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Occasionally, I am forced to create a new word to explain a phenomenon that has not yet been clearly defined by the English language. It can be topical, nonsensical, onomatopoeia-like, emotional, or it can just try to capture the spirit of the moment.

For example, when something is really funny, beyond comical…I mean “spit out milk through your nose, guffaw-like” comical…it's Hilarimoose. And it has come to my attention that Snickers has caught on to the awesomeness of the concept with their newest advertisements smeared on all the public transportation and taxicabs in Chicago (Hungerectomy, Peanutopolis, Satisfecellent, Nougaticity). I am so the lightening rod of pop culture. I digress…

But since this a column with its core filled with molten topics of environmentalisms, the new word that I had to create is not funny, not hilarimoose—in fact, this new gem of a word is quite negative, so not joyous, it's negative to the tenth power (that's negative10). I've built it up so much, I guess I should finally reveal the word:

***Hypocriticynicism***

What is the purpose of this word?

It's when you get so into something and “understand” it so well, everything about it is negative. No good can come from this black hole of human nature. Everything is negative, but you don't do anything to change it. For example, I know about the recycling system in Chicago—I also know it's a wreck—and I complain about the fact. I am being a cynic. But alas! Do I myself recycle??? NO. Therefore, I am also being a hypocrite. Am I trying to change the system? Well, not really. So I am partaking in a bit of hypocriticynicism. Not only I am being negative, I am also not doing anything to make it better or justify the situation—my actions are in fact to the contrary to my bemoaning. I'm sure we're all hypocriticynical about something. Whether it being interpersonal relationships, design ethos, or various other whatnot. It's so easy to be a cynic. And it turns out that most of us are hypocrites about something. Working on environmental topics can make one really cynical, and I always try to make sure that I don't partake in the negativity, but after a quick look, I do realize that I am part of the problem and I am not doing anything to resolve it. Hence, my invention of the term: Hypocriticynism. It encompasses a type of reaction that needs to be realized and mitigated. It's just another of my environmentalisms. Point: before being negative, before being critical, make sure that you're not a part of the problem, look for ways to overcome the negativity. There's enough of that crap coming from the politicians, we don't need more.

Some links related to my rantageousness:

Chicago's recycling is so not trusted, they actually set up webcams to show that work is going on: Psst…the cynical part is that it hasn't been update for almost a year. The hypocritical part is that none of my household recyclables would be in that picture anyway. The hypocriticynical part is that I put it in this article.

It's funny and punny environmental news, “The beacon in the Smog”.

An Onion article about environmentalism, which is posted above our overly used copy machine at my office.

p.s. I believe this issue's topic was going to be about food, but from an environmental front, it's just too easy to rant about. We'll get around to some environmentalisms regarding food in the future—island countries and corn belts beware!