Healthy Planet Magazines

This is not your basic, slick, take-advantage-of-the-trend publication. Rather it’s good, solid coverage of running events — hundreds of ’em — n the East, South, and Midwest. From the non-competitive fun-runs to marathons and ultramarathons (the editor-publisher of RT, Ed Ayres, recently completed a 50-mile ultra, and two of the other editors — Phil Stewart and Rick Platt — are among the best marathoners in the country) Running Times provides an insightful look at the world of running and runners.

The magazine (50-plus pages so far . . . and growing) isn’t geared to world-class athletes, however, as much as to the average person with an interest in running and a desire to run. It tells you where and it tells you when. And with articles like “How to Take Care of a Hurt Heel” it tells you how — and how not — to run. Running Times even gets Into that mystical “why”.

A one-year subscription is a very reasonable $10 U.S., $13 foreign (including Canada). So if fitness is one of those things you’re gonna achieve — when you’ve got the time — and running is the way you want to get there, give yourself a better chance by giving Running Times a chance.

Energy Self-Reliance Magazine
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Washington, D.C.

Probably the best recommendation we . . . can offer for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance is the fact that we feature — on a . . . regular basis — a page of their activities in . . . our magazine. Every issue! That’s how strongly we feel about ILSR . . . and we have every reason to feel just as good about Energy Self-Reliance, their latest publication.

The economics of solar energy, job creation through energy self-reliance, strategies for municipal and federal energy policies based on conservation . . . does all this sound familiar? It should. These are just a few of the subjects discussed in Energy Self-Reliance . . . In the form of articles that have been reprinted from the Institute’s bimonthly magazine ($6 per year for individuals, $12 per year for institutions) . . . Self-Reliance.

And that’s essentially what this concise 16-page booklet is all about . . . a collection of energy-directed articles reprinted from . . . Self-Reliance and . . . all neatly divided Into four sections: Federal Energy Policy, Energy and Employment, Energy, and Solar Cells. Each article — as you’d expect from ILSR — is complete, easy to understand, interesting, and usable. Several include referrals to the specific what-you-can-get-and-where information that is so often lacking In presentations of this nature.

For a solid selection of current, ILSR-type reading — especially at a mere $1.25 postpaid per copy — Energy Self-Reliance has no . . . competition.

The Journal of Freshwater
Published by Freshwater Biological Research Foundation
Navarre, Minnisota

Every winter, spring, summer, and fall the Freshwater Biological Research Foundation publishes The Journal of Freshwater. It’s a professional-quality, slick-and-lookin’-good, informative magazine. And it is good.

But the winter 1978 issue (Volume 2, Number 1) is even better. It’s a special 40-pager devoted entirely to reporting the goings-on at the December 1977 conference cosponsored by the FBRF and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The subject of the conference was “Water: Our Delicate Life Membrane” and you probably didn’t see it covered on TV or read about it in your local newspaper. You should have.

So, before you read any further, get your checkbook and write out a $5.00 check (memberships In the FBRF are $25 for one year) for that special special issue.

Granted, there are some beautiful color nature photos in the winter offering . . . as in every The Journal of Freshwater. But . . . don’t. . . get that issue because of its pretty pictures. Get it because of the people it quotes and the things they have to say. Examples:

Dr. John M. Wood (director of the Freshwater Biological Institute): “The Industrial Revolution has taught us one lesson continuously — and that is the ‘golden rule’ — that the economic concept of industrial growth is, by its nature, often diametrically opposed to the concepts of conservation and environmental protection.”

Dr. Kim Hooper (associate professor of biochemistry at Berkeley): “Some people believe as much as eighty or ninety percent of the cancers in the world are caused by environmental agents. Currently, one-fourth of us will get cancer. When we look at the body fat of Americans, we find a representative sample of PCB’s, hexachlorobenzene, various pesticides like dieldrin, DDT, and heptachlor epoxide.”

Dr. Frank D’Itri (director of the Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University): “The major factor in allowing pollution to continue is apathy on the part of the public, combined with their faith in government agencies and technology to solve the problems for them.”

And if quotes like that haven’t struck home yet, remember this: The people in Minamata Bay, Japan, had faith that their government was monitoring the discharge procedures of the Chisso Company (a local pollutor). The fish in Minamata Bay had faith as they bioaccumulated the methylmercury from the plant’s discharge and passed it on to the townspeople. It then took over 20 years of “faith” before restitution (what is restitution to someone blind and crippled for the rest of his/her life) was directed — by the courts — to the Minamata victims. The same kind of horror story is now taking place in the Hudson Bay region of Canada and it could happen here.

As Dr. D’Itri says, ” . . . organizations with centralized power structures, such as government agencies, are usually useless in solving pollution problems”. Amen. All the more reason for every one of us to subscribe to The Journal of Freshwater so we’ll all know what “they” are trying to do to our most precious commodity.

Sun Catalog
Solar Usage Now
Bascom, Ohio

MOTHER first noticed — and liked — the Sun Catalog over two years ago. Two busy years for the people at SUN. Well, there’s a whole lot more to notice — and like — in the new 224-page 6th Edition (the 6th printing since 1974!).

Need parts for a solar water heater or solar-heated pool, or maybe just want to see if a price quoted to you for a solar heating system is reasonable? This 8 inch by 11 inch, magazine-sized, black-and-white (photos and/or drawings on just about every page) booklet is your answer. In fact, the Sun Catalog could very well be the answer to all of your solar usage requirements. It’s even used as a price guide by the solar industry!

A quick glance at the table of contents for the catalog reveals: Solar Package Suggestions, Liquid Solar Collectors, Hydronic Fittings, Heat Exchangers, Home Energy and Water Savers, Spiral Tubing, Automatic Flue Dampers, Reflector Material, Heat Reclaimers, and equipment ad infinitum. Obviously, it’s hard to take just a quick glance!

The $2.30 (postpaid) you’ll pay for your own copy of the SUN CATALOG is an investment in every sense of the word. And the exposure you’ll get to the current innovative concepts and designs in the solar usage field is an education all its own.

Do we sound enthusiastic about this catalog? Only because we are!

Back to the Farm Game
Animal Town Game Company
Santa Barbara, California

Worthwhile . . . that’s the word that most easily comes to mind when describing this educational, contemporary, downright-dog-gone-fun-to-play game from some “do-it-yourself” folks in Santa Barbara.

You “pays your money” (in this case, $10.50 with fourth class postage, $11.50 with first class) and you “takes your chances” (stacks of Work, Social, Finance, and Old Mother Nature chances). You also “takes” a top-quality, easy-on-the-eyes and good-for-the-soul playing board (Monopoly size, but there the similarity ends), the required tokens, dice, and other trappings . . . plus . . . a dandy little booklet with rules and a bit of down-home “help the other guy and you both win” philosophy.

The “object” of the game is the day-to-day operation of a small, organic family farm . . . and the thwarting of the “Leprous Octopus”, agribiz. The organic farmer and the energy conservation farmer (often one and the same) are billed as the true folk heroes of today. Hooray! Good for our side.

This really is a positive and positively fun learning experience . . . good for children, adults, everybody who didn’t get a chance to grow up on a small farm. In fact, it’s probably just as good-or maybe even better — for those who . . . did have such an opportunity but didn’t appreciate it.

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin”, according to Shakespeare. The Back to the Farm Game is just such a touch.