '
to oolice workirig class areas and thei
And i f w?s soon the practice clothes policemen were used political meetings and to infil (~nisations'.
be useful for jobs which ant vigilance but very litti
ggestion f i a t one o better if a date of
Heilbroner, though, en
not all its civilisation UIM~IOU
beral, uses i t because his'theses, that pitatism will disappear within a c ry, 'smacks o f radicalism', And H oner, an economist who writes for ople t o read, i s not a radical. So sti five chapters deal with t years, and the long-run demise w i t about a century), and with two urrent mvstifications that deflect
readable, short, and has an intelli gument which stands on i t s own fe hile drawing on the vast Marxist an n-Marxist literature o f nrediction the decline will come (he con entrates correctly on why it mu nd about the limitations ofearli nd current oredictions. e argument i s not fatalistic, er is it a call to action. I at~onallywhy, in order t o p auitalism in the face o f the uroble
rt.e t'iepletion, will reouire 01 'f'or which today we are prepared.' A" these m nge strains are conseauences o ucidiisi economic ' '
estoflib
m nas never been th and serves the peop t growth provides a
iable demand, dope-heads are om the clutches o f the interal criminals who currently
er in Undercurrents 74, b u t this will ugh increasing production, provid more for everyone and make the overthrow o f the system unnecessarv. He foresees the continued extension or planning t o preserve capitalist power but encountering increasing problem until finally the use o f non-capitalist 'teria t o deal with problems o f ca accumulation brings capitalism der political control. Generalised disorders (of whic lation is but the latest), localise isorders (like 'the near collapse o f nancial structure in Europe and th US in the early 1970's). and resourc depletion and threats t o life-sunpor each requires extension ofpolitical control t o maintain caoitalism withou threatening its 'inertial c6 privilege'. ^bus Kissinger. years tVee 'strains' will li ities o*" such capitalist planni ptanti ~t Different Grawt
m California, where dope is ecriminalised and somewhat vieuxjeu. among the schoolkids. I n the UK ins an offence t o 'cultivate' is though (probablv) not t o s' cannabis leaves (see Eddies}. ur rulers grow up, be careful. arijuana is one o f the fastest growing nd most adaptable plants known t o science. I n the tropics i t may reach ight of twenty feet; in Britain it can ly grow to six feet. So the main blem is to find a growing area that is enough away from the beaten track the prying eves o f your n e i ~ h b yet exposed t o direct sun at least e hours a day. A tall or .The alternative, whic anyone with an attic or cellar or other
nd difficulty to be ov d of some good seed under the Misuse of
Undercurrents 16 I I
L ADS
. . . .SMAL
20 per word UD to 15
I
I
I WOULD LIKE t o contact professional gardeners and 0th- landbased workers t o discuss t h e
OSMIC CONTACT is a new monthly mformation newslet n active meditation centres, "treats. v=orkgrouP's drama pr icts, cornmunitics and publicaions. They wan: to hear %om eople who are busv in anv o f *se areas, so if you want t o =ention write with details a h a t you're u p to. A six-mont i,ib t o Cos-nic Contact cos^s 5 1 for a vear) from Jose r Hendrikkade 142. ~ m s t e r d a ^ofland.
ED Books (etc) on* s, past present an? ~ u t u r e Rickards '"asters of and ^evolution'. and ""he o ^ British Politics* (author wn). O f e r s t o 3 o b James, farmhouse, '^'elham, G A Y people interested in /energy -1'-sufficiencv please ntact us to*-possibl- projects/ twork formation o*' selafficient s a v oeowle. "eply to ndercurr-nts Box AP.
brook P d East Rarnet Worts. SUW. Phone 01-449 2b80. F E R BRANCH BOOKS AND RNMOTHER WHOLEFOODS, ether a t 42 ^lath S t LeamineSpa. Well worth a visit i" anywhere around t h e ds. Books o n alternative logy, food, plants, health, gy and much more, plus cheao wholefoods an? Open Monday-Saturc'ay we're at the b o t t o m e n d o ^
.
GV.T LOST this summer with '"ead for t h e Hills'. £2 weeklv. 2 3 ^embroke Ave., Hove, Sumex. (-*"stamp).
is a kind of tflejoin~ngnew cornntures. y e will also strated talk abou' h o v uction. ,C5 pev %cad. Famriv bv arraneernent. Write Altere Societv, 9 blort-on Avenue, inKt0n. Ox'ord. in
tish Isles and to £00. Airmail
sted to me. If airmail
ughly *) £4.5 ( sl
 £ 0 . 8 5( $ 2.00)
ne C (Australia, Japan etc *)
I
Send this f
ptions, 1 1 shadwell,
\/
1
BSc and BSc Honours in Society and Technology Apply now to start inSeptember 1976 This three and three-quarter year course offers you the opportunity to study the natural and social sciences and their interdependence. You can enter with A levels in any two subjects. The course provides an understanding of the complex relationships between society dnd technology, enabling you not only to understand your own place in contemporary society, but to work responsibly with the benefits that technology can bring.
