NPR: Rejecting Tech, Some Opting For Human Power

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112622695

Rejecting Tech, Some Opting For Human Power

by Jennifer Sharpe

September 7, 2009

At a time when electronic devices are powering our lives, a slow-growing movement of human-power advocates is unplugging cell phones and laptops, and turning to people as sources of alternative energy. Some harness the power of their muscles and feed it into batteries, while others are more direct.

…

When electric and electronic devices were first introduced, the sales pitch was always that these new tools would be labor-saving, and most were. It was farewell to a lot of tedious, sometimes back-breaking jobs. And these days, so much of our lives are powered by big turbines far away.

Now a reaction to that: Reporter Jennifer Sharpe got word of a small movement in the West - a loose collection of human power advocates, people trying to put a bit of elbow grease back into getting jobs done.

JENNIFER SHARPE: Lonnie Green, the inventor of the human-powered bulldozer, sat on his back porch in Grass Valley, California explaining that all these button-activated conveniences we've gotten so used to are just making our bodies go soft.

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(Audio and full transcript at the link.)

[kestrel91316]

1. People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I have a hand-cranked

coffee mill for grinding my beans. Like 90 turns of the crank each morning (taking about 1 minute) is gonna kill a person.

I don't tell most people about the hand-cranked grain mill for my whole wheat flour, lol.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. And I suppose you don't have a turnip twaddler!

What kind of American are you?

[TheWraith]

3. Good for them, but it doesn't have a future.

A human body can only produce a very small amount of energy, relative to the sorts of technology we use. Unless you want to give up on things like steel, or cars, or artificial light, then we need electrical production on a truly massive scale.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Why is it either/or?

Consider the humble bicycle.

Industrial power to build, human power to ride.

[bemildred]

4. Yes, I like good hand tools when I can get them, and when they fit the jobs.

All those cords and batteries and stuff are annoying. People pay hundreds a month to "get exercise" and then don't want to exert themselves when they "work".