laura

Laura McDonald

Laura is a past A\J managing editor. She has an MA in Communication Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University, is an organizing aficionado, lackadaisical gardener, and former musical theatre producer. @inhabitings

Author Articles

KarenHoule

“Science insists that we can't express particulars. But we love things in particular, not in general … and when you love something in particular, you're not inclined to see that it...
North American Black Bears in captivity at Marineland, Ontario

A\J first featured animal rights photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur’s work in a photo essay of pigs on their way to slaughter, in our Lifecycles issue in January 2013. A\J first featured...
A\J's guide to the sharing economy

Sharing is about maximizing the use of products, services and ideas in order to minimize overall consumption by a community. This principle has a surprising number of applications – people...
A scene from the Beehive Collective's Mesoamerica Resiste poster.

In the latest issue, I profile the Beehive Design Collective, a group of volunteer activist-artists based in Maine, and their latest project, the epic three-by-six-foot double-sided poster, Mesoamérica Resiste. The poster depicts...
Beehive Design Collective - stories of bees and alternatives economies

Click the image to launch an interactive look at the Beehive Design Collective's Stories of Bees and Economies, part of their Mesoamérica Resiste poster.This is an excerpt; you can order the Resource...
Stephen Harper on trial, in Alternatives Journal A\J. By Ted Heeley.

In 2011, the CEOs of oil companies operating in the tar sands were found guilty of ecocide in a mock trial staged by the Eradicating Ecocide Global Initiative. The trial...
art_zines

What on earth is a zine? A short-form magazine in both title and format, a zine (pronounced "zeen") is a small, self-published booklet, generally distributed via mail order, online, in...
Kids using a laptop outside in a field. Alternatives Journal.

Be A Careful ConsumerThink before you buy. The Better World Shopper evaluates social justice and environmental performance and assigns a letter grade to companies that make everything from ice cream...
CR Avery in Thief Behind the Mask, filmed by Ethan Miller. Alternatives Journal.

SLAM POETRY is quickly gaining ground in Canada, with poetry slams popping up in cities across the country, sending new teams to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word each year. Janice...
Over 100 people were arrested at an anti-tar sands action in Ottawa Sept 26

AS THE PUSH FOR TAR SANDS PIPELINES ESCALATES and the legal channels for fighting them become exhausted, some environmentalists are reconsidering the value of civil disobedience, which Sierra Club Canada...

Authors Blog

Melissa Stieber of More Than Half clothing in Kitchener, Canada
A\J’s Fashion issue explores the social and ecological impacts of “fast fashion.” In “Picking Up the Threads,” Kelly Drennan of Fashion Takes Action explains how low prices and über-trendiness come...
(Photo: a rack of used clothing)
Much of the advice out there for reducing your fashion footprint involves buying more sustainably made (and often expensive) clothes. But there are a number of ways – many of which...
top2014a
1. It's a Wrap! 1. It's a Wrap! A Non-Toxic Substitute for Plastic Wrap, That IsPhoto: AbeegoThis one really took off, because it’s simply a brilliant idea. And we love sharing brilliant...
Gift-Guide
Rather than a list of specific products or DIY ideas (there are enough of those already), our gift guide focuses on basic principles you can apply to avoid filling the...
Holiday Survival Guide
December isn’t always an easy time of year. Winter weather is bearing down, kids are home from school on holidays, you have to talk to family members whose political views...
Joseph Boutilier on his unicycle
Lots of people have cycled across Canada. Joseph Boutilier is unicycling across Canada – at least most of the way, bringing his concerns about the government’s lack of action on climate...
Live Local KW
"This is going to be easy."That was my first thought on being challenged to sign up for Live Local KW and “eat, shop and play locally” for one week (next...
Line 9 construction blockade in Innerkip, Ontario
Another construction site along Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline has been occupied this morning – at least the third in three weeks – and this time protestors are planning to stay....
No Line 9 protest in North Dumfries, Haudenosaunee territory
Concerned individuals from Six Nations, Waterloo Region and other nearby communities have shut down an “integrity dig” on Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline in North Dumfries, Ontario this morning. Protestors are asserting...
DIY homemade deodorants with baking soda and cornstarch
I reluctantly stopped using conventional antiperspirants and deodorants a couple of years ago because they have too many questionable ingredients for my comfort – like petroleum products, parabens and aluminum....