^[1]

Teddy Roosevelt & John Muir at Yosemite Valley

Photo from Teddy Roosevelt.com ^[2]

This is a guest post by Sara Ost. Sara is the editor of the fast-growing blog ecosalon.com, ^[3] where sexy, smart women are hoping you men will get with the program already. (A little secret: what women really want is for you to lead.)

I can hear the groans already: dude, not that green crap. I am so sick of hearing about going green. It’s a marketing gimmick!

If leading an earth-friendly life is just a marketing gimmick, it’s one of the longest running, most successfully manipulative gimmicks in all of human history. Some of the toughest, strongest, wisest men throughout time have intuitively grasped the wisdom of a proper relationship with nature – her beasts, her weather, and her wrath.

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.”

- Juvenal, Satires

Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. Napoleon Bonaparte (unfortunately, he and his men learned the hard way ^[4]). Galileo and Spinoza. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Bob Marshall and John Muir. Theodore Roosevelt.

The truth is that conservation – the active respect for the earth and her resources – has a rich history vetted by thousands of years of wisdom from philosophers and scientists, heroes and warriors, poets and writers, captains of industry and presidents. Today we call it “going green” and it’s everywhere, but that doesn’t diminish the inherent righteousness of the message. Thanks to mass media, 24/7 advertising, and popular culture, the context of our lives has changed in ways our forebears never could have conceived, but that just means men must shine brighter. You must act better. You must face bigger challenges despite greater distraction.

“Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral.”

- John Burroughs

No one is demanding you buy a vegan man purse, wear Birkenstocks or slurp the slimy type of tofu. There is a generous spectrum of what it means to be green, but only a lesser man scoffs at what his predecessors knew and better peers already understand.

10 Reasons Real Men Are ‘Going Green’

1. Real Men Lead

They especially lead in times of crisis. Active respect for nature requires it. Will you stand by and shirk your duty out of ignorance, laziness or both? So many males are nothing more than spoiled babies and have forgotten how to be men. It is up to you to safeguard a clean, safe future for your children. It is up to you to be a responsible steward of the natural blessings we take for granted – particularly in America, a place of vast resources and wealth. A true man sets an example through his own lifestyle. That means greening up your act.

2. Real Men Live for Adventure

Image from White House Museum ^[5]

Real men see life’s challenges and crises as great adventures. This doesn’t mean they’re happy about setbacks and problems; just that they don’t shirk their responsibility to leave the planet better than they found it. A real man relies on his inner compass to guide him and ignores the jaded attitudes and simplistic jokes of lazy minds. Maybe you can’t admit that Al Gore actually has pretty big cojones. Maybe you think Matt Damon ^[6] looks ridiculous in his new hybrid. That’s fine. It’s easy to make fun of other men who are taking action when you’re not, but this isn’t about organic cotton towels. This is about living as if life were a challenge – because it is, now more than ever.

So start that green website. Sign up for a beach cleanup. Hell, organize your own event. Just start, man. Theodore Roosevelt – easily one of our nation’s baddest daddies – started with Yellowstone (along with pioneering Americans Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett) and went on to become one of the most important figures ^[7] in conserving nature in American history. Being a “man of green” doesn’t require political action, however. It could simply mean trading in the SUV and discovering parts of town on your bike that you never knew existed. In future posts we will offer suggestions for adventurous green living (hint: this includes hunting).

3. Real Men Possess Intellectual Rigor

“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Global warming ^[8] is real. Climate change ^[9] is affected by man’s actions. But it’s not just global warming that is cause for serious concern. Our precious resources – water, oil – are dwindling. Food is scarce. Weather has become disastrous. These are very real problems that can be dismissed only if you are the most cavalier sort of ignoramus. The web is a great place to start learning: check out Treehugger ^[10], the Sierra Club ^[11], Grist magazine ^[12], or the Environmental News Network ^[13].

Not only do real men seek to expand their intellectual horizons, they expect it from others. If you want to know if a hamburger or a Hummer ^[14] is worse for the environment, you won’t leave it to the office clown to tell you. Real men know that being intellectually demanding of themselves makes for a higher quality of life and better relationships (more on that in #8).