Practical Methane
*
The Practical Building of Me ft by L John Fry is now generally be$& - 2 best book on smafl^'cale methanegenerationyet ; : - ' written. To give readers an idea of the scope of the book's coverage, here i s l i s t of chapter headings:, 1. How it all started 2. Building a vertical drum digester 3. Top loader digester 4. First Full-scale digester 5. Working solution to scum accumulation 6. Gas Holders used on my farm 7. Digester types and scum removal8 8. Biology of digestion 9. Raw materials 10. Digester design 1.I. Digester operation 12. Economics of digestion 13. Gas and Gas usage 14. Gludge and sludge use 15. Safety Precautions 16. Questions and answers 17. Digesters today and tomorrow. 18. Glossary of terms,bibliography and references, and postscript. Fry's book has been available in Britain for about a year, produced by Fry's nephew, Tony Knox. Up to now, Undercurrents' only reservation about the UK edition has been i t s price, which seemed a little high at £4But then, as Tony Knox pointed out to us, 'John Fry has let i t all hang out in his book - all the never-before-revealed information he has painfully gathered over the years i s there. After a lifetime of trying to convince skeptics, all he wanted to do was get the 'monkey' off his back and perhaps earn enough to ease his retirement' We now come to an arrangement with Mr Knox where we will sell the book at a reduced price to Undercurrents readers. From now on, The Practical Building of Methane Power Plants will be available from Uncfercurrents at £3.3 including postage. (sedond class/surface mail), Cheques or postal orders should be sent to: Undercurrents Books, 11 s~&&II, Uley, Dursley, '
Write or telephone for further details ' and an application form to': The Admissions Office, M i d p i Polytechnic (Ref. Cl14), 82-88 Church Street, Edmonton, London N9 9PD, telephone 01-807 9001-2.
THE MAGAZINE THAT LOOKS AT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN A POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL WAY Collaboration The Tale of Trichloroethylene Industrial Waste Disposal
25
+ 16' P.&R ISSUE N0.31:-
SUB.RATES O N APPLICATION
A Look into the
1
Science for People is the magazine of the British Society for Social Responsibility in science:'- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , 9 , P o l a n Street, London,W I. 01-437 -2728.
Radical Technology is now available from all good bookshops. It's published in the UK by Wildwood House, price £3.25 in the USA by Pantheon Books, price $5.95; in Australia by Penguin Australia. Copies are also available direct from Undercurrents Books ( 1 1 Shadwell, Uley, Glouqstershire, GL11 5BW, England) at £3.5 including postage by surface mail. Order your copy now!
I
Radical Technology i s a large-format, extensively illustratedcollection of original articles concerning the reorganisat b n of technology along more humane, rational and ecologically sound lines. The many Facets of such a reorganisation are reflected in the wide variety of contributions to the book. They cover.both the 'hardware' - the machines and technical methods themselves - and the 'software' - the social and political structures, the
'recipes' through general
+.,
authorities in their fields. The book is divided into seven sections: Food, Energy, Shelter, Autonomy, Materials. Cornrnunteation, Other Per. - . <
spectives. Over forty separate articles include items on fish culture, small-scale water supply, biological energy sources, a definitive zoology of the windmill, selfhelp housing, building with subsoil, making car-tyre shoes, the economics of autonomous houses, what to look for in scrap yards, alternative radio networks, utopian communities, and technology in China. Between the main sections are interviews with prominent practitioners and theorists of Radical Technology, including JohnTodd of the Nep Alchemy Institute; Robert j ungk, author of Humanity 2000; the Street Farmers, a group of anarchist architectsqPeter van Dresser;-and Sktz Leefland, editor of S m d Earth, the Dutch journal of alternative technology. Alse included between the main sections of the book i s a series of visionary drawings by thegifted illustrator Clifford Harper, evoking the spirit and practice of Radial T-~hnology: *how . it could be'. These drawl
urban houses; and an autonornous
information can also an overall picture of a growing mu ment.
Radical Technology: Food and $ Tools and Materials, Energy and munications, AUtonomy and ~ o m m
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