When it comes to raising environmental awareness among everyday citizens, professional vocabulary like “riparian,” “watershed,” and “impervious surface” is an obstacle. The more you throw words like these at everyday citizens, the less confident and comfortable they will feel about their ability to make a difference.

Trying to use environmental advertisements and outreach materials to teach new vocabulary is generally a bad idea. Adults learn, on average, less than one new word per week. When presented with a vocabulary lesson, many will perceive that as a situation that makes them feel stupid and that they want to avoid.

Step three of the Water Words That Work message method is to swap out your shop talk and replace it with plain English. You’ll give up some nuance and precision — but you’ll also get more agreement, action, and cooperation — and that leads to environmental awareness.

And here are some examples of nature protection and pollution control “shop talk.” The more you use them, the more people you will exclude from the conversation. Click the link for citations on the shortcomings of these terms.

If you are wondering about a term that is not on the list below, put it to the shop talk test — could your mother define the term for a stranger without your help. If yes, you can leave the word in. If not, take it out and replace it with something easier to understand.

Words With Documented Shortcomings

Term Issue Try Substituting…
Alternative Energy Clean and safe energy
Biodiversity Many
don’t understand this term
Extinction,
wildlife
Climate
change
Seems
mild, potentially pleasant
Global
warming
Conservation
easement
Many
don’t understand this term, particularly in urban and suburban areas.
For rural residents, the term calls to mind power lines, gas pipelines,
and other annoying intrusions
Voluntary
land preservation agreement
Endangered Species Upon hearing this word, your friends love you more — and your foes hate you more wildlife, animals
Infrastructure Not widely recognized Clean water investments, pollution control investments
Landscape This term evokes images of landscaping or groundskeeping — pretty, but not natural. Natural
areas
Land
use planning
“...vague
yet ominous sounding,” Belden Russonello Stewart
planning
ahead, balancing development and….
Nonpoint
source pollution
Very
few people have any idea what this term means.
Polluted
runoff
Open
space
This term evokes the image of land that will be developed soon,
possibly even a blighted or vacant lot that SHOULD be developed soon.
Natural
area
Recreation The public does not accept recreation as a big economic force, the term has overtones of fun and triviality. Family
activities
Run
out of water
The public perceives this term as absolute — and therefore far-fetched and unbelievable. Chronic
shortage
Sprawl Different
people understand differently, surprisingly many don’t understand at all
Overdevelopment,
runaway development
Stormwater Many aren’t sure what this means, and tend to believe that rainwater is clean. Polluted
runoff
Sustainable Only about half report any familiarity with this term, and even they offer wildly different definitions. Responsible, planning ahead, environmentally-friendly
Tourism This term conjures up images of rude outsiders and minimum wage service jobs. Family
vacations
Undeveloped
land
This term evokes the
image of land that will be developed soon, possibly even a blighted or
vacant lot that SHOULD be developed soon.
Natural
areas
Water
conservation
The
public associate this term mostly with personal behaviors and not with long term, institutional scale
efforts. “Water conservation” evokes short showers, brown lawns, and
other personal sacrifices that are acceptable as a temporary emergency
measure but not a real solution to a long term problem.
Waste
prevention, efficiency measures
Watershed Half or more simply don’t understand this term at all. Land and water conservation, upstream, downstream

Words With Suspected Shortcomings

Term Issue Try Substituting…
Anadromous Is this English? Migratory
Animal
Waste, Livestock Waste
“Waste” has many meanings, and some are relatively benign Animal
manure, loaded with chemicals
Flow, instream flow For many, this term evokes the location of stream or river,
or how fast the water is moving, not the amount of wate that’s in it.
Water level, volume of water, amount of water
Hydrograph Like spirograph, that cool toy we had when we were kids? Water level, volume of water, amount of water
Nutrients You want them in your food, why wouldn’t you want them in your water? Polluted runoff
Parks This is a positive term — but not something that is perceived to be in short supply Natural area
Riparian Are you kidding? Is this English? Along the river, on the shore, the riverbank
Water quality For many people, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear this term is “taste.” Clean water, polluted water
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