New word of the month
Just good friends of the earth? – new words and the environment

by Kerry Maxwell

noun [C] /iksekul/
a person who has a very strong interest in environmental issues affecting their lifestyle and choice of romantic partner

ecosexual adjective /iksekul/

ecosexuality noun [U] /iksekulti/

“Ecosexuals are an evolving breed of city dweller for whom keeping green is every bit as important in their romantic life as in their choice of household cleanser, dinner food, or wall paint.”
(San Franciso Magazine, November 2006)

“Ecosexuality is still relatively new, so the community is still rather small. This can make it difficult to find another who shares their desire to make a difference in the world and has made a true commitment to protect the environment.”
(EzineArticles, 8th July 2007)

Being ‘green’ - it no longer conjures up images of colour schemes, or a fetish for gardening, but in the 21st century is all about your attitude to the environment. The ‘green’ buzzword has infiltrated our consciousness in more ways than one. It influences what we eat, what we throw away, how we get to work, shop, holiday . . . and now, it seems, could potentially impact on our love lives. If leading an eco-sensitive lifestyle is so important to you that you couldn’t imagine sharing your world with anyone who isn’t equally concerned about the environment, then maybe you should call yourself an ecosexual.

Yes, being ‘environmentally-conscious’ appears to be so fashionable these days that it, too, has joined the trend of social stereotyping which gave birth to a productive pattern of word formation. First there was the metrosexual, the heterosexual male who pays careful attention to grooming. He was closely followed by the retrosexual, the ‘classically male’ type, unshaven, T-shirt and jeans, hands covered in engine oil. Along, then, came the ubersexual, the handsome male with strong ethical principles, and the contrasexual, the superconfident female who is happy to stay single. And now there’s finally a gender-neutral term, the ecosexual, a person with an all-embracing concern for the environment.

The archetypal ecosexual is a city-dweller who is heavily into recycling, takes measures to reduce his/her carbon-footprint by using low-energy light bulbs and cycling to work or the shops, takes holidays that do not involve air travel, and typically eats organic, locally-produced food (ecosexuals are often vegetarians or vegans, who have the opportunity to meet a host of like-minded partners via a growing number of vegetarian/vegan dating websites).

On the model of the earlier terms metrosexual and retrosexual, the word ecosexual is used as both a countable noun and an adjective, and has spawned a related noun ecosexuality. If you couldn’t see yourself as metro- or retro-, but are wondering whether eco- just might be you, here are some top tips for ecosexual dating:

If eco- issues have become so fashionable that they’re influencing our love lives, then it’s no surprise that they’ve significantly expanded our vocabulary in recent years. Expressions like environmentally-friendly are now yesterday’s news. The terms global warming and climate change are firmly embedded in everyday language, joined by a host of other expressions as our concern for the planet has hit mainstream comment.

As highlighted by ecosexual, the prefix eco- itself has been very busy. It started life in the late 19th century embedded in the word ecology, and in the first half of the twentieth century was largely confined to this word and its derivatives (i.e.: ecologist, ecological(ly)). After finally breaking free later in the twentieth century, when it became synonymous with the idea of protecting the environment from the harmful effects of modern life, it is adding to our vocabulary all the time. Some recent examples include:

ecotourism noun [U] environmentally-friendly tourism, tourism which strives to minimize environmental impact on places visited for their natural or cultural interest

ecolodge noun [C] an environmentally-friendly holiday home, usually made of wood

eco-tech noun [U] technology designed to prevent environmental problems and reduce the use of natural resources.

eco-efficiency noun [U] the ability to manufacture goods efficiently and with as little effect on the environment as possible.

eco-anxiety noun [C/U] worry caused by concerns about the present and future state of the environment.

The productivity of the prefix eco- is, however, only one of many examples of how an increasing preoccupation with environmental issues has given birth to new expressions.

Global warming has more recently been joined by another phenomenon causing increasing concern among scientists, referred to as global dimming. This term describes a gradual decline in sunlight caused by air pollution. Though the concept initially met with some skepticism, recent research confirms it to be a very real problem, acknowledged by scientists across the globe, and one which could in fact be masking the intensity of global warming. Current research appears to indicate that warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from global dimming - in effect the two problems have been cancelling each other out. This means that the climate may in fact be even more sensitive to the greenhouse effect than was originally thought.

Talk of climate change has led to the spin-off expression climate canary, an unexpected natural event (e.g. flowers blooming surprisingly early) that is caused by climate change, and which indicates that much bigger environmental problems are likely in the future. Likewise a climate (change) refugee is a person who has been forced to relocate due to changing climate or a disaster associated with climate change.

Concern about carbon emissions has led us to evaluate the impact of our daily routines, and has embedded the expression carbon-footprint into general awareness. We’ve now begun to consider the long-term effects of routine activities which at one time we didn’t think twice about, like flying abroad on holiday, driving the kids to school, or even taking a deep, hot bath . . . To minimise our carbon-footprint, both individuals and organisations talk about becoming more carbon-neutral (taking steps to reduce environmentally-damaging carbon emissions), and might consider introducing carbon offsets (measures which ‘neutralize’ the effects of previous pollution, such as planting trees which absorb carbon dioxide). Even more recently, we’ve moved up a gear from mere carbon-neutrality, and there’s a new goal in sight, referred to as being carbon-positive (adopting measures which are actually beneficial to the environment rather than simply counteracting the damage).

The need to demonstrate a clear environmental conscience has led from whitewash to greenwash (attempting to convince people that you are doing something good for the environment). Greenwashing comes in various guises, from advertising (supposedly) eco-friendly shampoos through to government policies alleged to promote the well-being of the environment. Also in the political arena, we’ve recently seen the birth of the crunchy conservative (often abbreviated to crunchy con), a kind of ecosexual politician, with an image of healthy living and a dedication to protecting the environment.

The mobile phone revolution catapulted the expression pay-as-you-go into daily use, and in the green world of reduce, reuse and recycle, we’re now talking about the need for pay-as-you-throw, a system whereby people pay fees based on the amount of non-recyclable rubbish they put out for collection. Local councils may even force families into more disciplined recycling habits by issuing them with a bonsai bin, an extra small wheelie bin. At the other end of the dietary chain, the next time you purchase strawberries out of season, consider the environmentally damaging impact of food miles, the distance that a food item travels from the place where it is produced to the place where it is eaten.

If all this talk of man’s impact on the environment makes you feel ashamed to be human, then take comfort in the fact that even the animal world doesn’t appear to be totally off the environmental hook. Thanks to the expertise of biologists, we now have the enviropig, a specially bred pig which produces environmentally-friendly manure…Could this be the ecosexual’s answer to ‘bringing home the bacon’?! . . .

For more information about new and topical words and phrases, read Kerry's Word of the Week articles on the MED Resource Site.