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The Sustainable Hour no. 602 | Transcript | Podcast notes
The Sustainable Hour begins with Earth Overshoot Day – the date when humanity has consumed everything the planet can regenerate during the entire year. In 2026, that date arrived on 30 July.
Mik Aidt compares our situation with a household earning $100,000 while spending $173,000 every year. Life may appear comfortable for a while, but underneath the surface, assets are disappearing and debt is accumulating.
We are borrowing forests, fisheries, soils, water and a stable climate from the future. Much of what is lost cannot simply be recovered when governments eventually decide that the situation has become too expensive or uncomfortable.
“The planet will not negotiate. You cannot negotiate with physics. The bill will not disappear simply because we refuse to open the envelope,” Mik says.
. . .
“What people are not getting is that we can’t turn this back – the CO2 to a large part remains in the air for thousands of years. Some people think we can wait and, when it gets too bad, then we reduce emissions and things will get better again. People don’t realise that we can’t make it get better again. We can only prevent it from getting much worse.”
~ Stefan Rahmstorf, German climatologist
Europe’s burning summer
At the global news desk, Colin Mockett OAM reports on another brutal European summer.
A major wildfire near the Sizewell B nuclear power station in England forces hundreds of people to evacuate. Greece and France battle destructive fires, while drought and extreme heat place pressure on communities, ecosystems and energy systems across the continent.
Heat also causes nuclear reactors in France to be taken offline because river water has become too warm to safely cool them.
Meanwhile, a powerful El Niño is developing in the Pacific Ocean. Climate models point towards potentially record-breaking global temperatures and an increased risk of heatwaves, drought and bushfires as Australia approaches summer.
• Wildfires spread across England, France, Spain and Greece • Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced • Extreme heat places pressure on nuclear power stations • El Niño strengthens in an ocean already warmed by fossil fuel pollution • Australia faces the possibility of another dangerous bushfire season.
Colin’s warning is direct: these events offer a glimpse of conditions that could increasingly become normal in a heating world.
. . .
Where are the men?
The main guest in this Hour is one of the programme’s own hosts. Tony and Colin interview Mik Aidt about his newly published book, ‘Man of Earth – Masculinity, meaning and the future of being human.’
The book began with a question Mik had repeatedly asked while attending climate, environmental and community meetings: Where are the men? Again and again, he found rooms filled mainly with women. Research confirmed that men were less likely to participate in community activities and generally less concerned about climate change.
Digging deeper opened a much larger conversation about masculinity, power, loneliness, anger, belonging and purpose.
The book explores why so many men feel lost, why young men are attracted to figures such as Andrew Tate, and why a growing masculinist movement seeks to restore male dominance over women, families and the living world.
Mik also speaks openly about his own anger following a painful divorce. For a period, he felt that women had gained too much power and that men were being pushed aside. Understanding that experience became part of the journey behind the book. Rather than leaving men trapped in resentment, shame or nostalgia, Man of Earth searches for a stronger and more mature story.
. . .
A new meaning of strength
The old masculine script told men to provide, compete, conquer, control and remain silent about their emotions. That script is collapsing. Artificial intelligence may transform millions of jobs and further weaken the traditional identity of the man as provider and head of the household. The question is therefore becoming increasingly urgent:
Who is a man when his value no longer comes from his job, income or authority?
Mik argues that men can find meaning through responsibility, belonging, mastery, service and care for life.
The answer may begin with an old word that deserves a new meaning: gentleman.
A gentle man does not surrender his strength. He learns how to carry it responsibly. He repairs rather than dominates. He protects without controlling. He listens, shows up and acts when life is threatened.
“The man of Earth does not rise above others. He rises into responsibility.”
. . .
The Gentlemanifesto
The Hour features an excerpt from the book’s Gentlemanifesto:
• Power must serve life
Human strength, wealth, knowledge, technology and political power must protect the conditions that allow life to flourish.
• Law must defend the living world
Our laws must recognise responsibilities towards climate, nature, human health, future generations and the more-than-human world.
• Companies must have a conscience – by law
Corporations should not be permitted to enrich themselves by knowingly causing serious harm to people, communities or the Earth.
• Technology must remain in service to life
Artificial intelligence and other powerful technologies require human accountability, democratic oversight and a clear obligation to support life on Earth.
• The gentle man acts
He meets the crises of his time with courage, humility, honesty, gentleness and responsibility. He does not wait for someone else to become the adult in the room.
No organisation owns this idea. Every man can carry it.
A badge on a coat. A conversation between fathers and sons. Five men around a table in a local pub. A teenager asking what adulthood requires of him. A business leader placing the wellbeing of life before the pursuit of profit.
Movements often begin quietly – with a sentence that people recognise as true.
. . .
