Sustainability and the Recycling of Words

1
Sustainability and theRecycling of Words

• by Alleen Pace Nilsen,
• Donna Miller, and
• Don L. F. Nilsen

2
Word Building through Affixation

• Aqua aqua (color), aquamarine, aquarium,
  aqueduct, aquifer
• e- (out of) effluvium, emissions, emit, exit
• Morphing (changing) morpheme, morphology, Mighty
  Morphin Power Rangers, morphine,
• slactivists Slack Activists

3
Acronyms Anachronisms

• G6, G7, G8
• Group of Six (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK
  and US)
• (Canada) (Russia)
• SUV
• Sport Utility Vehicle, not SubUrban Vehicle
• --------------------
• BBL vs. bbl
• Be back later, vs. blue barrels (of oil)(i.e.
  42 gallons rather than 40)
• Kyoto protocols, beyond Copenhagen
• miles vs. kilometers
• Fahrenheit vs. Centigrade

4
Metaphors and Similes

• Carrotmob from the carrot vs. stick metaphor
• Jeremy Caplan wrote, that carrotmobs have
  branched out to ten other U. S. cities.
• Carrots are looking greener every day.
• (54)

5
Birth and Death Metaphors

• Such words as natal, nativity, native and
  nascent are used by environmentalists to refer
  to the birth of new energy resources.
• One environmentalist referred to the womb of the
  ocean.
• Another one spoke of weaning the nation off
  fossil fuels.
• Another said that U.S. policies smother infant
  green industries in the crib.
• And an opposing voice referred to being
  sacrificed on the altar of sustainability.

6
Positive Metonymies

• Green Plants Meaning Healthy
• Green Lights Meaning Go
• Greenbacks Meaning Money
• Golf Green At the end of the fairway
• Green Barets Elite troups
• Greenhorn Inexperienced, but with potential
• Green with envy Envious

7
More Positive Metonymies

• Green is associated with other eco-friendly
  words like
• Sustainability
• Organic
• Natural
• Greens, Browns and other Earth Tones

8

• Ones food choices may be vegetarian, vegan,
  organic, grass-fed, free-range, humanely raised,
  or some combination of these.
• As to the source of this food, it could range
  from generally local when its easy to get to
  obsessively local and will eat nothing else.
• (Winne 600)

9
Technical Terms

• The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of
  1990 (ULEA) restricted the use of the following
  terms on food labels low fat, low sodium, low
  cholesterol, low calorie, lean, extra lean,
  reduced, blood source, less, fewer, light, and
  more.
• A calorie-free productmust have fewer than 5
  calories per serving.
• A cholesterol-free product must have 2
  milligrams or less of cholesterol per serving.
• (Federman 585)

10

• Mother Earth News reports that products labeled
  organic must align themselves with one of 40
  sets of organic standards, most often the
  California Organic Foods Act of 1990.
• This leaves natural as one of the few
  unregulated words.
• (Federman 585)

11

• When America was a rural nation, the word
  natural meant natural, and spoilage was a
  natural process.
• Later, we learned to salt and dry and cure and
  pickle,
• And still later we learned to can, freeze, and
  vacuum-pack the food.
• Because it is puffed, shreaded, flaked, rolled,
  etc, breakfast cereal is the prototypical
  processed food four cents worth of commodity
  corn transformed into four dollars worth of
  processed food.
• (Pollan 566-567)

12
Variations on Green

• Edamame soy beans that are still green
• Greenhouse-gas emissions
• Greenpeace
• Phoenix Green Chamber of Commerce
• NOUNS Greens
• GERUNDS the greening of commerce
• ADJECTIVES green-grocer, green team at the White
  House, a green recession, green energy initiatives

13
Harvesting the Wind

• In an article entitled, The Gusty Superpower,
  Bryan Walsh wrote
• The turbines blades are as smooth as an Olympic
  swimsuit and honed to aero-dynamic perfection.
• He also wrote about
• Harvesting the sun, and
• Scooping the wind, and
• Sharing the electrical grid, and about
• taking power fromneighbors when theres no wind
  to sell.
• (42-43)

14
A River ran through it.

• This title was printed on a picture of an
  abandoned hand pump sitting on a dry, concrete
  platform in the middle of a desolate, brown
  desert, back-grounded by an equally dry and
  barren mountain range.
• This was an allusion to Robert Redfords film, A
  River Runs Through It, but the tense of the verb
  was changed to highlight the browning of the
  world.

15
The Third Pole, and The Water Tower of Asia

• These are the contrasting green words, used by
  geographers to metaphorically refer to the
  Tibetan Plateau in the High Himalayas.
• The words allude to the size and depth of the
  glaciers in this part of the world.
• Brian Walsh explains that these glaciers birth
  the great rivers of the region and nurse the
  Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong,
  the Yellow, and the Yangtse, rivers,
• thus providing material and spiritual
  sustenance to nearly half of the worlds
  population.
• (A River Ran Through It 58)

16
!Give as many words as you can which use each of
the following morphemes
Aero- Air Bio- Life Carbon- Carbon Cycle- Round De- Not Eco- Habitat Enviro- Surroundings Fuel- Energy Geo- Earth -ject Throw Logo- Word Re- Again Sphere Layer Sustain Sustain
17
!!Barking Flowers
18
!!!Munching Beaver
19

• References
• Briefing The Moment. Time. March 15, 2001,
  2-11.
• Energy Obamas Surprising Embrace of Offshore
  Oil Drilling. The Week April 16, 2010, 4.
• Escholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.
  Chapter 9 Whats All the Fuss about Natural,
  Organic, Local Foods? in Language Awareness, 10th
  Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and
  Virginia Clark. New York, NY Bedford/St.
  Martins, 2009, 523-602.
• Federman, Sarah. Whats Natural about Our
  Natural Products? in Language Awareness, 10th
  Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and
  Virginia Clark. New York, NY Bedford/St.
  Martins, 2009, 583-586.

20

• Caplan, Jeremy. Going Green Boycotts Are So
  20th Century. Time June 8, 2009, 54.
• Hawley, Chris. As City Sinks Deeper, Mexico
  Scrambles. Parts of Mexico City Siknking 8
  Inches a Year. Arizona Republic April 9, 2010,
  A1, A-14.
• Miller, Donna, and Alleen Pace Nilsen.
  Sustainability and the Recycling of Words.
  English Journal forthcoming.
• Pollan, Michael. Putting It Back Together Again
  Processed Foods. in Language Awareness, 10th
  Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and
  Virginia Clark. New York, NY Bedford/St.
  Martins, 2009, 565-571.
• Siebert, Dave. Biosphere 2 to Host 40th Earth
  Day Fest. Visitors Can Interact with Artists,
  Explore Habitats. Arizona Republic April 10,
  2010, E2, E8.

21

• Staudacher, David. Class Will Help Homeowners
  Become Green in a Weekend Arizona Republic
  Tempe News. April 10, 2010, Z10.
• Walsh, Bryan. The Gusty Superpower How
  Denmarks Green Energy Initiatives Power Its
  Economy. Time March 16, 2009, 42.
• Walsh, Bryan. How Green Is He? Time June 1,
  2009, 34.
• Walsh, Bryan. A River Ran Through It. Time
  December 4, 2009, 57-63.
• Winne, Mark. The Poor Get Diabetes, the Rich Get
  Local and Organic. in Language Awareness, 10th
  Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and
  Virginia Clark. New York, NY Bedford/St.
  Martins, 2009, 599-602.