California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told environmentalists on Wednesday they needed to stop nagging and make their cause sexy, likening it to bodybuilding's evolution from a weird pursuit to mainstream (Reuters).

With the weather warming and everyone showing a little more skin, this message from the Terminator to increase the sexiness of the environmental movement is perfectly timed. But I don't think he means that we should try for a better tan with global warming. What I think he's saying is that we need to build connections and relationships where they don't yet exist. 

The Guvenator said those pushing for limits on greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution are no longer on the fringe. "We have to make it mainstream, we have to make it sexy, we have to make it attractive so that everyone wants to participate," Schwarzenegger said.

"Bodybuilding used to have a very sketchy image," the former bodybuilding champion told an environmental forum at Georgetown University. "... It had fanatics and it had weird people. ...But we changed that. ... It became sexy, attractive. Like bodybuilders, environmentalists were thought of as kind of weird and fanatics also, you know, the serious tree huggers," Schwarzenegger said.

So who are the people changing the environmentalist image? A host of sexy celebrities leap to mind: Leonardo Dicaprio, George Clooney, Daryl Hannah, Cameron Diaz. But there are also those of us with less fame, with our varied backgrounds and cultural identities - different in many ways but united by our commitment to make smarter choices in our daily lives that protect the environment. Everyone taking the Nature Challenge, and there are over 300,000 of them now,  is changing the image - and you can too.

Inviting diversity into the enviro tent is critical. And it doesn't mean we get into bed with polluting industries. It means that the best way to curb industry pollution is to speak the language of their CEOs. Maybe it's like a mercy date - there's no immediate connection, but in the end you discover that you actually have some shared history and values. You agree to be friends. And you're surprised by how much you learn from each other when you meet for coffee.

Randi Kruse is the Foundation's Nature Challenge maven.