Back in 1971, a young professor and an enthusiastic student at Trent University used electric typewriters, scissors and a lot of glue to produce the first edition of Alternatives Journal. They wanted to bring environmental protection and sustainability issues to a wider audience. Forty years later, the magazine stands as Canada’s only national publication devoted to environmental issues, science, policy and analysis. Our special 40th Anniversary Issue encapsulates that journey, and looks fearlessly at what still lies ahead.
Back in 1971, a young professor and an enthusiastic student at Trent University used electric typewriters, scissors and a lot of glue to produce the first edition of Alternatives Journal. They wanted to bring environmental protection and sustainability issues to a wider audience. Forty years later, the magazine stands as Canada’s only national publication devoted to environmental issues, science, policy and analysis. Our special 40th Anniversary Issue encapsulates that journey, and looks fearlessly at what still lies ahead.
Read selected articles and web extras from this issue
Read Here’s what else you get when you buy the issue:
Editorial: A New Common Future – Nicola Ross
Letters to the Editor
“Let’s Get Serious” – Mark Jaccard’s column stirs debate
Footprint in Mouth – Gareth Lind
Lind’s hardest-hitting ‘toon yet exposes the cost of the cloud.
Kulturträger – Mark Meisner
And Now For Something Completely Different: It’s not all about you
Green Listed!
Biggest environmental issues, most powerful eco films, groundbreaking ecolaws and more from grassroots organizations. Plus popular votes on eco-inspiration, fave songs, books and what to teach your children.
Believe in the Impossible
We feature the surreal art of Rob Gonsalves in this issue to prove that you can picture the future.
Imagine – Wade Davis
How would the world operate if the companies and governments that “develop” nature had to experience the result of their actions?
Anger of Injustice. Passion of Vision – Taarini Chopra
Student, food activist and Alternatives alumnus Taarini Chopra searches for inspiration in the cotton fields of India.
Holy Pancreas! – Chris Lowry
In an Alternatives exclusive, Tom Wujec explains that modified inkjet printers can already make ceramics, running shoes and stem cells. He wonders, as do we, what’s next?
The Energy Matrix – Andrew Nikiforuk
Unhappy Returns: For decades, we have been getting less and less oil for the energy invested in finding and extracting it. Surely it’s time to address the problem.
Book Learning – Greg Michalenko
Highlights from 40 years of Alternatives book reviews.
In Review: Sila’s Challenge – Mark Dickinson
Climate, Culture, Change: Inuit and Western Dialogues with a Warming North, Timothy Leduc, reviewed by Mark Dickinson
In Review: Pity in the City – Ray Tomalty
Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy and Urban Sprawl, Pamela Blais, reviewed by Ray Tomalty
The Last Word – Dave Harms
Not a Dead Fish: Alternatives swims through the homogeneity of contemporary culture eliciting surprise and causing concentration.
We acknowledge the financial support of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca); EJLB Foundation; Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation; The McLean Foundation; Ontario Arts Council; Ontario Media Development Corporation; Ontario Work Study Plan and the Sustainability Network. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund for our publishing activities. The support of the Faculty of Envrionment at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Environmental Students Endowment Foundation is appreciated.
Here’s what’s online:
