Mike Smith had been a US fighter pilot for more than a decade when he made what was described as a ‘hard turn’ from the Navy.
They decided to trade lifetime deployments, fighter jet and cruise missile operations for tree planting and sustainability.
Although he didn’t realize it at the time, the seeds for a change in pace and path were sown when he was just nine years old and watching a large wildfire burn near his home in central Idaho.
The Lowman fire wasn’t huge by today’s standards, but to a boy growing up outdoors it seemed apocalyptic. The fire was so fierce that the atom started looking like a mushroom cloud.
Smith said, “It felt like the whole state was burning at that time. It was very, very memorable for me.”
The fire damaged not only its memory, but also the land it passed through. More than 20 years later, when Mike returned to Idaho with his wife to show her where he grew up, what he saw gave him chills.
“You know, when you go back to the place where you grew up, you see all the things that have changed. And so the thing that was disturbing was to see the thing that hadn’t changed. It was just black, still black dirt 22 years later.”
He started a company focused on reforestation after fires to produce carbon offsets. He became involved in planting a few million trees and founded a climate tech company that helps businesses cut emissions.
Additionally, they found more women than men in the climate field.
Do men and women relate to the climate crisis differently?
What Smith was seeing was not unique to her experience but is actually a widely reported phenomenon known as the Green Gender Gap. In short, the idea that women are more concerned about climate than men.
And as University of California political scientist Amanda Clayton found during her research on the topic, “the gender gap grows as a function of a country’s wealth.”
As countries become wealthier, it is more likely that women will express greater concern about climate change. But not because they have suddenly become more anxious.
“It’s actually the case that as countries get richer, men are less concerned about climate change,” Clayton said. “The growing gender gap is actually men’s growing suspicion.”
One reason appears to be fear of the perceived costs – financial and cultural – of transitioning to a clean energy future. These costs, which appear to be particularly crippling for men, are compounded by traditional expectations of being a provider. This is where politics comes in because they also found that as countries get richer, climate change becomes politicized.
“And as climate change becomes a right-wing political issue, we see political and industry elites begin to promote climate-skeptic beliefs,” Clayton said.
This may include narratives that target men more than women. Messages about being forced to abandon gas-powered vehicles; Or the threat to jobs in the fossil fuel sector, which is more male-dominated. In short, burning oil, gas, and coal can become part of an identity sometimes called petro-masculinity.
And as other recent research has shown, there is a direct link between climate change concerns and perceived threats to masculinity.
Different Ways to Talk Climate to Men
Psychologist Vidar Wetterfalk is working to understand this thinking. In his role with Män, a Swedish organization that engages men and boys to challenge stereotypical masculinity, he asks groups of men to express what they love about the natural world and what their concerns are for its future.
Instead of assigning blame and blame for the climate crisis, he said, “it makes a connection.”
He says connection is exactly what is missing in norms of masculinity, and although the experience is difficult for many participants, it is also appreciated.
“Many men share right after the first round that they have never talked to other men in this way before or heard from other men in this way before.”
Making climate action a mission
While men who come to such workshops are likely to already have some degree of interest in climate, it may be more difficult to reach those who have never participated.
Mike Smith believes practical, blame-free conversations can go a long way in getting men on board with why caring for the planet matters. And he has found his background useful here.
“One thing, former fighter pilot, no one can ever take away my MAN card,” Smith said. “It gives me a little room to maneuver when I’m talking about things that might be coded a little more traditionally as feminine.”
He also believes men are more likely to be interested in climate action if they see how it can improve their lives – for example, by installing solar power or driving electric vehicles to save fuel costs. Seeing ‘manly’ men go green can also help change thinking and behaviour.
Car companies have also started taking advantage of this. Some are now marketing EVs as major human machines that can charge a drill or become a generator when the power is out due to a storm.
“They’re trying to make electricity look manly instead of making gas and oil look manly,” Clayton said. “And I’m here for it, if that’s what you need to convince groups that have a cultural attachment to fossil fuels.”
But ultimately, Smith says it’s all about cultivating the same kind of inspiration that led him to join the Navy as a young man.
“Most people really need a sense of purpose, drive and mission,” he said. “I think maybe that’s the key to where we can go with masculinity and climate.”
Edited by: Sarah Stephan
This article was adapted from the DW Living Planet podcast. To listen to the full episode, Click here.