WSP05005

• File Number: 8021
• Description: Section D General Studies - Western States Water Council
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 9/1/1990
• Author: Land Institute
• Title: The Land Report - The Land Report - Fall 1990
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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A Good Friend
of The Land

Tom Mulhern

The Land Institute is a long way from Califor-
nia's Silicon Valley, both in miles and in mind,set.
However, The Land has a special friend who is
working to build connections between the researchers
and students of perennial polyculture and the devel-
opers and marketers of computer technology.
George Comstock is a warm and easygoing
man, whose thoughtful manner suggests a college
professor more than a high-tech entrepreneur.
However, George is a successful entrepreneur who
has spent his professional life developing high tech-
nology products and companies. Since January 1,
1990, he has also devoted one day per week as a
, volunteer for The Land Institute.
He flrst learned about The Land Institute in
1987 when he saw a review ofWes Jackson's book
Altars Of Un hewn Stone, ordered the book, and read
it during the Christmas holidays. In his words, "It
struck a resonant chord, and I decided that I would
find out more about Wes Jackson and The Land
Institute at some point in the future." That point
came in the fall of 1988, when George stopped by The
Land Institute on a cross'country trip and took in the
Fall Visitors' Day. He was impressed with what he
saw and with the people he met at The Land, particu-
larly the student interns. William Irwin Thompson,
founder of the Lindisfarne Association and author of
wide-ranging works of cultural history, was a special
guest at that Visitors' Day, and George remembers
that he and Thompson continued to discuss the issues
when they sat next to each other on the flight from
Salina to San Francisco.
Sometime during the following months George
told Wes that he was thinking about "trying out" re,
tirement one day per week, and that he might like to

Grorge Comstock

use some of his extra free time to do volunteer work
for The Land Institute. Wes encouraged him, and
they continued to discuss the possibility. By the end
of 1989 George was ready to begin. Since January,
he has spent nearly every Friday making connections
and building support for The Land Institute.
His work has already paid off in some very
tangible ways. George negotiated with Tandem Com-
puter Corporation and arranged for the donation of
two personal computers to The Land. These comput-
ers have more me storage space and greater speed
and power than anything else at The Land Institute,
and are being used by Peter Kulakow, plant breeder,
and Jon Piper, ecologist. This gift has greatly en-
hanced the ability of The Land Institute to analyze
and compile research data into useful results and
reports.
In another venture, George mailed out more
than 1,200 letters to other high-tech entrepreneurs
and fellow Cal Tech alumni, to introduce them to the
work of The Land Institute and to invite them to
become supporters. He also has made numerous
personal calls on friends and associates to talk about
The Land, and has arranged for some of them to meet
with Wes Jackson when Wes visits the West Coast.
George makes a generous personal contribu-
tion to The Land each year, and he has influenced the
company he works for, Network General, to make an
annual corporate grant to The Land Institute.
"I am personally finding a lot of satisfaction in
devoting energy, time, and money to the long term
question of how humans will feed themselves when
our present exploitive approach to agriculture runs
out of steam," George says. "All my professional life
I've been involved with science and engineering and

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