ABSTRACT

For our first interview on Prince Edward Island we switched our usual roles: we—not the other way around—took care of answering the questions. A CBC Radio host did all the asking. This wasn’t the first time. Over two years of fieldwork, Jon and I met with scores of journalists across the country to reveal the most interesting stories and discuss the practical pros and cons of off-grid living. Though we were actively seeking out publicity for our public ethnography, 1 and though we fully understood the timeliness and newsworthiness of research on renewable energy, the sheer volume of media attention had surprised us from the very beginning. Time after time, our journeys across the provinces would yield anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen radio appearances, print media stories, and TV news reports.