Full Description
Contemporary discourse on sustainability points to the need for substantial, if not radical, shifts in relations between productivity, environment, consumption and identities, in ways which bring or restore balance to the intersecting domains. The catchphrase of 'sustainability' has made its way into mainstream discourse on the heels of the ongoing global financial crisis and responses to global warming. The literature of leisure, sport and particularly tourism are replete with fine examples of 'sustainability', contributing to full ecology planning approaches.
This book aims to stimulate debate and discussion within the leisure studies community about the roles of 'alternative cultures' in producing viable models of sustainable relations between work, leisure and environment. Key elements of these discussions, such as participatory democracy and deep ecology, have long been characteristic of cultural configurations loosely called 'counter' or 'alternative' to a voracious, hierarchical and unconscious modernity. However the leisure studies community has largely neglected their significance up until now. How are leisure, sustainable livelihoods and 'alternative' cultures connected, and what influence do they have?
This book was originally published as a special issue of Annals of Leisure Research.
Contents
1. Introduction - 'Alternative cultures and leisure: creating pathways for sustainable livelihoods 2. There is (almost) no alternative: the slow 'heat death' of music subcultures and the instrumentalization of contemporary leisure 3. The restaurateur as a sustainability pedagogue: the case of Stuart Gifford and Sarah's Sister's Sustainable Café 4. Community-supported agriculture from the perspective of health and leisure 5. Magical activism: what happens between the worlds changes the worlds 6. Does Bear do it for you? Gen-Y gappers and alternative tourism
