16 1

Sustainability and theRecycling of Words

by Alleen Pace Nilsen,

Donna Miller, and

Don L. F. Nilsen

16 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

16 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

16 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)

16 5

Birth and Death MetaphorsSuch 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.”

16 6

Positive Metonymies

Green Plants: Meaning “Healthy”Green Lights: Meaning “Go”Greenbacks: Meaning “Money”Golf Green: At the end of the fairwayGreen Barets: Elite troupsGreenhorn: Inexperienced, but with

potentialGreen with envy: Envious

16 7

More Positive Metonymies

“Green” is associated with other eco-friendly words like

“Sustainability”

“Organic”

“Natural”

“Greens,” “Browns” and other “Earth Tones”

16 8

“One’s 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 it’s easy to get’ to ‘obsessively local and will eat nothing else.’”

(Winne 600)

16 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 product…must have fewer than 5 calories per serving.”

“A cholesterol-free product must have 2 milligrams or less of cholesterol per serving.”

(Federman 585)

16 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)

16 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)

16 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

16 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 from…neighbors when there’s no wind to

sell.”

(42-43)

16 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 Redford’s film, “A River Runs Through It,” but the tense of the verb was changed to highlight the “browning” of the world.

16 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 world’s population.

(“A River Ran Through It” 58)

16 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

16 17

!!Barking Flowers

16 18

!!!Munching Beaver

16 19

References:

“Briefing: The Moment.” Time. March 15, 2001, 2-11.

“Energy: Obama’s Surprising Embrace of Offshore Oil Drilling.” The Week April 16, 2010, 4.

Escholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. “Chapter 9: What’s 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. Martin’s, 2009, 523-602.

Federman, Sarah. “What’s Natural about Our Natural Products?” in Language Awareness, 10th Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009, 583-586.

16 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. Martin’s, 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.

16 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 Denmark’s 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. Martin’s, 2009, 599-602.