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ReSent-Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 12:30:13 -0400 (EDT)
ReSent-From: "Jon C. Slenk" 
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To: angst+@CMU.EDU
Subject: test manual mailing boogie
From: wce@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Bill Eichman)
Comments: Validated
Message-Id: <19cD3B2w166w@hogbbs.scol.pa.us>
Date: 	Wed, 21 Apr 1993 14:30:11 -0400
Organization: The Heart of Gold BBS, Lemont PA

Message-ID: 
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 93 05:30:11 GMT
To: angst+@cmu.edu
Cc: angst+@cmu.edu
Subject: NEXTdream boogie
Reply-To: wce@hogbbs.scol.pa.us
In-Reply-To: <01GX7BAH78CK000BGK@YANG.EARLHAM.EDU>
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Jesse, in your message you write:

> >When you talk about "locality", it seems to me that what you're saying
> >does have some profound 'religious' qualities. Starting a church to
> 
>    I'm not sure where you got this from what I said, but let me clarify--
> I'm a rather hard-core atheist!  A humanist by trade.  Starting a church
> is out of the question.

Pity. Religion is an incredibly powerful tool for influencing masses of
people. I myself have been heavily influenced by my studies of religion.

It's the way you talk about 'localism' that made me feel as though you
had a 'religious' attitude or 'justification' for/in your philosophy.
Sorry if I've offended you. I just don't see many strong reasons for
locality that don't involve something like a 'religious' orientation
towards the biosphere.

Starting a church certainly isn't out of the question for me. In fact,
I'd say it's one of the top three strategies that I plan to promote.
I've been writing some notes about the "teachings" of such a church;
I'll post them when I've taken them a bit further.

> I don't mind if someone starts a really beneficial
> world religion tomorrow and proves me wrong, but I'm way skeptical.

Whereas I've often thought that, especially on a mass level, only
something like a religion has the memetic power to change human behavior
in the ways needed. Or, in other words-- it was abuse of religion that
got humankind into this particular problem (at least partially), and
religion (at least partially)may be the only tool strong enough and
broad-based enough to get us out.

>    No.  What I'd like is to show by demonstration that the existing system
> is inhumane, that the gains made by abandoning it for some new forms
> exceed the losses, and that it is ridiculous to stay inside a less
> preferential system when you have alternatives.  Not too controversial, I
> hope?

Not to me, but I think that many millions definitely find it too
controversial-- we are not the first to have these ideas, but powerful
forces have caused millions of americans who 'should' have known better
to continue with the modern industrial lifestyle.

The thing to do is to map out your "demonstration", in detail. What will
you differently from the hundreds of other previous experiments in
community and alternative lifestyle, who have in general failed to
communicate their ideas on a large scale, and largely failed on the
small scale as well?

> localization of luxury isn't technically impossible, just hard for us to
> figure out how to do after centuries and centuries of living one way.

And it's especially hard for the people who've benefitted the most, and
gotten filthy rich, from those centuries of fuedal/industrial
totalitarianism, to give up their deathgrip on the reigns of money and
power.

>    Well, hey-- I think it's far from inconceivable.  Man, as long as we
> know that matter and energy are the same thing in two different forms,
> there's really no excuse for the way things are.  There should always be
> *enough*.

Should be-- I agree.

The first problem is that most people _don't know_ that matter and
energy are the same thing in different forms. And, sadly, most who know
it intellectually, from study in schools, don't really know it as a
foundation of their mindset. Education is needed.

The second problem is that invention and distribution of wealth are
usually dominated more by political realities than by physical
realities. The existing group of power-holders will not encourage
technologies that threaten their power and wealth. Now, there are strong
forces that are pushing the development of new technologies, but I don't
think we can minimize the inertia of old money. The automobile industry
and the energy industries are prime examples of technologies that have
been inhibited in these ways.

> >By 'self-reliance' I mean something which is probably very much like
> >what you just called 'maximum self-sufficiency'.
> 
>    I'd like to know more about your ideas of "self-reliance", and what it
> would entail in terms of a lifestyle.

;-) Well, I said 'probably very much like', which gives me a lot of
leeway.

By 'self-reliance' I would mean:

90+% local food production-- 60% on site, 30+% from bioregionally linked
local farms. Some long distance imports, as desired. Food is the easiest
area in which to attain true self-sufficiency.

25%-33% energy production-- enough to provide an indefinite low-power
supply if the grid energies ever fail, or become too expensive to use.
Higher capacity as it becomes cheaper to buy.

