Where we are in our cultural story, “alternative” still evokes ideas from the hippie days.

The term has certainly evolved. While it has become more mainstream though, I think right now it means something like “that funny 20 or 30% of Americans who have decided–partly because they can afford to–to purchase _specialty_ products and services.”

So you’ve got Safeway that sells regular groceries, and then you’ve got Whole Foods that sells alternative groceries.

You’ve got standard, normal energy — e.g., coal, dams, or whatever-the-heck-it-is (I don’t know actually) — and then you have got alternative : wind, solar, etc.

I think I hear what you are saying.

From the perspective of a hundred years hence, or even fifty, the idea of calling the forms of energy that CAN ACTUALLY HELP SAVE ALL OF OUR LIVES, and stop society from destroying itself, “alternative”… now let’s see… what would be an analogy?

Let’s say, I come back from the woods and I have a badly broken my leg. In great pain, I wander into the emergency room. The nurse who greets me tells me, “well, our normal treatment, in cases such as yours, sir, is to prescribe you a large bottle of these strong pain pills… we find that those really make the symptoms a LOT better.”

You say, “well… shouldn’t you RE-SET my broken leg?? It’s in two pieces!!”

The nurse says, “well, .. that is AWFULLY expensive, sir. And, it’s very ALTERNATIVE. My father had a broken arm, and the pain pills worked fine for him.”