Ecology

For some time now I've been bothered about something. Hell, I'm always bothered about something, there's always some aspect of life with humanity that gets my goat. So it's nothing new and no surprise.
But I keep hearing these tags put on certain people who have a yearning for the natural world, such as poets, politicians, sociologists, activists of some sort of stripe...that they are 'ecologists'. There's a certain poet in Grahamstown, here in South Africa, where I am now, who has been called an 'ecologist'. There are many others, in many other places.
These people have a love for nature, and a drive to understand it. That is a very good thing.
But they are in no way ecologists.
Ecology is a science.
To do ecology one must formulate hypotheses, collect data, publish in peer-reviewed journals, present at scientific conferences.
One may quibble with the literal meaning of the word - study of the house - but to call oneself, or think of oneself, or consider anyone else, who does not engage in the processes outlined above, an ecologist...is an insult to the people who are really trying to understand the natural world.
It's good to have all these naturalists and environmentalists roaming about. But let's not call them ecologists.