THE LANGUOROUS DOG DAYS of summer are upon me as I write this editorial. Tonight, Sirius, the canine star, will light up the sky. But I can’t ignore the slightly burnt aroma of autumn that already tinges the still afternoon air.
THE LANGUOROUS DOG DAYS of summer are upon me as I write this editorial. Tonight, Sirius, the canine star, will light up the sky. But I can’t ignore the slightly burnt aroma of autumn that already tinges the still afternoon air.
I OFTEN SAY that my “church” is the one with the great big blue ceiling. People usually chuckle as they grasp my meaning, though I’m not certain that they take me very seriously. But the marriage of nature and spirit appears to be simmering just below the surface for many […]
IT’S 2060. Your grandchildren are sitting in their classroom. On the wall hangs a photograph of a blue planet. But it isn’t Earth. It’s a planet in a distant star system. And we know that this planet harbours life. Humanity is not alone. Now imagine a different scenario. Suppose our […]
LAUNCHING STREET FESTIVALS. Planting watermelon. Doling out fake traffic tickets. If you’re wondering what these have in common, read on. They’re ingenious ways of handling issues, prying open the box. That’s what Alternatives delivers in this Creative Communities issue: fresh approaches to entrenched social problems – poverty, waste, addiction, environmental […]
I ATTENDED Belfountain Public School from Grade 1 to 8. With four classrooms and a gymnasium, it was a considerable step up from the one-room schoolhouses where my older siblings learned their three Rs. Nonetheless, a product of educational wisdom in 1960s Ontario, the schoolyard was devoid of vegetation and we […]
The following is an abridged version of an interview with Sarah Harmer. To hear the full interview, listen to Rocking the Environment podcast! Nicola Ross: How was the Niagara Escarpment part of your childhood?
IN THE MID-1990s, a Melbourne band called TISM roared up Australia’s alternative-music charts.
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 […]
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 […]
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.