So, who's an environmentalist? Not me, says the interim leader of the B.C. Green party.

According to Christopher Ian Bennett, an environmentalist is someone with a great deal of academic training and scientific experience on environmental issues.

"You can be someone who cares for the planet; you can be someone who cares for the ecosystem in British Columbia; and”¦that doesn't make you an environmentalist," Bennett told the Straight . "There are a lot of environmentalists in our party. But there are also a lot of businesspeople and fathers and mothers and engineers and workers. And I'm not an environmentalist. I'm a politician, and I want to make it really clear that this isn't a party that is exclusive for environmentalists."

The tag environmentalist , Bennett added, "scares some people away" because they have a "conceived notion of what that means".

"You can be a guy wearing a suit who works on Burrard Street or you can be a dot-com owner in Yaletown and”¦still be someone who cares for the environment," he said. "I'm a political leader and I have to speak from that perspective."

On September 6, the Straight reported that Bennett is thrilled at the prospect of working with B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, who, in turn, supposedly said he would "love to see Greens in the legislature". Bennett also gave Campbell high marks for the premier's environmental initiatives.

Citing the Straight 's article, Victoria Times-Colonist columnist Les Leyne wrote on September 11: "If Bennett was a puppy dog, his little tail would be wagging furiously at all the attention Campbell is giving him." Responding in his blog, Bennett took exception to Leyne's suggestion that Campbell "benefits most from alliance with environmentalists" because votes for the Greens would only take away from those of the B.C. NDP, thereby keeping the B.C. Liberals in power.

"He refers to Greens as 'environmentalists' as though there was something awful about working as hard as we all have to try and make a breakthrough into the legislature," Bennett wrote. "For the record: I am not an environmentalist, but I am leading a small but growing political party until October, Les."

The B.C. Green party will select a new leader when the party holds its annual general meeting and leadership convention in Victoria on October 20 and 21.