People really do have associations with both "enviro" and "environmentalist," often negative. The challenge is to change people's definition of the word or get a new word all together. Either way it way it takes a lot of coordinated effort and, really, marketing. Think KFC. Do we want to be "Kitchen Fresh" (a clean environment = healthy!) or "Kentucky Fried" (enviros are greasy hippies!)? Don't believe that people will notice? If you say something enough times it becomes true in the minds of the public (see election 2004)...

Whatever name we give ourselves, our opponents are going to spin it. That's politics. Look at what they call themselves: conservative. Many enviros I talk to think of "conservative" as a bad thing, linking it to the likes of Bush, but "conservationist" as good, linking it to enviros. So, even if we drop "enviro" and adopt some new label, most likely less homie, it will still be looked down on by our opponents. If we are going to reform things in the enviro movement, let it not be that which we identify with.

If "Enviros" is a disparaging term in the minds of the anti-environmentalists, then we should consider it a compliment and a badge of honor.

Gene Peters

I don't think it should matter what they call us, or what we
call ourselves. No matter what name we choose to go by,
we will be ridiculed by those that do not understand our
passion. There is only one thing we should be concerned
about in the wake of the "election": We have to show the
Bush administration that we will fight as hard as we must
to derail his anti-environmental agendas; We have to make it clear that he does not have the mandate that he and Mike Leavitt think he has.

Greetings,

I don't personally have a problem with the abbreviation "enviros", but I do think some reframing would be helpful.

I think "liberals" equally refer to right-wingers as a "wacko" as well. Don't take these things personally and equally don't resort to personal attacks in life. It accomplishes nothing.

A non-wacko right wing conservative friend of mine introduced me to another friend of his as an "environmental conservative". I really appreciated what he had to say and I thought he was offering me considerable respect by referring to me in this way. It gave me a new language for myself and allows me to appreciate "fiscal conservatives", etc in a new light.

Valerie

I've always thought "enviro" was silly-sounding, so I'd vote to change it on that basis. But I'm wary of being too reactive to the other side's framing -- "if they want to call us 'enviros', then we have to do the opposite!"

I think it's time we quit being nice and understanding  and start standing up for ourselves-I mean being assertive and quit taking hits like an abused person does. Apologizing , trying to understand the other view, etc. It's like trying to understand the other view that some people believed there should be slavery. There is no compromise or understanding.Let's use the word CONSERVATIVE because we want to conserve the earth.  Silly us. We want clean water and air.  What a wild and morally depraved concept-not.  

I don't hate the word enviros, but I also find it nondescriptive and not terribly useful, a bit tainted and it does not roll out of my brain easily. I do like the idea of "Environmental Conservative", but it is unwieldy. EnviroCon? Sounds a lot like an energy company - Republicans like those!
The Big Brother approach to word-use of the "Compassionate Conservative" big spenders of today's administration is a scary one (DoublePlus UnGood), and one I'd rather not play one-upmanship with... but then again, Environmental Traditionalist?

Those who control language, also control public perspective.

Even with this knowledge, some of us still tend to bend a bit from the wind created by those who have the biggest bullhorn.

To combat this, whenever someone flings something they think of as an insult in my direction, I simply smile with warmth and gratitude and say, "Yes, I'm a tree hugging, liberal, thank you for noticing".

Of late, I've taken to thinking of myself as an "Earth Guardian".
For me, it represents more closely, what I feel about myself in relationship to this magnificent satellite.

I think I'll start working on some bumper stickers and/or window signs using this concept.
Anybody want to try it on for size with me?

I find the brevity and simplicity of "enviro" to be preferable to a lot of terms - "environmentalist" (too long), "green" (too many political associations), and my personal fave, "eco-freak" (sure, it rolls off the tongue, but...). But I think a contest to find a better term is a great idea. If Grist readers can come up with "pollutocrat," I'm sure they can knock this one out of the park.

But I think it's more interesting to consider the whole concept of language appropriation. Minorities and marginalized groups have frequently been the target of disparaging monikers used by the elites. One response is for these marginalized groups to begin using those terms to describe themselves.

The theory being, once a group has embraced a label, that label loses its power to hurt and disparage and instead becomes a term of empowerment. It may not be PC to list examples but think about some of the terms used to describe blacks, gays, women etc. in the past that are still used now, but used by the very groups they were intended to denigrate.

So if our "adversaries" try to smack us around by calling us "enviros," maybe the best solution is to appropriate the term and call ourselves "enviros" with pride and fondness. It wouldn't be a very useful weapon against us after that.

Hmmm, Elle, you may be onto something with "Earth Guardian".  I like it, although "enviro" is shorter.  Perhaps a contest would be a good idea!  Also, whatever happened with the poll?  I missed the posting of the results.