LOCAL SELF-RELIANCE

For the past several years, the good folks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, D.C. have worked to help urban residents gain greater control over their lives through the use of low-technology, decentralist tools and concepts. We strongly believe that more people (city dwellers and country folk alike) should be exposed to the Institute's efforts ... which is why we're now making this "what's happening where" report by ILSR staffers one of MOTHER's regular features.

We often hear of homesteaders who install solar systems or wood stoves to make themselves energy self-sufficient. But one of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's studies has shown that city dwellers can-like their country cousins-go along way toward achieving such a goal for themselves!

A BIG-CITY CONCERN

The cost of energy has rapidly become a major item in all urban budgets. Using Washington, D.C. as a case study, the Institute found that the city spent $601 million on energy in 1977. In fact, the District government used more money to purchase "power" than it budgeted for its entire court system! Worse than that, 86¢ out of every one of those energy dollars left the local economy, never to return . . . and only 3¢ of the remaining 144 went directly into the pockets of District residents in the form of wages and salaries. (This kind of "trade deficit" can rapidly drain the treasury of even the wealthiest community!)

A reduction in the amount of such "exported" money could have multiple benefits for a metropolis . . . because energy conservation efforts and solar installations produce far more jobs-dollar for dollar-than do investments in nuclear power plants and oil refineries. On top of that, the jobs created by "alternative" programs provide opportunities for both skilled and semiskilled workers. (In Washington-where half of the city's teenage blacks are unemployed-such labor opportunities could be really valuable!)