NEW SONG
‘Gentle as a Man’
The programme closes with the original song ‘Gentle as a Man’, which grows from the central message of the book:
“I carry my power
With care in both hands
I let the whole world in
And learn to understand.”
The song presents gentleness as courage rather than weakness – a willingness to remain present, accept responsibility and walk towards trouble when life is threatened.
Life is calling. How will men answer?
– A Eurovision-inspired song about a man choosing gentleness over domination, owning the harm he has caused and using his strength in service to life and the living Earth.
. . .
Book gathering in Geelong
A small and informal gathering to celebrate the publication of Man of Earth will be held at the Geelong Cellar Door in Little Malop Street:
Thursday 13 August 2026 at 2:00pm
Everyone is welcome to join the conversation about masculinity, meaning, artificial intelligence, ecological breakdown and what it could mean for men to live in service to life.
. . .
→ ‘Man of Earth’ book:
www.books.by/mikaidt
→ Service to Life:
www.servicetolife.earth
“There’s something deeper down that we are up against. And I think – this is my claim, and this is what the book is about – that men’s attitude, you know, the masculine attitude towards the world as somebody who is in charge, somebody who dominates, somebody who has to be successful and make a lot of money, and so on, that is where it all begins.”
~ Mik Aidt, author of Man Of Earth
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts or Spotify
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We at The Sustainable Hour would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wadawurrung People. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
The traditional custodians lived in harmony with the land for millennia, nurturing it and thriving in often harsh conditions. Their connection to the land was deeply spiritual and sustainable. This land was invaded and stolen from them. It was never ceded. Today, it is increasingly clear that if we are to survive the climate emergency we face, we must learn from their land management practices and cultural wisdom.
True climate justice cannot be achieved until Australia’s First Nations people receive the justice they deserve. When we speak about the future, we must include respect for those yet to be born, the generations to come. As the old saying reminds us: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is deeply unfair that decisions to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t live to face the worst impacts, leaving future generations to bear the burden of their inaction.
“The Indigenous worldview has been marginalised for generations because it was seen as antiquated and unscientific and its ethics of respect for Mother Earth were in conflict with the industrial worldview. But now, in this time of climate change and massive loss of biodiversity, we understand that the Indigenous worldview is neither unscientific nor antiquated, but is, in fact, a source of wisdom that we urgently need.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, weallcanada.org
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
→ ABC News – 2 August 2026:
Heatwaves and raging fires mark Europe’s ‘dystopian’ summer
“Europe’s heat has moved into uncharted territory.”
→ One Law for Earth:
We consume more than the Earth can regenerate
“Earth Overshoot Day marks the moment our yearly consumption exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate. And it keeps arriving earlier.”
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TRANSCRIPT
of The Sustainable Hour no. 602
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General: (00:00)
Cooperation over chaos. We are all in this together.
Jingle: (00:14)
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong: The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson: (00:24)
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour podcast. We’d like to acknowledge that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to their elders – past, present, and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded. Land that was nurtured, not owned, but nurtured by the Wadawurrung people for millennia before it was stolen. And in doing that and in nurturing their communities, they’ve accumulated a great amount of ancient wisdom – the same wisdom that we’re going to need to survive the climate crisis.
Mik Aidt: (01:12)
Imagine a household spending three quarters more than they earn every year. So for instance let’s say if my household was earning $100,000 a year, but we’re spending $175,000 a year. That family might appear comfortable for a while, living it up, nice house, holidays, the fridge is full. But underneath the appearance of normality. Assets are disappearing and debt is growing with $75,000 every year.
That’s exactly the kind of situation humanity finds itself in today. Last Thursday it was Earth Overshoot Day. That’s the day when humanity had used as much from nature as nature is able to regenerate during this whole year.
And we reached that point already here at the 30th of July. So everything we consume from now on up to New Year adds to our ecological deficit or debt. More forests cleared than can regrow. More fish caught than populations can replace, more carbon released than forests and oceans can absorb. So we’re now using nature 73 per cent faster than Earth can regenerate it.
Here in Australia, the picture is even worse than that. If everyone on Earth consumed resources the way we Australians do, Overshoot Day would have arrived already in the middle of March. We would need almost five planets for everyone on this planet to be able to live like we Australians do. And of course, we don’t have five planets.
So, hmm, where do all these extra resources come from? Well, you could say they come from the future. We take them from future forests, from future fisheries, future soils, future water supplies, and importantly from future generations.
And I haven’t even mentioned the CO2, the carbon problem. People seem to think that we can just wait and then when it gets too bad we can then reduce emissions and things will get better again. But that’s not how it works. We can’t make it better again. What we can is we can prevent it from getting even worse. That’s it.
