Robert Gibson

University of Waterloo professor and the magazine’s long-time editor, Robert Gibson chairs Alternatives’ editorial board and writes our back-page column: What’s the Big Idea. He reads every word of every issue and can be thanked for the best – and the poopiest – article titles. Substitution gets us genetic engineering, nuclear reactors, ocean draggers and unconventional oil. 

Author Articles

Dilbit could be a good name for a goofy dog. Instead it is short for “diluted bitumen,” the serious mix of light petroleum diluent and the oily tarry sandy goop...
horrid_Eunize

THE HORRID ground-weaver has a mighty name. It suggests a dangerous beast from the old stories, a creature in league with the Jabberwok and the frumious Bandersnatch, possibly imaginary but nonetheless...
Fighting Hartebeest

Our grade 10 English teacher claimed that all literature is about conflict – within the person, among people, or between humans and nature. She then assigned us to put each...
barker_moose

The birds got to sing and dance. The moose had to grow a huge unwieldy rack and bash heads with it. Maybe once, back in the evolutionary mists, a less...
julia_maudlin

The world has seen many versions of Napoleon and his Russian campaign. Probably they have been with us forever. The ancient Greeks saw the phenomenon often enough to adopt “hubris” as...
kuznets

TAKEN AS a matter of simple logic, the notion of infinitely continued expansion of material demands on a single biosphere is nuts.  TAKEN AS a matter of simple logic, the...

TECHNICALLY, only plants can be weeds. But plenty of other organisms are similarly vigorous, adaptive to circumstances and resilient in the face of discouragement. They, or rather we, are metaphorical...
View of Makkovik and harbour at sunset

Life on the north Labrador coast is a test. The land has wild beauty, and its resources have supported human communities for millennia. But it is all rock and hard...

BALANCE IS HELPFUL for bicyclists, knives and the Flying Zambezi Brothers’ high-wire act. For many other purposes it is overrated. For sustainability, it’s a mistake.The idea often sounds good, in...

QUICK, NOW. What’s worse: a punch in the nose or a poke in the eye? An ugly divorce or a year in the slammer? Deep drilling in the Gulf of...

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