40th Anniversary Issue 37.6

19 October, 2011
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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.

Listen to the 40th Anniversary podcast, featuring Bob Paehlke, Andrew Nikiforuk, Ken Ogilvie and Nicola Ross!

Buy the digital edition of this issue

Editorial: A New Common Future
Nicola Ross

Letters to the Editor: 37.6
"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.

Alternatives
Robert Gibson
Three short essays about ideas and initiatives that rattle the authorities.

EcoMorphosis
Robert Paehlke
Change and persistence, gains and losses since 1971.

The Evolution of Theory
Stephen Bocking
10 ways science is changing our world.

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.

Publication of this issue was made possible by The Gosling Foundation; The Salamander Foundation; and the support from our many subscribers.

We acknowledge the financial support of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca); EJLB Foundation; Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) Canada; Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation; Ivey Foundation; The McLean Foundation; Ontario Media Development Corporation; Ontario Trillium Foundation; Ontario Work Study Plan; Suncor Energy; YMCA Youth Eco Internship Program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage toward our project costs.

The support of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Environmental Studies Endowment Foundation is appreciated.

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