If we stop our emissions, it’s like, you know, again, if you compare it to a house, it’s like stopping the water after the house has already been flooded. And yes, it’s important that we stop the flow of water. Every centimetre of water we prevent matters. But the house has still been flooded. Every fraction of degrees of heating matters. Every forest, every reef, every community, every species that we protect matters. Some ecological damage can heal, of course. Forests can regrow, rivers can recover, landscapes can be restored.
But many other losses are permanent, at least on a human timescale. A collapsed ecosystem – we can’t just refinance it. An extinct species – they’ll never return. A climate which has been wrecked by our centuries of fossil fuel pollution will not simply reset when politicians eventually decide, this situation is getting a bit uncomfortable, it’s getting very hot, you know, and very expensive.
And even so, politicians, the media, and the entire economic system here in our society, everyone continues to treat this as some kind of a side issue. We hear of course media reporting on the damage, but no one is talking about the repair. What we need to do. So overshoot day is a reminder that something eventually will have to go. This is not even up for negotiation. The planet will not negotiate. You can’t negotiate with the physics. The bill will not disappear even though we refuse to open the envelope.
That’s a bit about the long-term global outlook for me. The reality that I think we need to face sooner or later, but better sooner than later. For now, here in The Sustainable Hour, it’s time to catch up with the latest news from around the globe and at our news desk as usual we have Colin Mockett OAM and I’m hoping, Colin, I’m just hoping that you have got some good news for us today. Colin?
. . .
COLIN MOCKETT’S GLOBAL OUTLOOK: (06:06)
I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mik. Usually I’ve got something a little bright light of hope at the finish, but today it’s… it’s all glum. So I’ve opened the envelope already and I’ve seen the bill. So here it is.
Our roundup this week begins in England where hundreds of people were evacuated last week and a major disaster was declared after a wildfire spread over more than 80 hectares on the coast of Suffolk. Now that’s not particularly big by Australian wild bushfire standards. What made this one so serious was the firefront was just a few kilometres from the Sizewell B nuclear power station. So it tripped them all over into panic mode in the UK.
The fire, described by one witness as apocalyptic, was still not completely under control as of last weekend, though weather conditions had eased. Suffolk Fire and Rescue’s Jon Lacey said the wind change has helped a little bit unexpectedly. Whether it’s actually under control, I wouldn’t commit myself just yet, but we are surrounded by resources to protect property and life. That out of control fire came a day after Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared the nation to be officially in drought. Elsewhere in Europe, Greece continues to battle to contain a spate of wildfires, including the tourist island of Crete that forced thousands of locals and holidaymakers to evacuate and left three firefighters dead.
Now this was while France had a short reprieve from some of the worst fires in that country’s history. The blazes in France killed two firemen, destroyed more than two hundred homes, and burnt forty two thousand hectares. In all, Europe has been suffering through a brutal summer. Western Europe had its hottest June on record with temperatures more than three degrees above average. As of late July – I could say: last week – more than 330,000 people had been evacuated from their homes across France and Spain. That was all due to fire. Data from a study still underway suggests that a combined excess death toll across Europe during the extreme heat of last summer was more than 27,600. French river water used as a coolant for nuclear reactors posed a risk as heat related restrictions saw the Golfech nuclear reactor in southern France taken offline since July the ninth.
Now, are you listening, Angus Taylor and the other right wing coalition politicians that are still advising us to ditch renewable energy and go nuclear as an alternative to burning fossil fuels? It has all kinds of dangers, fellas. We should not do it.
Now the current conditions in Europe are seen as a preview to the new normal, and it serves as a warning for what’s ahead for us in the Australian summer. That’s because an El Nino event is intensifying in the tropical Pacific Ocean which is forecast to increase the frequency and intensity of heat waves, droughts, fires, and destructive storms in the summer ahead.
El Nino events are part of a natural cycle that plays out every two to seven years, but they are now occurring on Earth that is blanketed by fossil fuel emissions. Because this El Nino will release stored ocean heat into a climate that’s already warmed by greenhouse gas emissions, scientists are warning that global temperatures are almost certainly to reach new records in 2027.
It is no overstatement to say that the latest El Nino forecast has scientists worried as we move further beyond the bounds of our historical data. When the latest climate model forecasts were released, American scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote: “I’m generally pretty measured in how I discuss climate data, but it looks like this year’s El Nino is not only very likely to be the strongest event since reliable records began, it may end up the strongest by a truly mind-blowing margin.”
There is inherent uncertainty in any form of modelling, climate, economic or otherwise. But when more than 90 per cent of 667 simulations run across 14 different seasonal forecasts models, they all predict record breaking temperatures, you know you are entering uncharted territory. Ocean temperatures are predicted to peak next year at three point six degrees above average, topping the all time high of 2.75 – that they’re all in Celsius these – are during the 2015-2016 El Nino. That was the last El Nino we went through. Now what sets this year’s event apart is that it is forming in an ocean that has never been hotter.
