Ravi Logan (right)
speaks to the 7th
Annual Permaculture
Guild gathering
last year.
The Eugene Permaculture Guild is orga-
nizing a one day conference on Saturday,
June 19 titled, “Towards a Vision of an
Enduring Bio Region.” The gathering will in-
clude five panels, plenary sessions, lunch,
evening potluck, social time, and a showing
of the newly released film The End of
Suburbia.
Topics range from neighborhoods and
local culture to “consciousness transforma-
tion.” Presenters include Jan Spencer, Hope
Marston, John Zerzan, Allen Hancock, Rob
Bolman, Ravi Logan, Cary Thompson, Mark
Robinowitz, Jan Vandertuin, Todd Miller,
Jude Hobbes, Jen Anomina, Steve Shapiro,
Desta Moore and Susan Muir. Muir is with
the city of Eugene Planning Department and
will participate in the mid-morning work-
shop on “The Two Sides of the Emerging
EcoVillage/EcoCity Paradigm.”
The gathering will run from 9:30 am to
8:30 pm Saturday at the Dharmalaya Center,
356 Horn Lane, off River Road. Cost is $10
to $25 sliding scale and work trade is avail-
able.
“The scope of the conference is to exam-
ine a variety of attributes of an enduring bio
region such as local economics, civics,
neighborhoods, appropriate technology,
communications, urban design and con-
sciousness for a new culture,” say organizers.
“The intent is to distill the discussions and
presentations down into practical strategies
for making healthy personal and community
changes and a ‘Green Paper’ to be presented
to the city in the fall.”
The End of Suburbia looks at what might
happen to suburbia when the rising cost of
energy and resources makes our suburban
way of life unaffordable. The concept of
“peak oil” is explained and discussed.
Interviews with researchers, petroleum in-
dustry insiders and journalists present an
image of the near future, 10 to 20 years from
now.
The following day, Sunday, will be a land
use bike tour of Eugene, visiting positive ex-
amples of land use designs and identifying
trends. Meet at noon at the Eugene Public
Library, Olive and 10th.
The conference will include planning for
the big Norwest Regional Permaculture
Gathering coming up Sept. 11-12 in Eugene.
For more information, call 344-0553 or
686-6761 or visit
www.heliosnetwork.org/epg/events.htm
BY PAUL NEEVEL
T E RR Y M C D O N AL D
In its 51-year history, the St
Vincent De Paul Society of Lane
County has had but two executive
directors. The first was H. C.
“Mac” McDonald, who took on the
job, as a volunteer at first, in 1953.
“I started in ‘65,” recalls Terry
McDonald. “I had a part-time job
fixing small appliances.” As a
recent UO grad in 1971, he filled in
as director while his parents took
a round-the-world vacation.
Afterwards, McDonald stayed on
at the his father’s request. He became director in 1984, when Mac passed on. Since
then, the local St Vinnie’s has grown from a few thrift stores into a multifaceted social
and environmental agency. Salvaged U.S. textbooks are sold in Asia, and oak furniture
discarded in England is sold in Eugene. “Our latest venture is a mattress deconstruc-
tion facility in Duluth,” McDonald notes. “Mattresses are a nightmare in the waste
stream.” The revenue from these activities funds social programs, such as homeless
services and affordable housing. “We’ve built 700 units of housing,” he says, showing
plans for a new building in Springfield. “The hallmark of our agency is the integration
of community service and waste-based business.” — Paul Neevel
8 JUNE 17, 2004
AIDES: BUSH BECOMING
‘ERRATIC’ AND ‘PARANOID’
A June 4 article in the online political
newspaper Capitol Hill Blue says worried
White House aides are describing President
Bush as becoming “increasingly erratic”
and “a man on the edge, increas-
ingly wary of those who dis-
agree with him and paranoid
of a public that no longer
trusts his policies in Iraq or
at home.”
The story by Publisher
Doug Thompson quotes
the unnamed aides saying
Bush’s inner circle is shrink-
ing and the president is prone
to “obscene tantrums against the
media, Democrats and others that he
classifies as ‘enemies of the state.’”
The full story is at
www.capitolhillblue.com
PETA PROTESTS CRUELTY
IN PET FOOD TESTING
Eugene animal rights activists put on
striped prisoner suits and dog masks and
crowded together into small cages this week
in a protest against allegedly cruel laboratory
testing on behalf of the pet food company
Iams. The protest
was held June 15
near PetsMart off
Chad Drive in
north Eugene.
The protest is
part of PETA’s
(People for the
Ethical Treatment
of Animals) inter-
national campaign
against the Ohio-
based Iams, which
was launched last summer after what PETA
calls “years of failed negotiations.”
In June, PETA filed a formal complaint
with the Federal Trade Commission against
Iams and its parent company, Procter &
Gamble, for making allegedly false claims on
the Iams website regarding the care provided
to the cats and dogs used in the company’s re-
search.
“A recent PETA undercover investigation
revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams
contract laboratory,” reads a statement from
PETA. “At least 27 dogs were killed, while
others died of illnesses that went untreated.”
The full report is available at www.iamscru-
elty.com
A spokesperson at Iams could not be
reached for comment. The com-
pany
website
(www.iamsco.com) says
the company meets or ex-
ceeds animal testing stan-
dards of both the U.S.
and European Union and
says, “We will not fund
or participate in any study
requiring or resulting in the
euthanasia of cats or dogs.
We will conduct research that is
the veterinary equivalent to nutri-
tional or medical studies acceptable on peo-
ple.”
COURT STOPS LOGGING IN
OLD-GROWTH RESERVE
A federal court this week halted logging
inside a protected old-growth forest in south-
west Oregon in what is seen as a major test of
the Northwest Forest Plan. The court June 15
stopped logging temporarily until the case
can be further reviewed.
Conservation
groups
raised
concerns that the
proposed logging
is located in a
legally protected
old-growth re-
serve, a salmon
refuge, and in crit-
ical habitat for the
recovery of the
northern spotted
owl.
Elk Creek, a tributary to the famed Rogue
River, is “already abused by industrial log-
ging on nearby private forestlands, but our
public forests still help provide valuable
salmon habitat and clean drinking water for
cities downstream,” says Doug Heiken of the
Oregon Natural Resources Council in
Eugene. “Aggressive logging around Elk
Creek will devastate the natural treasures that
make Oregon such a special place to live,
COURTESY OF PETA
PERMACULTURE GUILD
PLANS GATHERING