Sometimes the naughtiest words are the most important ones to say. The New York Times reports that a controversy has exploded because the newest winner of the prestigious Newberry Award (think “Oprah Book Club of Children’s lit) uses a really naughty word in it’s first page – scrotum! The word is used as a lead-in to a child’s exploration of his body, something that seem reasonable as I recall giggling at the mention of it during Sex-Ed in 6th grade. But that hasn’t stopped libraries across the country from banning the book.
It got me thinking about how words play an intrinsic role in visions and social movements. In a recent discussion with a friend from Energy Justice Network, we discussed people’s discomfort with the term “Electric Car.” I’ll admit, I still cringe at the mention of it in public. Not because I don’t believe in the idea of an electric car, but because it still has the ring of a far-left hippy idea that most of the public will dismiss. Hybrid cars are sexy, but electric cars are still scary to people. Truth be told, electric cars are as viable today as hybrids, but if we can’t say it, we sure can’t build it. It may be a scary term to use. It may put people off. But should that stop us from using it? Or encourage us?
I remember my own discomfort first seeing the Vagina Monologues. Even growing up in a liberal household, the word never came up. Only after seeing the play did I realize how many subjects, how many important conversations could never come up because of my inability to comfortably say ‘vagina’. But more importantly, my new comfort with that language allowed me to be exposed to other important accounts of how issues such as prejudice and violence towards women still plagued society AND college. And I’m not alone. After thousands of performances, the play has sparked mini-movement of “V-Day, fighting violence against women” and a generation of women (and men) have become far more comfortable with the vocabularly of this issue. And from that, I hope, more of us can become part of the solution.
So what are our naughty words in the climate movement? Electric car? Conservation? Kyoto? Sacrifice? In the interest of making our issue accessible, we often skirt these more challenging ‘solutions’, opting for conservation, efficiency, wind power and other feel-good terms. And for good reason – we need to make this complex issue (and its laundry list of causes) accessible to the public.
But let’s not go too far. We are the the Youth Climate Movement, right? We are the edge, the vision, the future. And we need to speak that way. A few years ago, the “Plug in Hybrid” sounded like fantasy – now it’s common place. But Kyoto has remained on the naught list. Where is it on NRDC’s website. Where is it on my website?
Truth be told, we are falling behind in our messaging and our vision. The country and congress have caught on, and they are ready for a plan while we are still trying to sugar coat our message. We need to articulate our vision in our own words, with confidence. It may take some time to catch on. Think of “climate neutrality” or “80% by 2050″. We can change the language of this debate. We need to give our leaders something to look forward to, something to grab on to. A trip to the moon. An electric car. VAGINA!
But seriously. Let’s say those naughty words and make them normal. Run outside and scream “Electric Car” at the top of your lungs. Say it earnestly. Scream it with passion. Say it as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. And maybe, just maybe, it will be.
I heard the other day that “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s attempt to frighten the
world, was cancelled due to the cold weather. Of course, when it comes to logic, the global warming hysterical
old women claim EVERYTHING is the result of global warming, even cold weather. Their BS about more hurricanes was shown to be pure fraud, so then they claimed, well, they may not be more of them, but they are stronger than before. Why look at Katrina. The only problem here for the morons is that Katrina left the Atlantic “warm area”
as a class 1 cane, and didn’t gain strength until it ran into the Loop current in the gulf, which, as anyone not infected by the global warming madness can tell you, has nothing to do with global warming. Wetness is due to global warming as is dryness. Unfortunately, the amount of supposed global warming is so miniscule that it’s doubtful that it even exists. Global warming is a fraud. I notice the claim that this was the warmest January on record. How come this February is so cold? Global average temperatures simply do not exist except in the imagination of the
GW hysterics.
Kerry Beauhrt used to be someone named Kent Buechert. He lives apparently in McLean, VA and my estimate he works for the an oil antil global warming lobby hired to discredit global warming. He has various email addresses listed in Florida also. He can be seen listing comments on literally hundreds of global warming / electric car articles as one of the first or second listers. I am working on a story to track him down and the number of fake reviews he lists on behalf of the lobbying industry. If you have any information, please forward it to me. Regards – David Lassiter.
Welcome Kerry – Nice to have you visiting the site.
So, to get back to the actual content of this post…
This is courageous stuff. I often find myself wondering where the word “conservation” has gone – it seems like everything has gone from conservation and efficiency to plain old efficiency. There is really no way we’re gonna see 80% cuts under 1990 levels by mid-century without some good old conservation and sacrifice thrown in there. Since when did sacrifice become a bad word? I thought it made you a martyr.
Great post Josh, keep it coming.
A combination of conservation, efficiency, and clean renewable energy can meet all our energy needs and mitigate global warming, .
Naughty words for the climate movement: sharing, cooperative.
It’s pinko. Paukl Hawkin — quoted at valuenewsnetwork.com — writes:
This is an excellent post, Josh. The tone surrounding climate change and energy consumption has changed dramatically and it is time for us to bring up these old “scary” words again and make them not scary. Let’s also revive biodiesel buses from its hippie-esque connotations, and get Willie Nelson out of it. I’d like to see college sports teams travel on them- perhaps even some pop stars like Kelly Clarkson (maybe her participation in Al Gore’s LIVE EARTH concert series (http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/1113) will wake her up).
AH!! I LOVE ELECTRIC CARS!
and the scent of biodiesel* in the morning…
-Christina
*to some extent, compared to conventional diesel and minus the NOx, that’s no fun. but biodiesel bus rides are!
Arthur Coulston used to be someone named Ann Coulter. C’mon Josh, it’s time to grow a pair. Vagina Monologues has got to be one of the funniest plays of all time. I got to tell ya, whether it’s Kerry, or Kent, or whoever, the guys right on the money about the global warming scam. And let me say, I don’t lobby for anyone, and haven’t changed my name. J.B.
global warming is becoming such a obvious problem that someone somewhere other than Al Gore needs to step up to help drive the bus!
Joshua! this post is so great! I know i’m 7 months late but man, it really made my day. Much love!
Shadia