Real Men Embrace Solar Energy

Post 142

Somebody pointed out that I got it wrong when I said the Trump campaign in 2024 used the slogan “Burn, Baby, Burn!” Actually, the slogan they used to promote the expansion of drilling for oil in America was “Drill, Baby, Drill!”

It’s an easy mistake to make. If we’re going to drill, we’re going to burn - burn more fossil fuels and burn up the planet doing so. The MAGA Testocracy considers that very macho, partly because drilling for oil requires more and more aggressive techniques and greater dominance over nature. And dominance makes them feel more “manly.”

REAL MEN

Now, I’m honestly not sure if it’s okay anymore to use the word “manly,” but I am going to use it and “real men” today because when I was a boy they meant something noble - something starkly different than how they are defined by MAGAs today. I mean, when did working against nature and destroying the environment become manly?

I think back to a frigid winter night in the Troop 12 Cabin at Camp Glen Grey, our Boy Scout camp in the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey. We were on a weekend “training conference.” The outside temperature had dropped to 6 degrees, with a wind chill of -2. Somebody had found an old piece of coal from decades past and thrown it into the fire. And that prompted Hork Wiggin, one of our assistant scout masters, to give a presentation on the future of energy in America and why we should avoid coal whenever possible.

A WEEKEND OF MANLINESS

I’m not talking about a bunch of wayward teens sitting around a campfire lazing away. This was a character-building weekend for patrol leaders, assistant patrol leaders, and scouts who had graduated beyond patrols and worked with adults to run the entire troop. At the time, Troop 12 had more than one hundred scouts and a dozen assistant scout masters.

At the crack of dawn that morning, as the sun was just beginning to brighten the sky, about thirty of us gathered at the intersection of Sky Line Drive and “The Pipeline.” We hiked in the blasting cold what I believe to be about 4 miles, carrying backpacks weighing between 35 and 50 pounds, filled with food and camping gear, including heavy canvas tents, axes, saws, and shovels. Toting our own burden? THAT was manly!

After two hours of hiking, we arrived at camp and set up our campsites. We pitched tents and built “dinner tables” to seat eight scouts each. The tables were made of long straight logs, six to ten inches in diameter and up to eight feet long, tied together with thick ropes and built into the shapes of the picnic tables you find in public parks. Some of these logs weighed as much as 180 pounds, and took three or more 14- and 15- year old kids to haul them from the woods. Working together like that? THAT was manly!

The table tops were covered with leaves and soil to smooth them out and then encased in green plastic tarps. Not far from the tables, we built fireplaces from stones also hauled in from the woods. Around our tents, we dug ditches, more for practice than necessity. It was too cold to rain, so there was no threat of tents flooding. Building such a sophisticated campsite from our natural surroundings? THAT was manly!

There was no doubt that we were “real men” not only because we did incredibly heavy work that was partially made possible by testosterone that gave us much of the strength we needed, but also because we used our brains and worked in harmony with nature.

BRAUN AND BRAINS

It took sixteen to twenty logs to make a single table. But we didn’t haul every one of them into our campsites. We retrieved logs we had left in our campsites from previous campouts. Understanding nature, when we broke camp at the end of each camping trip, we leaned the logs against trees to deter them from gaining moisture and rotting. Taking full advantage of the sun’s power, we leaned the logs on the sunny sides of trees so that when they did get wet from rain, they dried more quickly. Of course, over time the logs did eventually rot, but we only needed to haul in one or two new logs each camping trip to replace the ones that had. Maximizing the benefits of our efforts by working with the laws of nature? THAT was smart and manly!

With burlap bags, cooking pots, small stones, and rope, we fashioned refrigerators which we hung from trees so bears couldn’t steal our food. We knew the science of capillary action, condensation, and evaporation, and that, set up properly, the temperature in the refrigerator would settle into the low 30s or upper 20s, even when it was colder outside. This prevented significant freeze damage. Mastering science? THAT was smart and manly!

Later that afternoon, after setting up our camps, the temperature dropped dangerously low, so we cut logs, hauled them into the cabin, and built fires in both the fireplace and the kitchen ovens for cooking our meals. Going into the cabin instead of risking frostbite? THAT was smart!

After eating and holding push-up and arm wrestling contests, we sang a bunch of Boy Scout songs. Then Hork gave his presentation. And THAT was smart!

There we were, a roomful of young “real men” learning how “real men” of the future would “conquer nature” not by dominating it, but rather by living harmoniously with it and using its resources wisely.

HORK’S PRESENTATION

Much of Hork’s presentation that night 51 years ago is common knowledge today. Smart people of the future would harness the sun’s energy to power houses, cars, and just about everything else. Wind and geothermal power would also be in the mix. But some of the ideas Hork shared were so innovative and visionary they would make Elon Musk look like a dullard. I hope to share some of the fascinating details in a future post.

That night, the “manliest” kids were not only the ones who won the push-up and arm wrestling contests. They were also those smart enough to put clean socks on their feet when they entered the cabin and put their boots by the fire to dry the sweat. They were the ones who took notes while Hork talked and were the first to jump up afterwards and ask him questions.

Today, as China and other countries blow the doors off the United States in adapting the energy of the future present, and reap the economic benefits and amass geopolitical power by doing so, one silver lining for me is that it reminds what great role models I had as a kid for growing up to be a “real man.” I knew then, and I know now: Real men embrace solar energy.

Keep the Flame Alive!