This publication was launched in 1974 with proceeds from the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG. Because it did not rely on advertising revenues, the staff had no need to consider opinions other than their own in selecting subject matter.
As Art Kleiner, one of its editors, says, "The list of ideas introduced to (or reframed for) a popular audience by CoEVOLUTION QUARTERLY is immense: The Gaia hypothesis, watershed consciousness, voluntary simplicity, personal computers, the flat tax, the effects of chemicals on the human gene pool...."
The publication's statement of purpose read in part:
"We are dedicated to demystification, to self-teaching, and to encouraging people to think for themselves. Thus our Motto: 'access to tools and ideas' ... We recommend rather than attack ... we change with the times that we help change ... We update ourselves continually ... We're not a "political" magazine ... We are deliberately eclectic."