This June was the warmest the Pacific has recorded since nineteen hundred. The entire ocean has warmed due to climate caused greenhouse gas emissions. So the models tend to overstate the strength of recent El Nino’s relative to the historical record. Even correcting for this, the forecast peak is still a record breaking 3.1 degrees centigrade.
We are bearing witness to monumental changes that future researchers will look back on as a period when the Earth’s climate slipped off its moorings and into treacherous waters. It’s still too early to know exactly what this El Nino will bring to Australia. What we do know is that so far this winter has been warm and wet across much of the southeast of Australia. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, El Nino is now firmly established and likely to last until at least summer with the models tipping a strong to very strong event.
The BOM is also careful to note that a strong signal in the Pacific does not necessarily mean strong impacts in Australia. It’s only one of many influences on our climate. Models currently suggest a cooler than average eastern Indian Ocean developing over winter and persisting into the spring which could lead to the classic hot and dry conditions in Southeast Australia. Now this could herald another bad bushfire season for the South, which includes Victoria. And that piece of measured scientific warning ends our roundup for this week.
. . .
Jingle (14:08)
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
Tony: (14:13)
Thanks for that, Colin. As you said, not a lot of good news in amongst that. The thing that’s stood out for me is that the number of people that died, but we also need to take into account that each one of those are real people with real loved ones and their lives have been turned upside down. And that’s it. It’s not mentioned in the mainstream media, or the fact that it’s connected intricately with the climate crisis. That’s that’s just astounding, that, and it shows that still the influence that the fossil fuel psychopaths have when that they still keep producing their toxic products day after day. Anyway, on with the show.
Our guest today is someone we know quite well, but he’s going to speak with another hat on, I guess. So it’s our co-host Mik Aidt. Mik has just written a book that… yeah, let’s get straight into it, Mik, what’s the book? Why was it written? And that’ll start us off.
Mik: (15:23)
Yeah, Tony, thanks. It’s kind of funny to be in the chair of being the interviewee! Yes, the book is called Man of Earth. And the subtitle: ‘Masculinity, meaning and the future of being human.’ And that’s a big mouthful! But it exactly relates to what you just talked about there, Tony – the men in the fossil fuel industry. Because I think one of the basic questions that I have been asking myself for more than 10 years is: what is driving all this madness?
If we dig down underneath and really seek the answers to how did it get this bad? And how is it even possible? I think what my book is an attempt to do is to explore the underlying values, you could say, or lack of values. And the the kind of system that we have in the Western society. And then to ask: where did that come from? If we go back in history, can we find some traces?
Because if we don’t have an understanding of that, I think what we’re seeing as climate activists is that we’re dealing with something here that is more than just dealing with some psychopaths who have got a bit of money. Yes. But there’s something deeper down that we are up against. And I think – this is my claim, and this is what the book is about – that men’s attitude, you know, the masculine attitude towards the world as somebody who is in charge, somebody who dominates, somebody who has to be successful and make a lot of money, and so on, that is where it all begins. That’s the claim.
And so my starting point was actually… I was looking, you know… I have attended hundreds of meetings which all have ‘nature’ or ‘climate’ as the headline. And when I look around in the room, when I attend these meetings, it’s become more and more striking for me that eight out of ten people in the room would be women. And I’m saying that just as an average, of course. Sometimes it could be seven, sometimes it could be nine. But sometimes I’m the only man in the room. And I wonder: where are the men? What’s going on here? Where are the men? So I started to do some research.
And first of all, I learned that it’s true: all statistics show that men really don’t participate in community activities and so on. And secondly: that men are not really as worried about the climate as the women are.
Then I started to go deeper and say: what is that about? What is it with the women? And I learned that there’s all sorts of movements, actually, where for instance there’s something called ‘the divine feminine’ where women are coming together and really looking into what it means to be a woman -a life-giving, empathetic, caring and community-focused person. And I started asking, well, me – as a man – where’s my movement?
While all the women are getting ready for the next step, which is that we need to move away from fossil fuels, we need to move towards a more ecological future, what are the men doing? Do they have the equivalent?
And my answer was: actually, no, the men are in trouble! The men are hurting!
When you look at all the different statistics that there are, especially here in Australia maybe… For instance, just one simple one: suicide rates. Men are killing themselves three times more often than women. Violence. Prisons. 90-something per cent of the people who are in prison are men. So what’s going on here?
