Semantic folly
It is almost unbelievable: the setting up of a Sri Lanka Institute of Environmentalist.
The state-owned Central Environmental Authority (cea) set up this institute after a summary meeting with a few environmentalists and officials. It paid no heed to the protests of environmental activists (see p55).
According to a note distributed by cea, "The objective of establishing the Institute is to uphold the dignity and raise (the) reputation of the environmental profession in Sri Lanka and to expand the profession and its services to the country at large and extend its usefulness to the advantage of the public.' To become a fellow, a member should have seven years of practice in the field of environment. The membership to this institute will be restricted to those with post-graduate or other advanced degrees in environmental sciences. Those with degrees in other disciplines can also become members if they have seven years of work experience in environment-related agencies.
cea seems to have got its wires crossed: it must be referring to environmental scientists rather than the wider group of environmentalists. Its intention was probably to establish an institute of environmental scientists or environmental professionals.
Check the dictionary
Curious to find out the meaning of the word environmentalist, I checked the American Heritage Dictionary . It defines an environmentalist as "a person who seeks to protect the natural environment from air and water pollution, wasteful use of resources, excessive human encroachment or a person who believes that environment is more important than heredity in influencing intellectual growth and cultural development'. But then confining an environmentalist within definitions is wrong and creates unnecessary boundaries. In my opinion, an environmentalist is a person who is conscious of the environment and who seeks to protect and is involved in protecting the environment and is vigilant on environmental issues