50% building construction-- local woods, clay, earth, concretes, stones,
etc-- but with high tech elements that could only be produced in
industrial cities tied into the package-- foams, films, metals, wiring,
plumbing, glass, etc.

15% of our tools-- we can make shovel handles, but computers and kiln
thermostats and the like should be purchased out of the industrial
technological global economy.

100% of our education-- internal schools for children and adults.

75% of our healthcare-- an internal clinic, but the communities would
have connections with the local and nearest high-quality hospitals. If
somebody gets hurt, I would want them to have the best trauma care
available.

>     Your work sounds like it's progressing, although I confess I don't
> have a clear picture of what's actually in place.  Watch out for them
> wascally wabbits, and good luck. :-)

It's progressing, but with glacial slowness.

What's actually in place? Not a whole heck of a lot. Would it be good if
I made a list?

I own a little less than two acres of land, ten miles from the
university, which isn't suitable for a community experiment, but which
has a growing equity value which I'm hoping to leverage toward the
purchase of a larger piece of land.

My primary team here is made up of three males, and their families, all
in their late twenties or early thirties. I guess I'm the oldest, at 36.

One team-member, Dan, controls (his father owns) a lot in a little town
called Boalsburg*, in a house that he built, with his wife and three
kids. Together we've built a two story workshop/office
building in his back yard. The office is fully available for
community-building use. We've assembled a moderate set of recording
equipment-- four track, mixing board, mikes, stands, a fairly complete
set of percussion instruments-- which is to be kept in the office space
for community use. There's other equipment and facilities planned for
this office space-- I'm planning on using it as a place to hold classes,
for instance, it's big enough to hold 12-20 people comfortably-- but
I'll not describe it all.

*Boalsburg is a town which we provisionally hope to 'colonize'. I think
it was Tom Price, in the period in which you were away, who talked about
the idea of "taking over a town". Well, boalsburg is one of several
towns which I've been contemplating 'taking over' (hah!-- colonizing is
a better word for it, I think... ). Dan is vehemently for the idea of
having the team center itself in Boalsburg-- but Boalsburg is becoming
highly gentrified, and land prices are climbing fast, fast, fast.

The bottom of the building houses a small woodworking shop, for which
I've provided a table and band saw. We've built several community models
in that shop, and hope to develop it quite a bit more over the next few
years. (Using locally milled hardwoods, building custom furniture and
fittings, and possibly a business building high-quality terrariums.
Other ideas are floating around.) Right now it's mostly being used as a
base for one of the interlinked construction businesses that provide
most of the income for us all.

(Each of us owns our own equipment, which we pool together as is
appropriate. I've found that joint owning of equipment often leads to
disputes; I vastly prefer "Individual Proprieterships", wherein we are
independent, but linked, and in which ownerships and responsibilities
are kept clearly divided.)

Both Dan and John _nearly_ have architecture degrees; Dan is about a
project away, while john is about a year's work and a project away, from
having completed a five year architecture program. Both have been
stalled because of money, and disputes with the professors at PSU over
the legitimacy of the modern architectural profession.

John owns a house-painting business (part of the linked network of
businesses), does a lot of the drawing and modelmaking, and does a lot
with the connectivity and officemanagement side of the local networking.
His girlfriend, Donna, just came into a package of money, and I'm
recommending she use it to buy a house for herself, her son, and John,
ideally in Boalsburg.

Other than these pieces of real estate, our biggest asset is the studies
that have been done. Despite the fact that john and dan are architecture
students, I would say that I have the best background in alternative
energy and construction. That knowledge, my library and the others'
growing library, the models, and the equipment that we own make up most
of the rest of our assets.

Untill a year ago, we had a 63 acre farm called Burr Oak to use as a
site we could visit and make plans with-- sadly, that site was sold out
from underneath us, due to our lack of funds secondarily, and primarily
because we were hesitant to try and shoulder out the organic farmers
that were already struggling and hoping to buy the property (i.e. we
didn't even try to buy the land, hoping these farmers would step out of
the way and we could step in, but while we were waiting the site was
sold to someone else, a businessman in state college who wanted it as a
vacation home site. sigh.

There are a couple of other land sites we have ties to... But problems
also.

I hope, within the next year, to have started an "interest house" in the
town of State College, where students will live and pay rent while
studying and experimenting with community building ideas.

That comes close to being about it, as far as the local core is
concerned. There are many other elements, and lots of other connected
teams and networks.

If you have any questions about it, ask away, and I'll see what I can
explain.

Later, Bill


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