And that’s where, you know, I started getting curious and started wanting to seek some answers. And my God, you know, it really opened up what’s called a rabbit hole. So I disappeared into a rabbit hole and I came back up three months later. Feeling a lot more enlightened in a way, but also inspired, because it’s given me a new, fresh outlook on what it means to be a climate activist.
And that has to do with I think we need to totally forget about the word climate. And then we need to start talking about life in general. Because that’s what men are interested in. They are actually interested in life.
Colin: (20:00)
that’s really good. I want to know though, Mik, when you came out of your rabbit hole and you had a clearer understanding, can you encapsulate that into just a couple of a couple of words? Because so far you’ve asked lots of questions. Did you eventually come up with a few solutions or answers, or is that the next book?
Mik: (20:29)
I think I did, but you’d have to read the book to tell me whether you I did try, Colin. But I must say that in the beginning I was thinking, I’m not gonna write one of these books, you know, these kind of self-help books where you get all the answers on a list 1-10 – this is what you do and everything will be fine.
I was more interested in in asking the questions actually. And then to take one question that leads to another question that leads to a third question and so on.
But I must say, towards the end I felt that actually there are some answers that we could do and I think one of the big ones is that we as men we need to move away from this masculinity anger. You know, this whole thing about the manosphere which is so much in fashion at the moment. Everyone’s talking about the influence coming in particular from America, where you hear about Andrew Tate, Trump, and many others who are like saying, ‘It’s super cool to be a man because we are in charge!’ – you know, you even have this movement at the moment called the ‘the masculinists’. Douglas Wilson… He says: ‘Men are created to exercise dominion over the Earth.’ Which includes, of course, women, but also nature. And he has also written: ‘The sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. No. A man penetrates, conquers, colonises, plants whereas a woman receives, surrenders and accepts.’
And I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found out that these people there they want to take away women’s right to vote. Women just have to be in the family and to submit to their husbands and follow his words. That is masculinism. And it’s it’s flowering, it’s blossoming in America at the moment.
And it’s coming over to Australia as well. Also, the statistics show that the young men see someone like Andrew Tate, who is a real macho fellow, as a hero. The percentage of young men and boys who are looking up to him is is shocking and frightening. And what I’m trying to say is we need to have something better to put in place here. Because if we don’t, the worst thing that will happen is that AI begins to take in these same values and I can tell you, if we have an AI with masculinistic tendencies, we are going to be in trouble as a species!
Colin: (23:07)
Do you see this current trend to be a backlash to the women’s Me-Too movement of maybe ten years ago and the rethinking of the way that our society gets on with each other?
Mik: (23:24)
I do, you know, not just the Me-Too movement, but the whole feminism movement which has been going on for a hundred years. What I spent some time on in the book is to go back in history and look into what happened when. Because it’s an interesting story. And I actually didn’t realise how bad it was, you know, if you look at it from a woman’s point of view – how terrible things have actually been.
And I speak here, you know, at a personal level, because I’ve been through a divorce about five-six years ago. And I can tell you, I came out of that divorce very, very angry. And really, really hateful towards women in general. Because I felt just like the manosphere people are talking about – that they have acquired too much power. And you begin to feel that, you know, women are everywhere. They are taking over the universities. So if you have that sort of feeling as a man that you are already in the corner, being stamped on, being pushed in the gutter, then that’s where the anger arises. Then that’s when you see men in rage. That’s when you begin to see… as we do in Australia, where we see on a weekly basis a man killing his partner or an ex-partner. Where does that rage come from? It comes when you are feeling absolutely, you have lost it. And I must admit that I have been close to that feeling of having lost it, where you just cannot see anything but violence ahead of you.
Tony: (24:56)
Well, it was obviously a moving experience all up, Mik. The whole process, just, you know, how deep you’ve gone with it. I was interested in the process that you used in that you brought people along with you. How much of a assistance was that? – or did it cause problems for you?
Mik: (25:22)
No, it was such a wonderful journey. Actually you’re right. We’ve been a whole team, I would say. I started with communicating with a few people who read and gave comments and so on. And then quickly the group grew to about 30 people I was emailing together with. And that again grew because I started putting certain chapters out on this blog I have on Substack where I said, “Here’s a chapter, what do you think?”
And people started writing to me with views and comments and so on. Not a lot, but enough. So I got some views, I got some things to think about, and also quite often, I got – you could say – the woman’s perspective on things, which was really interesting.
So there has been a bit of co-writing, you could call it, where I’ve listened to some very wise women and taking that in. I haven’t mentioned their names in the text but I have some of them… I’ve given credit in the end of the book.
I think it’s important to say that this book was certainly not written by me alone. I’ve also taken inspiration from ChatGPT. I’ve used ChatGPT as if it was someone I could ask questions – and also in particular about language. English is not my first language, so there’s quite a few things where I’ve said, ha you know, I put a text, you could say, in my kind of English text into ChatGPT and said, “How would you write this in proper English?” And then it comes out in a nice way.
