What's in a name? What a Montague and a Rosen have in common

Claire Danes and Leonardo Dicaprio in Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Juliet:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo:

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet

These famous words from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet describe the singular most important aspect of Romeo and Juliet’s lives that is preventing them from being together — their last names. Shakespeare uses a rhetorical question to ask the audience, “What’s in a name?” — a question which has been used for hundreds of years to communicate that the meaning of a name is more than just what we are called on a daily basis. A name carries its own reputation, power, and impact. [clip]

So, what’s in a name?

Two weeks ago I announced the launch of Drinkware OS to ~3,600 people via email and to 100 people via a physical letter, and instead of signing my name, I signed “Captain Planet.” While I haven’t pulled a Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and legally changed my name to that of a 1990’s TV comic, I have decided to adopt this moniker in an artistic and professional context to highlight the massive challenge in front of us — saving Planet Earth.

When I was young, there was a comic on TV called Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Set in a dystopian world, with eco-villain arch nemeses like Captain Pollution, Captain Planet was a superhero who was summoned when 5 youths combined their own individual powers — Earth, Fire, Heart, Water, Wind.

Despite his own enormous power, he repeatedly reminds the Planeteers that their true power comes from within and they have the potential to succeed even without their rings. [source]

Captain Planet fighting Captain Pollution isn’t just the plot of a 90’s television show. It is, very much, the world we live in. During this pandemic, while many people stopped burning fossil fuels on a daily commute, the big oil industry has continued to produce virgin plastic and fueled their growth at an exponential rate. The NYTimes recently wrote Big Oil Is in Trouble. Its Plan: Flood Africa With Plastic. We must actively fight back.

As the leader of a movement to #Drinkdifferent and carry one's own reusable bottle, and of a technology company, Tap, which creates software to connect water to the Internet, I have planted seeds for a refill revolution. The name Captain Planet is symbolic that the power to actually change the world is not in one woman or man alone — the power is inside all people coming together. Said by Captain Planet himself,

Remember, the Power is Yours.

A host of research has shown that people’s names have a direct impact on their success — from increased hireability, to higher status positions at work, to increased chances of selection at competitive schools. Even after ~425 years since Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, the reality is that names still matter — maybe even more so. Anecdotally, whenever I’ve introduced myself in a professional capacity as “Captain Planet,” the first 2-3 minutes of the conversation have always been about my name choice and always discussed with smiles. In doing so, I created a friendly bond, raised awareness of the need to rebuild the tap water system, and advanced Tap’s mission to eliminate the single use plastic water bottle by connecting water to the Internet. That which we call a Rosen by any other name would smell as sweet.

I will continue to advocate using artistry and technology to make living in a world without single use plastics possible. I invoke the spirit of Captain Planet to call upon everyone in my personal and professional circles to take incremental actions every day. The power is yours to create a wave of change to take pollution and emissions down to zero.

Captain Planet

#DrinkTap: Here's the latest count of my plastic bottles saved.
Thanks: The Riveter and Snack Queen for reviewing drafts of this.