Is caring about the climate unmanly?

"Mike Smith had been a US fighter pilot for more than a decade when he took what he describes as a 'hard turn' out of the navy. He decided to trade a life of deployment, fighter jets and cruise missile operations for one of planting trees and sustainability. Though he didn't realize it at the time, the seeds for that change of pace and path were sown when he was just nine and watching a mega-fire burn through forest near his home in central Idaho."

"More than 20 years later, when Mike returned to Idaho with his wife to show her where he grew up, what he saw stopped him cold. "You know, when you go back to the place you grew up, you see all the things that have changed. And so what became jarring was seeing the thing that hadn't changed. It was just black, still black dirt, 22 years later.""

"He started a company focused on post-fire reforestation for carbon offset production. He got involved in planting a couple of million trees and founded a climate tech company that helps businesses cut emissions. Along the way, he became aware of more women in the climate space than men."

"Do men and women relate to the climate crisis differently? What Smith was seeing was not unique to his experience but is in fact a widely recorded phenomenon known as the green gender gap. In short, the idea that women are more concerned about the climate than men. And as Amanda Clayton, a University of California political scientist found during her research on the topic, "the gender gap grows as a fu"

Mike Smith left a long career as a US fighter pilot to focus on planting trees and sustainability. As a child in central Idaho, he watched a wildfire burn through nearby forest, which left a lasting impression. More than two decades later, returning to his childhood area showed him land still scarred by black dirt, reinforcing the need for reforestation. He started a company focused on post-fire reforestation for carbon offset production and helped plant millions of trees. He also founded a climate tech company that helps businesses cut emissions. He became aware of a pattern in climate engagement where women show greater concern than men, commonly called the green gender gap.

Read at www.dw.com