Where are the men? It’s a question that keeps coming up. We are surrounded by women: at the composting workshops we run with Pocket Forests, in a room where a prison governor gives a powerful speech about the benefits of work for prisoners. It can feel like most of the shoulders being put to the wheel to fix broken systems are female.
We talk of Mother Earth, never Father Earth. Cultural ideas about gender tell us mothers are nurturing, emotionally connected life-givers. There are all kinds of problems with this notion, not least how exhausting it is for us ladies. There is also danger here for environmentalism. In Liz Plank’s brilliant book, For the Love of Men, she cites studies showing “both men and women associate eco-conscious behaviours with femininity and a repudiation of masculinity … it’s not that men don’t care about the environment: they’re just taught to care about threats to their masculinity more. How different would the world look if men had the freedom to care about the planet as much as women do?” she asks.
I asked one of the people in my home why he thought men don’t embrace that freedom. His response? To work in this area you need to really care about things and caring about things doesn’t fit with ideas of what it is to be a man. Smart people are unpicking the threads. He sent me a link to Jonathan McIntosh’s Pop Culture Detective video essay Boys don’t Cry, (except when they do) showing clip after clip of men weeping in Hollywood movies. “Movies tell us over and over again that if men allow themselves to feel vulnerable they will be rendered useless,” McIntosh says.
Calling all men
Toxic masculinity has supercharged a male mental health crisis. Investing time or effort in a green future should feel empowering, something you belong to, and in which your participation is urgent. We need all the men we can get: a new Jackie’s army that believes in an unbeatable team green.
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Media interviews with “captains of industry” rarely mention how their wealth comes from the resources of people and planet. Yet we paint these people as heroes and give lip service to the men who are youth workers, regenerative farmers, storytellers and carers. The heartbreaking gentle father figure in An Cailín Ciúin compared to the damaged father wreaking havoc in his family is both an Irish and universal story. Hurt people hurt people and the planet.
There are many brilliant men doing great work in Ireland. Celebrate them this Father’s Day. Book a place at Hometree’s Summer School and take one of Micael Murray’s magical urban wild plant walks (takingaleaf.com/walks). Adopt a bee with bee8.ie to support Anthony Freeman O’Brien’s inner-city bee-keeping project. Daddy Earth needs you.
Catherine Cleary is co-founder of Pocket Forests