With this… it’s my writing but it’s been, you know, translated properly. Which is fantastic. In the old days you’d have to pay someone to sit and do it and I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with this book ’cause I don’t have that kind of money.
Colin: (27:04)
I am in awe, Mik. I know that I’ve got a smattering of a second language with French, but I have no way that I would undertake a writing a book in a language other than my first language, English. So I’m first up I’m very much in awe. Secondly, I want to say that I’m quite sure myself that what used to be called Battered Wives Complex or Battered Women had a different meaning in the past. Usually it was downtrodden men who took to alcohol and then lashed out that the only thing that they could, which turned out to be their wives and families. Nowadays it’s something very different because it’s against a movement in in society. Having said those two comments, they’re not questions, they’re comments on the content of your book.
Can you tell us how our listeners can get a copy, can read it? Is it available online?
Mik: (28:11)
It is indeed. I guess within days it’ll be coming up if you just google ‘Man of Earth’. And if you write ‘masculinity’, then I’m quite sure Google will get you there. But of course, there are websites – and I think we’ll put direct websites out in our climatesafety.info notes like we usually do.
It’s made in this way where it’s ‘print-on-demand’. You can get it as an ebook. If you don’t want trees to have been cut down and produce paper, you can get the e-book. Or you can order a print-on-demand book. That means I haven’t been printing a lot of books in advance. Each book gets printed when it’s bought. That’s how it works. And then you get it surprisingly fast, like within a week. The place where that happens is a place called books.by. And then slash my name. So: books.by/mikaidt is the address where you can buy the book.
Colin: (29:10)
Yeah, go on, spell out for us, please.
Mik: (29:13)
Yeah, so my name is M I K without the C – and then A I D T. Mik Aidt.
Colin: (29:22)
Excellent, Mik. More power to your elbow, mate!
Tony: (29:26)
Ha ha!
Mik: (29:27)
Thank you! And yeah, let’s see where it takes us. Can I say that, you know, at the same time I’m also launching a website to go with it. It’s called Servicetolife.earth. And there you will find more info about the book, but also about other initiatives that I’m building on in the same spirit a as the book. Because what I didn’t get to before, Colin, was to talk a little bit about the solutions that I’m finding.
And I think the Number 1 solution that we men have to realise is that we have to come down from this horse of being the dominating forces in society. We need to be absolutely understanding what equality means and what it means to live in harmony with other beings on the planet. And I’m not only talking about women here, I’m talking about animals, plants and everything on planet Earth. And I think what men need to do is to become… I put it in one word, to become more gentle. And I do that in the inspiration of that we have the old expression ‘a gentleman’. And a gentleman used to be… I mean, how do you perceive that word?
Colin: (30:38)
Well, exactly the way it is: not harming.
Mik: (30:43)
Yeah, exactly! Someone who’s, you know, helping others, someone who’s being kind and polite. And I think that’s where it starts. And then I also think that we as elder men need to be much more in charge when it comes to bringing up the next generations. Because right now the young men are lost. There’s no initiation for them, leading them into a society that is sort of, you know, saying: “Here’s your responsibilities. This is what we expect of you as a man.”
The only thing that they find is is stuff on on social media and the manosphere is shouting at them. Yeah. You know, attracting them. That masculinity is what it’s all about – muscles and aggression. No. It’s about time now that we come in with another model of thinking where we can begin to fix things, repair things, and have real integrity, honesty, real deep values, and some of them are very old-fashioned values that simply, you know, I think blend very well with the the word ‘gentleman’.
Colin: (31:50)
Hm. I’m tempted to bring in the President of the United States who found a way to celebrate 250 years of independence by having bare knuckle fights on the lawn of the White House. That’s a wonderful example of toxic masculinity, isn’t it? That’s part of the problem, surely!
. . .
Matt Washer: (32:22)
The Gentlemanifesto
1. Power must serve life. Human strength, wealth, knowledge, technology, and political power must be used to protect the conditions that allow life to flourish.
2. Law must defend the living world. Our laws must recognise responsibilities towards the climate, nature, human health, future generations, and the more than human world.
3. Companies must have a conscience. By law. No corporation should be permitted to enrich itself by knowingly causing serious harm to people, communities, or the Earth. Responsibility must be enforceable.
4. Technology must remain in service to life. Artificial intelligence and other powerful technologies must be developed with human accountability, democratic oversight and a clear obligation to support life on earth.
5. The gentle man acts. He meets the crises of his time with courage, gentleness, humility, honesty, and responsibility. He does not wait for someone else to become the adult in the room.
