Men's movement pioneer Aaron Kipnis, who bills himself as a "gender reconciliation facilitator," suggests that one reason many men feel alienated, disconnected, and unable to approach relationships in a "fecund, life-affirming" manner, is that they try to relate to nature by communing only with Mother Earth, without realizing that there's a Father Earth, too. "Our work ahead," Kipnis writes, is to reclaim the "archetypal energy" of the Green Man—one of the "ancient masculine gods of the earth." One way to connect to the spirit of the Green Man, according to Kipnis, is to tie yourself to the top of a tree. "Feel the strength and ancient, deeply rooted power of the Green Man who dances, sways, and shudders with the wind." But Kipnis adds, "Of course, this is dangerous. So don't go up without proper training, safety equipment, and a buddy to secure you."

[Ed.: Kipnis's editor, Christopher Harding, reminds us that the Green Man "persists in our popular culture" as "the Green Giant of frozen pea fame."]

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