Robert Gibson

Alternatives

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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.

What's the Big Idea? Evolution

The nature of human origins is less important than the origins of human nature.

AS MEASURED by public fuss, the debate about human origins boils down to whether life on Earth evolved over hundreds of millions of years, or whether an all-powerful prankster deity spent a week creating a world that just looks like a product of evolution. As measured by practical significance, however, the more important question is what kind of creature descended with the other apes.

T.H. Huxley and Peter Kropotkin initiated the latter discussion, or at least the evolutionary version of it, over 100 years ago. Both were respected scientists who accepted the idea of natural selection. Beyond that, they looked for and saw entirely different beings.

What’s the Big Idea? Non-Renewable

“My grandfather rode a camel. My father rode in a car. I fly in a jet airplane. My grandson will ride a camel.” (alleged Saudi saying)

THE CONCEPT of non-renewable resources is not difficult. The litres of gasoline we burned yesterday are gone. They are not resting and recuperating. They are not off somewhere pining for the fjords. They did not leave behind a clutch of little litres growing into adulthood. They were one-time opportunities that have now passed away.

Bullshit

Back in 2005, Princeton University Press published an engaging essay by Harry G. Frankfurt, an emeritus professor of moral philosophy. The title of the little book, which spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, was On Bullshit.

Frankfurt began his essay by observing that although bullshit is a particularly salient feature of our culture, it gets almost zero serious attention.

Bullshit is one of the many occupants of the space between truth and lies. Among the others are nonsense and codswallop, bunkum, hooey, humbug, bafflegab, chicanery and duplicity. Some are mean-spirited. Some are fun. Most are on the slope between highly irritating and largely harmless.

What's the Big Idea? Substitution

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 Mexico or tar-sands mining in Alberta?

Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice has an opinion on the latter. In a statement reported shortly after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 people and gushing oil into the Gulf, he said that the environmental risks associated with Alberta’s tar-sands operations are “probably less than the kind of risks associated with offshore drilling.”

What's the Big Idea? Markets

Every summer, we have a small produce market in our neighbourhood. Volunteers run it oncea week. In the morning, they go to the regional farmers’ produce auction. In the afternoon, they set out the fruits and vegetables on temporary tables in front of the community centre, with handmade signs indicating prices marginally above the day’s cost at auction. Sometimes kids also sell lemonade or cookies to raise funds for a worthy cause.

What's the Big Idea? Simplicity

Simple solutions to difficult problems are exceedingly rare. Their attraction, however, is undeniable. The world is awash in cults, fanaticisms and miracle cures. Millions of media minutes are devoted to how we can stop climate change by dumping iron filings in the ocean, prevent cancer by taking massive doses of vitamins, or eliminate stress by tidying our closets.

What's the Big Idea? Balance

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 a low-expectations way. Balance is preferable to falling down, spilling the beer, or becoming mentally unhinged. Balance of power is better than tyranny. Balance of terror is better than war.

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