Green Politics – Alternatives’ call for proposals

?Where political will prevails, solutions will follow.”
~ Former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on environmental leadership
Few might have thought of Mulroney as a green leader, until his recent crowning as ?Greenest PM? during Earth Week festivities of 2006 asked us to see him in a new light. These and other recent events suggest public interest in environmental issues is on an upswing ? and that the definition of environment is broadening in the public mind. What new policies and actions will come of this renewed attention, and how can public interest and political momentum be sustained? Green politics takes many forms – some passionate, some quite technical – but rarely with the success that most environmentalists would like to see. A common refrain in the environmental movement is to wonder where the environment disappears at election time.

Alternatives Journal wants to examine the trends and stimulate dialogue through a special issue on green politics. This issue will look at governing structures through a green lens – examining environmental policy making and implementation, including the ways in which new ideas are introduced and debated in the political realm.
The issue will serve as a forum for current ideas and a chance to disseminate existing research on the topic to a wide public audience. Potential themes include:
* What are the roles of existing and emerging political parties in green politics? How have these evolved in recent years?
* How are green politics bringing new constituencies together in novel ways?
* Where is political ingenuity and innovation around environmental issues coming from? How do environmental ideas find traction in day-to-day Canadian politics?
* Are there new or emerging policy tools or strategies for green politics?
* Can environmentalism become front and centre in existing political structures and processes or are changes required? If so, what are they?
* What is the current body of political ideas captured by ?green politics?? How does environmentalism align with existing political labels?
* What are some of the opinions, attitudes, and values of Canadians toward the environment?
Articles may also ask critical questions about other aspects of green politics. And while Alternatives typically focuses on Canadian issues, we will examine proposals that may also cover practices and cases from Europe and the US.
If you are interested in writing a 1000- to 2000-word article for this issue, please send a short writing sample along with your proposal. Proposals should include a short summary or outline of the topic and essential argument (350 words maximum), proposed length of article, and full contact details (phone, address, email). Only those proposals that are of interest will receive a reply.
All feature articles in Alternatives are subject to formal refereeing.
Alternatives is also currently seeking suggestions for:
*key topics and examples to cover;
*under-reported stories our audience should know about;
*writers who can bring these issues to a broad audience;
*referees to comment on feature articles; and
*ideas for shorter reports, commentaries, sidebar notes and profiles.
Please send your suggestions and/proposals, along with your contact details, to editor@alternativesjournal.ca by September 5th, 2006.
Alternatives is a bi-monthly journal dedicated to in-depth analysis of environmental issues and, in particular, to the connections among ecological, social and economic dimensions. It combines the learned rigour of an academic journal with the accessible style and format of a general audience magazine, making a unique hybrid. Alternatives has been Canada?s cutting-edge environmental magazine since 1971. It is published by Alternatives Inc., a registered charity.