4. Real Men Are Smart with Resources

Who doesn’t want to save money and energy? The virtues of frugality, efficiency, practicality and saving are all green. A smart man makes his home energy efficient, not just for the planet, but for his bank account. He works to be healthy to cut down on medical bills and be around to take care of his family for years to come. He looks for smart ways to save money ^[15]. Green living is just one aspect of his virtuous life. ^[16]

5. Real Men Seek to Lead a Life of Value

Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What Man has made of Man.

- William Wordsworth

What will your life add up to? Will you be a man who was respected by his peers, loved by his mate, honored by his children, and appreciated for leaving the world better than he found it? These are not trite questions – they are the things that define a man.

A major part of leading a life of value is avoiding waste. Vulgarity, clutter, excess – these are ugly characteristics of the male who lacks purpose and character. I’ve noticed that a man who shaves and showers daily, keeps himself and his living space spotless, and takes care of his car makes for a better friend, mate, employee and citizen. It just goes together. “Going green” naturally fits in with a life of value.

6. Real Men Aren’t Selfish.

“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.”

- Claude Monet

One huge reason I think men need to “go green” is because it requires growing out of self-absorbed immaturity. We live in a culture where narcissism is epidemic. We have food and movies on demand, speed dating and text breakups, postponement of marriage and a real career while we all “find ourselves.” ^[17] Emotional selfishness is at the bottom of it all. Get in touch with something larger than yourself. Life is not just about the iPhone and getting laid.

A real man lives in awe of the tremendous gift of being alive on planet Earth.

Imagine the very possible alternative, as Carl Sagan ^[18] did: “There would be no more big questions, no more answers. Never again a love or a child; no descendants to remember us and be proud; no more voyages to the stars, no more songs from the earth.”

7. Real Men Aren’t ‘Cowboys.’

Photo from History Commons ^[19]

Teddy Roosevelt fought with the Rough Riders and went on to lead the fight to conserve American lands. You can roll up your sleeves, talk tough and even clear some brush, but a real man does not react to important information by buying his head in the sand ^[20] or excuse himself from rational inquiry and action with simplistic beliefs and cliche one-liners. Forget the faux cowboy schtick. Being a man isn’t about driving a truck and tearing into a bloody pork chop. If you really want to cowboy up, take the issues of your day seriously and do something about them.

8. Real Men Know the Secret to Good Relationships with Women.

“When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.”

- Earnest Becker

If you are sick of the ever-growing string of failed relationships, start working on the one you have with yourself. It’s a big myth that men and women want different things – we all want great sex and genuine love. (It’s if they occur together where the disagreement begins.)

It’s been said that women get in touch with their emotions by sharing; men, through activities. But before you can truly bond with anyone emotionally you have to get in touch with your own emotions. Emerson believed that time in nature is essential for a man’s soul and character development, and I couldn’t agree more. Men have an intimate relationship with the land, just as women do – it’s not all Gaia and earth mamas. Lest you discount this as a bunch of woo-woo, ask yourself if men would have better relationships with women if they had a handle on themselves and a grasp of their role in the world. There’s nothing like confidence and self-sufficiency to attract a quality lady. And time exploring and working in the great outdoors is an obvious way to build these qualities.

9. Real Men Take Care of Themselves

Flickr photo: ericmcgregor ^[21]

“Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he’s been given. But up to now he hasn’t been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life’s become extinct, the climate’s ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.” – Anton Chekov, Uncle Vanya, 1897

I’m sorry to say it, but men are largely responsible for the environmental mess we’re in thanks to a widespread lack of self-discipline and flaws like greed, selfishness, and laziness. And men increasingly do not take care of themselves in even the most basic ways. I’m talking about diet, exercise, and finances (forget intellectual development and relationships). Until you start caring for yourself, it will be impossible to care for the environment in which you live. No wonder we’re in such a state. Stop destroying yourself: your mate, your offspring, your community and your planet need you to man up. Take pride in yourself.

10. Real Men Even Eat Tofu.

Photo from Cafe Press ^[22]

“Rabbit food”. Please. What kind of man is afraid of a lettuce leaf? Didn’t the tofu jokes start stinking back in 1998? You hear a lot about how mainstream media demean women, but they don’t seem to think much of men, either. Despite what Carl’s Jr. ads teach us about men’s decision-making and culinary deficiencies, plenty of real men know their nutrition and make a point of trying out earth-friendly fare. Come on: a man doesn’t have the mental capacity to grill up some veggie fajitas and organic margaritas? A real man doesn’t have to love it, but he is not scared of tofu.