- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
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Smart Talk SMART TALK By Sotto Voce, N.P.
RECLAIMED LAND: The Underbelly, Texas chapter of the Nature Conservancy meets monthly at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired. At our last gathering, we decided to campaign against use of reclaimed land. Just as “inner city” often disguises racial prejudice, reclaimed land is a sinister code.
The media ovinely use this term, invented by so-called developers. Reclaiming is taking back what was once yours. “Developers” usually don’t reclaim anything. They buy, destroy, and reshape. When they fill and pave a wetland, they’re claiming divine power, behaving as ruthlessly as the Europeans who decimated the Americas’ indigenous populations.
Our chapter fights land reclamation, both the name and the action. At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we’re asking for suggestions for a more realistic term. Land manufacture? Habitat destruction? And we need accurate replacements for develop and developers. But nothing has the right ring and brevity. Can you help?
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