These are the five points in the Gentlemanifesto. Perhaps you think this sounds impossible? Sure, corporate power is immense. Political systems move slowly. The forces benefiting from the present arrangement have money, lawyers, lobbyists, media influence, and access to government. Yes, this is all true. However, history also contains many arrangements that appeared permanent until people stopped treating them as permanent.
As the saying goes: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
A movement begins when someone speaks a sentence that others recognise as true. The sentence becomes a symbol, it becomes a conversation. The conversation becomes a commitment. The commitment becomes a public record. The record becomes political pressure. The pressure becomes law. Then, years later, people look back and wonder how the previous arrangement was ever tolerated.
SONG:
I can be a gentle man
I don’t need to thunder
I don’t need to win
I listen to the silence
I carry my power
With care in both hands
I let the whole world in
And learn to understand
Life is calling
Power is a promise
The living Earth
Holds us in her hands
Life is calling
I rise to answer
I let my strength
Serve life – gentle as a man
Matt Washer:
The gentle men will begin quietly. A badge on the coat. A digital emblem beneath the name of a corporate lawyer. Five men gathered around a table in a local pub. The musician explaining the manifesto from a stage. The chief executive placing the life test before his board. The teenager asking his father whether he is willing to wear The Promise. The Councillor introducing a motion. The parliamentarian holding up the badge while stating, “My constituents are demanding we give companies a conscience by law. In our party, we agree. We want to see that happen.”
SONG:
Gentle as a man
Matt Washer:
No one owns the movement, so everyone can carry it. The old gentleman was recognised by his status. The new gentleman is recognised by his service. He has completed the inward journey and returned to the world. He understands that maturity is more than knowing who he is. Maturity is answering for what happens next.
Life is asking men what we will do with the strength, influence and power already in our hands.
The man of Earth does not rise above others. He rises into responsibility. It is time to begin. Men, let’s get to work!
SONG:
I rise to answer
I let my strength
Serve life – gentle as a man
So now I stand beside the living Earth
And let my strength serve life
The man of Earth does not rise above others
He rises into responsibility
Men, let’s get to work!
. . .
Mik: (38:45)
And can I say one more thing which I think is really important to mention here? That is something that people don’t seem to realise. Just like they’re not realising the climate crisis. They’re not realising how fast AI is going to change our society in the next five, ten years and what that means for everybody’s economy, our job situations and the rest of it. Predictions are that 40 per cent of people who have a job today will lose that job in the next five-ten years.
Imagine that situation. I mean, it’s not even imagining… Unless we have a third world war or something, that’s what is in the pipeline now. And here comes the big question: Who is a man when his worth no longer comes from that authority it was when he had a job and was a provider and brought home the money and the rest of it? When he doesn’t have a guaranteed place at the head of the table any longer? That’s my question.
And I think we men, we need to very quickly now look at that AI future that’s coming and then begin to ask, Okay, how do we fit in here? How do we become men that have self-esteem, men that feel good about life, who are responsible, caring, and in service to life?
I think that could begin with this the slogan of that we become gentle men. And we, you know, begin a little… you could see it like a climate action movement, but with a different headline. It’s not about climate… It is about climate and so much more. Because this is about our community, it’s about our partners and about future generations and the rest of it.
Colin: (40:35)
As such, Mik, it’s not about climate, but it is about sustainable living.
Mik: (40:41)
Absolutely. It’s all embedded.
Colin: (40:42)
Living in a in a comfortable, sustainable way into the future. And that doesn’t include having a toxic man at the head of every family.
Mik: (40:53)
And my claim would be that this leads back to the question, in a way, that you asked before we even began, Tony, when you talked about the fossil fuel industry and how come that they allow this to happen. We’re watching all these people die. We have to ask ourselves… – and Climate Council actually did this in a LinkedIn post just recently – they asked: “What is the antidote to addiction to profit?” And I believe what I’m talking about here, and what this book is talking about, that is the antidote to that addiction to profit. We need to come up with something that’s better. And I think we can find it. I’m quite convinced.
Tony: (41:31)
Well, it it hasn’t led to any increased happiness on the planet, I don’t think, Mik, what we currently have. Maybe we, you know… leaving egos at the door – or even before – outside the door – might be a good a good start to continue this.
Mik: (41:47)
Exactly. And then to realise that, you know, this masculinity-aggression pattern that we see in society today, it’s not something written in stone. It’s not in our DNA. It’s not in our biology even. It’s something that some people have invented and are trying to impress us with and make us all think – or brainwash us with – that that’s the only way to go. It’s not!
And that’s… I spent a couple of chapters in the book on just talking about biology because I tried to explore how much of all this is really sort of, you know, deep down in us and very difficult to deal with because it’s our biology. It turns out the answer is: very, very little. It’s culture! So that means: we can change.
