Human Ecosexuality And Gender Issues

Somehow the word "ecosexual" escaped our vocabulary until yesterday. Maybe we were too busy dunking our lexicon into industrial solvents in an attempt to cleanse it of the "metronatural" fiasco to notice any new variations (actually we didn't see what the big deal was about metronatural. shhh!). The word ecosexual refers to someone who selects dating partners based on their green credentials. The fact that such people exist and that there's a preponderance of them living in Seattle is news to no one. Do you think so many Priuses are on the streets here because they get such great gas mileage, or because they come equipped with a tractor beam for Earth-minded hotties?

We've been Meeting Green up here for a decade or so now; catching each other's eye while we're swabbing oil off of cormorants, spotting the same bottle of organic wine in our neighbor's recycling bin and our own, simultaneously reaching for the one copy of Orion in the waiting room of the mechanic's while our aforementioned Priuses have their tractor beams tuned up. But, wouldn't it be more efficient if we dated outside the ranks and performed conversions by browbeating our non-believing partners into ecological submission? Following them from room to room turning off the lights; picking paper out of their trash and putting it in the bin; blowing out the pilot light on their hot water heater? A potential partner could only put up with so much of that before opening their eyes to Earth Island.

If ecosexual is the new word for dating someone who shares your thinking on sustainability, environmentalism, conservation, what is it called when you attempt a conversion?