The carbon footprint of an individual within a developed country is drastically higher than someone in a developing country. The reason behind this is partly in how we choose to get around. We drive to work every morning. We board cruises and airplanes to glamorous, far away destinations. We like to be always on the move.

Alternatives Journal is releasing our latest issue, Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement.

The carbon footprint of an individual within a developed country is drastically higher than someone in a developing country. The reason behind this is partly in how we choose to get around. We drive to work every morning. We board cruises and airplanes to glamorous, far away destinations. We like to be always on the move.

The question becomes; how do we move from point A to point B and design the systems that help us to do so in a way that lowers our carbon footprint and leaves behind a positive lasting impact on the natural, social and economic environment? These questions will be answered in our latest issue, Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement.

In this issue, we will discuss population growth and planning. As our population changes, we have become required to rethink city planning and discover the positive impacts of sustainable solutions such as greenways, bike lanes, improving city walkability, and retrofitting existing transportation infrastructure to better facilitate the movement of people and goods.

This issue will also explore the sustainability of traveling and the tourism industry. In the last few months, many airlines and cruise ships have had to park their fleets and seen a massive decline in customers. However, in the wake of a global pandemic that forced us to cancel our vacation plans, we were presented with the opportunity to reflect on how we travel and what tools we can use, like carbon offsetting, to help mitigate the impact we have.

Finally, this issue will critically assess our public transportation systems. How do we move away from a single car culture to a transit culture? What is the economic value of public transportation? How are other communities making their public transportation systems more sustainable? Asking these questions will have positive trickle-down effects to the entire community – whether that be through improving our physical and mental health, ability to access employment, or by protecting our natural spaces.  This issue will answer these questions and hopefully prompt you to ask a few new ones.

This was an incredibly special issue. In the summer of 2020, four students from the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) at Western University undertook this issue as co-op placements. There is an old Persian saying: “If you want to make God laugh, make a plan”. At A\J, we had lots of plans for how this summer was supposed to unfurl. We had a great team and a great work plan arranged in the early winter to start in May 2020. Of course, those plans were made oblivious to the deadly and tragic impacts of Covid-19 that were about to ensue.

Thankfully, the ‘sustainability’ focus of their education – with strong leadership from our issue’s guest editor, Professor Stephan Vachon (and the CES director) – allowed the team to dodge the flaming chainsaws of uncertainty and chase the golden unicorns of new opportunities. This issue is a testament to the power and capacity that emanates from campuses in London, Ontario and across the country, from coast to coast to coast.

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43.2 FOOD AND RESILIENCE explores the impacts of climate change on our food systems, with a particular eye on the innovations that will allow us to create a more resilient nutritional network. Feature stories include:

• Radical Food Resistance: Food-policy guru (and long-time contributor) Wayne Roberts issues a call to arms against Big Food.
• The Concrete Garden: Writer, environmentalist and mother Kaeleigh Phillips shares her tips and experiences gained in learning how to start a garden in the big city.
• Breakfast in 2040: Sabrina Chiefari, Evan Gravely and Jane Rabinowicz & Elodie Mantha weave science, facts and fiction to help us imagine and understand how and why our food systems will change.
• Can’t Buy Me Bugs: David Waltner-Toews ask ‘why exterminate them when you can eat them?’
• What’s in a Label: Genevieve Eliany digs deep into Canada’s new labelling laws to find the ingredients that you may not know were in your food products – from sugars to nanoparticles – and helps us to understand what these new labels do and don’t tell you.
• Attack of the Killer Algae: Environmental writer and water specialist Andrew Reeves examines the Lake Erie algae bloom problem and how fertilsers are helping to feed the beast.

