Big news: we are starting up a new Edgeryders unit, dedicated to working on climate and environment-related issues. More news are coming in the next days. Here, I would like to hear suggestions for what we should call it.
As an avid science fiction reader, my metaphor for this kind of work is terraforming. We would contribute to terraforming (back) Earth.
So, should this be the Edgeryders Terraforming Team? The Gaian Gang? The Climate Club? The Solarpunk Squadron? Just joking, and maybe we would want something more businesslike, but… I would just like to hear from people. @noemi and I are going to make the final decision, but we could use some help.
For inspiration, there is a newly founded “Centre for Climate Repair Cambridge”. That’s as close to terraforming as it gets without mentioning the words “geoengineering” or “terraforming”. These are basically taboo in environmental groups.
Words that sit well with them at the moment and are even trends right now are “ecosystem restoration”, “eco-restorative”, “regenerative agriculture”, “rewilding” etc…
As I was telling you in private, Terraforming works for me as an internal name, more than a name we would brand outwards. I think branding the Reef in relation to edgeryders will be a more actionable priority. Even though that is only one project in this team.
The Green Edge, the Green Team or other simple names work for me better, if you look at Culture, Research and other names in the organisational structuring so far. They are clear and simple. I would keep the sexy, metaphor names for projects…
Our universe is anyway not easily legible for others. Imagine it would go in the main menu on the site… We are edgy enough in the content already, maybe pointers should be simple.
First of all, hooray! I’m excited about this. Have talked to Nadia about it and taking some meetings here in Stockholm in the coming weeks. There are a lot of talent and resources to tie in to here in Sweden, and KTH (alma mater of me and @nadia) is doing some really cool stuff in the field.
I would not go for the terraforming theme in outwards communication, as people in groups like XR and Greenpeace are very suspicious of anything that smells of geo-engineering on a macro scale.
I like this! How about a riff on it: The “Greening Edge”
Obvious connection between bleeding edge and Edgeryders. Also I think using a process rather than a state is not a bad idea. And of course it has a restorative / constructive edge to it (esp. compared to the aptly named disruptive / destructive bleeding edge).
Otherwise, I do think “geo-engineering” (terraforming in techno-optimist circles) and “limits to growth” are the two big ones to reference. Geo-engineering is of course currently taboo (and is a unwieldy word). To my mind this means it will split into two. The old taboo will stick with geo-engineering, but there will be a new buzzword for essentially the same thing, which will be associated with the (debatably) successful or at least promising instances of this practice. My guess is it will riff on “Negative Emmissions Technology”. Maybe something like “Climate Stabilization Technology”. But that’s all speculation and a bit OT.
Terraforming could be used but I don’t think it will be. It is too ambitious: “terra” implies a very wide horizon. Also it is now already “spent” to a degree and lost its lure of novelty.
Oh and in general when I have to find names I like to use the Word Associations Network thing very liberally.
Take some very basic words, and try to frankenstein something together that carries the right vibes and associations.
Then check how this is likely to be perceived in other relevant language groups. Often a thesaurus trip is also really helpful, particularly jumping between antonyms and definitions can help dig up interesting twists or puns.
Thanks for the news, Alberto. I’m happy to contribute to the namefinding. Although internal naming and external branding could differ, I would wonder whether this is operationally wise because name / brand convenens meaning (see comments of other).
The way how we (humans) handle Earth, to my view, is a ‘promethian terraforming’ and, hence, it would be appropriate to look for naming that reflects it (see [*]). What would the new edgryders unit do, mainly & within the concert of other groups? What is its ‘Alleinstellungsmerkmal’ (~ unique selling point)? What would be expectations that we would like to rise / others would like to see met?
To start finding a name: the ongoing change is not reversible; humans have to live along a develpoment trajectory; bending the trajectory is the option; most of the beinding has to be done in the 'human mental sphere); see [*]. What name could be built around terra/earth - trajectory - bending? - best regards, Martin
To throw some more inspiration into the mix, Project Drawdown would be an example for such a name. Focused on greenhouse gas emissions only, obviously. (Also, they avoided a conflict with the techno-dystopist environmentalist crowd, by avoiding anything that sounds like geoengineering.)
There’s also the practical issue of putting these things into the top navbar menu. We don’t want “Edgeryders” in there to keep it short and without redundancy. So we’d just to just put “Green” up there. Which seems confusing without context. (Especially if we write it in black )
All: …would terra[w]edge be choice? It would be a , methaphore with different associations, from tool, over curbe bending up/downward, …and edgeryders… Martin
So I started typing a comment yesterday when this went up, but never finished the draft, saying something like “sounds, cool, but who knows what terraforming is” adding that it’s not necessarily needed to be instantly obvious to many.
But now I just read @matthias comment, so,yeah, my advice would not be to use it in any way (although terra(w)edge does have an edge to it ;).)
Deep Green sounds cool, as well, but again, no real context clearly defined. I personally really like @noemi’s proposal the Green Edge - it’s clear, simple, and linked to Edgeryders overall.
“Research network” has the advantage that we can call it “the Edgeryders Research Network” when outside an EDGE context, and just “Research Network”, or RezNet, when we are inside our space. Same thing for Culture Squad. But I think Matt came up with a good naming test: imagine putting it as a top-level category in the platform (so no “Edgeryders” in the name").
I was thinking about “Anthropocene Unit”: it represents the climate, the human impact, the ways to adapt and be resilient, the essential interconnection between our actions and the world we live in. It speaks of our time and the urgence of doing something.
Mmh, I really like that angle “Anthropocene” expresses, in a single word, the need for geoengineering / terraforming and an apology that we have to do it now because we f****d up the planet for decades.
Maybe we can replace the “Unit” part with something else to make it a bit more edgy name? Some quick ideas:
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“Anthropocene” expresses, in a single word, the need for geoengineering / terraforming and an apology that we have to do it now because we f****d up the planet for decades.