They had set themselves up as just the sort of alternative and unaccountable establishment that the Kettle philosophy abhors.
Imogen comes into being when Thea shacks up with Martin, a musician/roadie who has appeared out of the "sort of alternative circle" in which Thea has begun to move.
She compared it to the "counter-cultural posture" television shows such as Second City Television and Saturday Night Live took in the mid-1970s: "In those days, this sort of alternative viewpoint was kept out of prime time.
In truth, few if any environmentalists oppose the sort of alternative-energy projects Nordhaus and Shellenberger favor.
Dr. Ruth Lawrence, a member of the committee on breastfeeding at the American Academy of Pediatrics, said: "If this rule is going to continue, the airlines need to provide some sort of alternative that will allow a mother to safely bring home her pumped milk.
"What we are trying to do is see if we can come up with some sort of alternative that is still financially viable within our district and still meets the guidelines, even if the worst case scenario occurred," Thorossian said.
His argument is designed to show that certain sorts of alternatives to Plato's own account of knowledge must fail.
For one thing, clean energy is not the only sort of "alternative" energy that is enjoying a boom: dirty technologies like Canada's mucky tar sands (from which petrol can be made at great environmental expense) are also benefiting from high oil prices.
No self-respecting anti-capitalist would be seen dead in that sort of dump (for an alternative view, however, see Letters).
Although set in an unimaginably vast rambling gothic castle – the "Gormenghast" that gives the series its title – it is something of a shock to discover, about halfway through, that the books take place in a sort of alternative 1930s.
It's also an attempt to define a sort of alternative political agenda that seems nascent in our culture right now--this novel mix of liberalism, libertarianism, pragmatism and vision that many of us see buzzing around us.
