Aether

First issue of Aether. 

The dream of moving ‘back to the land’ was one of the currents in the stream of ideas about alternatives to industrial capitalism. There were those who saw communal living, organic farming and self-sufficiency as key parts of the creation of an alternative society. While it remained a dream for many, a small group at Cairnleith Croft in rural Aberdeenshire was walking the talk, exploring the challenges of living off the grid, growing their own food and keeping the compromises with mainstream society to a minimum.

Aether magazine began partly as a chronicle of their adventures, and partly as a manifesto for what would now be called a green way of living. Awareness of issues like conservation and pollution had been growing throughout the 60s, sparked by books like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the Whole Earth Catalog. But what publications like Aether sought to do was place these concerns in the framework of a radical critique, holding that the solution lay not in lobbying industrial society to reform itself but in fundamentally re-assessing what we need and how it is provided.

Under the strapline of ‘Ecology, Survival, Alternatives’ the magazine featured a wide range of articles from eco-philosophy to news about current campaigns (agriculture, transport, planning) to practical advice on gardening and self-sufficiency. Later numbers saw the link with Cairnleith loosened, and a strapline change to the arguably less focused ‘Alternative Philosophies, Policies and Practices’, although the mix of content remained consistent.