An email in my inbox had the provocative subject line “What do you think about the word ‘Stewardship’?” The reader is working with a production company and getting ready to invest a significant amount of effort and money in a video project.
Here are my thoughts on her question:
The word “stewardship” ought to be great — but it is not. After all, “stewardship” has its origins in the bible. But it’s not one of the better known passages and only those who are quite serious about the bible get the reference. In this video below, you can see a group of Maryland residents attempting to define to “Forest Stewardship.” Alas, you do not see the word “stewardship” evoking the response that we would hope for.
Of course, these citizens would be even more befuddled if we asked them to define watershed stewardship!! 
As far as substitutes go, the closest term on the word that works list to “stewardship” is “responsibility.”
Here’s some fresh environmental writing advice from veteran pollsters David Metz and Lori Weigel that shows how you might use the term:
Click the image to see the full environmental writing report
Good luck!
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Thanks for the word recommendation…we could benefit from the simpler language.
This video is misleading, because the questioner asks these people out of the blue what the words “forest stewardship” mean. And it’s obvious that some of the people know what it is but can’t really find the words to define it.
I really don’t think there is a problem with using the word “stewardship.” In fact, to many people in the Bible belt, the word has positive connotations. What is important is that we put the word in context.
The use of jargon in any field tends to discourage casual interest that may, in the future, increase. My industry (technology) may be the worst, but my work with people in the environmental field shows me that leaders and scientists also use jargon and acronyms so frequently that newcomers may become discouraged.
Hey, first of all — good to be getting WWTW notices in my in box again! I’d missed them.
As for ‘stewardship’ It seemed to me that most of the people in the video had a pretty good idea of what it meant–buying products from sustainable forests, not denuding the forest, planting trees for the state–all of those are in the right area. They couldn’t come up with a comprehensive definition on the spot, but they were thinking along the right lines. I don’t know that ‘responsibility’ would have elicited similar responses. How can the average person take ‘responsibility’ for a forest apart from supporting the activities mentioned in the responses to ‘stewardship’?
I’d like to see a video asking about ‘responsibility’ for comparison.
Good point about the maps, though. Also, if you do use maps, I’ve read studies that suggest women tend to orient maps with the direction they’re going at the top, while men tend to keep north at the top. So women’s mental picture of the boundaries of an area really depends on where they are within it.