Canada's Environmental Voice
IT WAS LIKE AN ALTAR CALL. I had just finished a conference presentation on organic agriculture when a tall, hale fellow in his late 30s bounded down to the front of the auditorium. He wanted to tell his story about how organic food had saved his life. He recounted how […]
IN THE FIVE YEARS I’ve spent as editor of Alternatives, nothing has been as controversial as the Suncor Energy advertorials that have been running in the magazine. Many of you have taken advantage of the opportunity to read the opinions of Gord Lambert, this tar-sands company’s vice president of sustainability. […]
LAST JUNE, I returned to Banff National Park after a long absence. It was good to be back. Banff, Canada’s first and most famous national park, is an important part of my home range. My daughter was born in Banff ’s Mineral Springs Hospital, her birth witnessed by a herd […]
WHEN THE FIRST ISSUE of Alternatives Journal rolled off the presses in 1971, the world was a very different place – politically and technologically. There was a self-conscious political left and the political right was far less ascendant. Computers filled whole rooms and munched on punch cards to obtain information. […]
BACK IN 1971, the founders of this publication called it Alternatives. Bob Paehlke, who played a big role in the conception, says the idea was to explore better options for a blindly pro-consumption and pro-growth-at-all-costs society in which almost no one was thinking about the long term.
The first and most important thing to say about food,” writes Wayne Roberts in this issue of Alternatives, “is that there is no first and most important thing to know about food.” This apparent riddle summarizes the message in our latest issue “Just Food.” Food is ubiquitous, affecting health, social […]
Whether it’s made of paper or pixels, the latest issue of Alternatives Journal is essential reading. Fresh from his legacy tour, David Suzuki reveals his inner-most thoughts; tar sands decrier Andrew Nikiforuk rips into “ethical oil;” the country’s top green writers tell us what they keep by their bedsides; we […]
Education, like the Earth, is power. So in this issue of Alternatives, we combine our annual Education issue with a critical, alternative look at energy. University of Toronto professor and Toronto Star columnist Stephen Bede Scharper explores how our spiritual connection with energy can save us. Stephen Bocking provides a […]
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 […]