See Table of Contents

Take a closer look at the cover

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43.1 ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS: Partnering with the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) and led by guest editors Katie Kish, Brett Dolter and Andreas Link, this issue seeks to help us understand how to balance environmental protection with economic opportunities, a key topic facing all Canadians as we seek to transition to a low-carbon economy. Feature stories of 43.1 Ecological Economics include:

• We’ve Outgrown Growth: Illustrious environmental educator (and A\J volume 1, issue 1 contributor) Peter Victor demonstrates to us that we can have it all – full employment, no poverty, lower greenhouse gases emissions and fiscal balance – without relying on the economic concept of ‘growth’.
• New Thinking for Old Problems: Guest editor Katie Kish shows that ecological economics, like the new generation of adults, is socially conscious, engaged and open to new ideas.
• Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Jeroen van den Bergh reminds us that there are shortcomings to measuring progress simply using the economic metric of GDP – and shares his thoughts that when we focus on employment, equity and environment, quality of life improves – and the people thrive.
• Electrify Everything: Brett Dotler helps us understand that shifting to a low-carbon energy can reduce our power demand by 40% but requires an economic and social transition.
• DIY: Katie Kish and Stephen Quilley help us understand that getting our hands dirty can help put meaning back in your work.
• New Prescription: Katharine Zywert demonstrates how to design a sustainable community care system in a world without growth.
• Black Snake in the Grass: Troy Vettesse shows that the business case for new pipelines is terrible. 

See Table of Contents

Take a closer look at the cover

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42.4 LIFELONG LEARNING explores how environmental education has grown beyond the classroom to incorporate a world of experiential learning tools, from open-access lectures to hands-on ecotourism. In this issue, we begin to explore this new dynamic in this new age of environmental education, with feature stories including:

• Katimavik 2.017: From one alum to another, Ainsley Munro asks our Prime Minister to reboot this national treasure
• A Nation of Noahs: Leah Gerber introduces A\J readers to the New Noah program, a conservation-education initiative now in its 26th year
• A Million Ways: Akansha Halbe is our guide to ecotourism programs that build respect for other cultures and sustainable awareness
• A Natural Evolution: Former Fleming College dean, Linda Skilton, uses the Fleming experience as a case study for how environmental education has evolved to meet changing needs
• Yearning for Free Learning: Nicole McCallum and Stacey Dankert remind us that we are neither too young, too old, too rich nor too poor to take an open online course
• We Are Reconciling: Leah Gerber shares the story of Mi’kmaq-designed and delivered courses from Cape Breton University that attracts thousands of participants from around the world
• Retired, Not Tired: Neale Adams puts the spotlight on the Suzuki Elders, a group of active and engaged senior who are up for the fight and ready to battle

See Table Of Contents

Take a closer look at the cover

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42.3 BELONGING In collaboration with the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation, the next issue of A\J explores how building a deeper sense of belonging is at the root of building stronger communities.

Featured Content:

THE PRINT EDITION OF THIS ISSUE IS SOLD-OUT;

PLEASE CONSIDER BUYING A DIGITAL EDITION.

42.3 BELONGING In collaboration with the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation, the next issue of A\J explores how building a deeper sense of belonging is at the root of building stronger communities.

Featured Content:

• A State of Belonging: Teghan Barton interviews The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada. Through Clarkson’s insights and experience, they delve into how belonging is available to everyone in this country, yet it remains a nebulous and denied experience to many. 
• Walk With Me: Kathy Storring shares the inspirational story of the House of Friendship in Waterloo Region, a social service charity that aims to “walk with” its clients to enhance their sense of purpose and belonging.
• Paying it Forward: Semini Pathberiya discovers how the long tradition of welcoming new Canadians into Waterloo Region is cyclical, with residents once again opening their arms and homes to help those in need, this time to the Syrian refugees. 

See the full table of contents 

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Some of the highlights: 

42.2 COMING HOME explores the complex issue of housing; everything from the current economic crisis to the ways in which where and how we live has an impact on the environment. Guest editors Markus Moos and Sean Hertel, two urban planning gurus, guide you on this journey.