We just need to have that courage and the motivation and begin to talk about the need to change – as men. And take some leadership, so when we come to these meetings, it’s not eight women in the room and two men any longer. No! Let’s see the men show up! Or if that’s doesn’t work, then let’s create some men’s circles where we meet in the places where we like to… in a distillery, in a pub, you know, where there’s alcohol. Fine! Because it’s about getting ourselves together and creating a new story in society. A new story about a new way of of being a man.
Tony: (43:09)
Yeah, no – and not with the aim of of being critical of women. It’s just to find that common ground and move out from there.
Mik: (43:18)
On the contrary, I am so much in awe and admiration for women. Whereas five years ago I hated them, now I’m back at that platform of saying: I love women. But I also want to maintain an identity as a man. I don’t want to be like a woman. I want to find my own space in the world. That’s what I’m looking for.
Colin: (43:42)
I can recall back in my early 20s, I was working for a company… that was Sainsbury’s. It was a supermarket chain, but it was before it became a supermarket chain, it was a grocer’s chain. And as such, we were face to face with the public. And I was one of many of the men who worked there, or young men who worked there, who were sent off for what was termed ‘assertiveness training’. Because we were… we didn’t have enough push to work at that particular time in front of the public. We were too – I don’t know, retiring, if you like, and therefore we wouldn’t sell the product that we were supposed to be. I’ve gone from that to the point where assertiveness has become the norm in the 21st century, and yes, you’re right to bring out your book now. Yes, it’s correct. Yes, we do need to pull back because we have become… males… way, way, way too assertive. Mik, some more power to you!
Mik: (44:59)
That’s great to hear. So, Colin, I’m all all smiles here! And can I say, I hope to see you then at a little gathering that I’m organising next week on Thursday next week at the Cellar Door – it’s a place in Little Malop Street at 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon. It’s very informal. You know, I’m not a rich man – I can’t invite people in and hand out books and give you wine and so on. Everyone buys their own in the in the bar, but I will have some books there, and we’ll have a great discussion about, you know, what I’ve been talking about here which is you know finding a new masculinity, finding new meaning in a way, in a future where we’re heading for AI and for ecological collapse. How women are moving away from this old model of control and domination and over to something about equality, about responsibility, caring for our community, for each other, and being in service to life.
Colin: (45:58)
Now is that the 6th of August, Mik, or the 13th?
Mik: (46:02)
No-no, next week. So: the 13th of August, 2 o’clock.
Colin: (46:08)
That is 2 o’clock on Thursday, the 13th of August, Mik.
Mik: (46:13)
That’s right, exactly. And yeah, just a celebration where we – for the first time, you know – get together around this sort of story.
. . .
Jingle
Colin: (46:26)
Well that’s this is usually you saying this: That’s all we this Hour – that’s all that it’s not often we get to interview our co-hosts. I think this is the first time. But he has been remarkable. Thank you, Mik.
Mik: (46:30)
Ha ha!
Tony: (46:45)
So what are we going to be, Mik?
Colin: (46:47)
Yeah, what are we going to be? This is where you normally get to ask…
Mik: (46:50)
Now that is interesting to be asked that question! I wasn’t prepared for that. I would say, it’s very clear to me: we need to Be in service to life.
Colin: (47:03)
In service to life? Yeah, well – I’ll just say: Be gentlemanly.
Tony: (47:04)
I like it a lot!
Mik: (47:11)
And be gentle.
SONG (47:21)
‘Gentle as a Man’
Verse 1:
I can be a gentle man
I don’t need to thunder
I don’t need to win
I listen to the silence
I carry my power
With care in both hands
I let the whole world in
And learn to understand
Chorus:
Life is calling
Power is a promise
The living Earth
Holds us in her hands
Life is calling
I rise to answer
I let my strength
Serve life – gentle as a man
Verse 2:
I own the harm I have caused
I stay when things get hard
I act when life is threatened
I do not turn away
I’m not chasing glory
I do not rule through fear
I walk towards the trouble
And make my purpose clear
Chorus:
Life is calling
Power is a promise
The living Earth
Holds us in her hands
Life is calling
I rise to answer
I let my strength
Serve life – gentle as a man
Bridge:
Love can carry anger
Care can still be strong
A steady hand can stop the harm
And say: this can’t go on
Chorus:
Life is calling
Power is a promise
The living Earth
Holds us in her hands
Life is calling
I rise to answer
I let my strength
Serve life – gentle as a man
Outro:
Life is calling
I answer now
I stand beside the living Earth
And let my strength serve life
Power is a promise
I hold it in my hands
I rise into responsibility
I am gentle as a man
Spoken outro:
The Man of Earth does not rise above others.
He rises into responsibility.
Men, let’s get to work.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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