Some of the highlights: 

• Evicted by guest editors Markus Moos and Sean Hertel takes a hard look at Canada’s broken housing system. 
• Hip, Cool, and Unafforadable by Richard Florida explores the double-edged sword of big city living. 
• Home in the North by Andrew Wong takes a closer look at what unique housing issues our Northern communities experience. 
• Our Mortgaged Future by economist Alan Walks seeks to help us all understand the overleveraged state of housing financing in North America. 

See the full table of contents

Take a closer look at the cover featuring art by Amy Casey

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Some of the highlights: 

42.1 Faith, Hope and Charities explores how faith groups and environmental leaders are helping to contour a horizon of hope amid debilitating data on climate change. The issue’s theme editor Stephen Bede Scharper, professor of environment at University of Toronto and leading expert on the intersection of faith and environmentalism, has curated a wide range of Canadian voices to explore this subject.

Some of the highlights: 

• Earthbound: Peter Timmerman explores how we need to relearn to live in a finite world.
• We Are Renewable: Reconciling peaceful relationships  between First Nations and Canada requires burying the weapons of the past.
• A Sense of Community: Understanding Canada’s ecosystem of environmentalism. 
• Atwood Believes: Environmentalism with Faith has at least of chance of working when you save what you love. 
• Happy Activism: Six ways to make our movement strong and feed our spirit. 

See the full table of contents 

Take a closer look at the cover 

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A\J’s third out of the box issue pushes us out of our comfort zone and challenges us to think about the environment from different aspects. In this issue you’ll understand species extinction through prints, paintings, sculptures, photographs, video, textiles, multimedia installations and soundscapes.

PRINT EDITION SOLD OUT; PLEASE CONSIDER BUYING A DIGITAL EDITION INSTEAD.

A\J’s third out of the box issue pushes us out of our comfort zone and challenges us to think about the environment from different aspects. In this issue you’ll understand species extinction through prints, paintings, sculptures, photographs, video, textiles, multimedia installations and soundscapes. Adam Lewis tackles an important and uncomfortable topic of our colonial past in “Living on Stolen Land.” Readers will also learn about the history of A\J and environmentalism as well as getting tips on how to find love and companionship in the of climate change. 

Some of the highlights: 

• Extinction Art – Artists are confronting us with the world as it is, was and could be.
• Living on Stolen Land – Taking Indigenous territory for resource development continues to be at the core of environmental destruction.
• Love in the Time of Climate Change – How to meet and keep companions in an uncaring world.
• A Natural History of Airports – Air travel’s carbon emissions are high profile, but the local ecological impacts often fly under the radar.
• That 70s A\J – How a small journal laid the foundation for today’s renewable energy movement. 

See the full table of contents 

Take a closer look at the cover 

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Some highlights

A\J’s Careers issue explores how to maximize your environmental education and paths to take when you graduate. Also included is our 2015 environmental education directory. 

Some highlights

• Copy This examins HP’s path to becoming a leader of sustainability in Canada’s corportate world. 
• In Make Way for the CSO, guest editor Gavin Pitchford explains how chief sustainability officers are worth the investment for corporations. 
• A\J’s editorial manager talks about the best things she learned in her very last university class in The Last Class. 
• Ontario’s Greenbelt is under its 10-year review! Read about the importance of the Grenbelt and what we need to do next in Bigger Better Greenbelts.

See the full table of contents here. 

Take a closer look at the cover

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Highlights:

A\J’S FASHION ISSUE explores how the low prices and über-trendiness of “fast fashion” come at the expense of both people and the environment – and offers a number of ways you can reduce your fashion footprint.

Highlights:

• The factors that led to the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh, and new initiatives for a more responsible fashion industry
• A list of simple solutions for reducing your fashion footprint
• How your donated garments make their way around the world through the used-clothing industry
• A lineup of sustainable clothing, including fab finds in Canadian ecodesign

Take a closer look at the cover 

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