Image Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network/Courtesy of Anheuser-Busch
What’s the best email subject line we’ve read today? “Nick Offerman’s beard saves the planet.” The Parks and Recreation star, a.k.a. Ron Swanson, has teamed up with Budweiser to promote its “Grow One. Save a Million” campaign, which encourages men to grow beards as awesome as his — and therefore conserve water — in advance of World Environment Day (this Sunday, June 5). According to Budweiser, on average, a man uses 5 gallons of water every time he shaves. The company hopes enough men will take the pledge to put down the razor to save one million gallons of water.
“The only thing manlier than growing a big, burly beard is ripping a big, burly beard off of a charging grizzly with your bare hands,” Swanson Offerman says in a release. “That, and saving the planet. Since no grizzly has had the balls to charge me since I went through puberty, I’ve decided to focus on saving the planet by joining with Budweiser to promote the ‘Grow One. Save a Million’ campaign. Men, if you want to look manly and feel good about conserving water, join me and take the pledge on Budweiser’s Facebook page. And grizzlies, charge me. Just do it. I’m waiting, you babies.”
P.S. The accompanying photo is of Offerman and Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters, standing in front of a hand-made canoe built by Offerman.
P.P.S. Ron Swanson without facial hair was voted the sixth Most Disturbing Image in our TV Season Finale Awards.
I was considering shaving my 2 week old beard tomorrow until I read this. Go facial hair!
Ron Swanson is the man!
Electric razor, anyone? My guy has to shave every day. No beards here, thank goodness.
The pledge says no razors. So it is vanity or save the earth.
It says to conserve water, so I’m guessing that doesn’t include an electric razor. Besides, my husband is a Marine and must shave, so it isn’t vanity. Spare me.
LOL Sheli, I’m with you. My husband uses an electric razor and doesn’t use a drop of water. Since his stubble can hurt my face by the end of a single day (and since he can’t stand the way a beard feels), I need him to shave daily! I know that his razor uses electricity to charge, and people should also conserve electricity…but we do. We just do it in other ways.
Kat, that’s why a lot of guys wimp out when first attempting a beard. It takes a week or two of growth to get past that harsh stubbly prickly phase. For a lot of us, a beard is way preferable, and more comfortable, than shaving daily.
If anyone actually thinks stupid stunts like this actually helps anything then they need to wake up.
This guy just wanted attention, and EW has given it to him. I’ve never even heard of this dork until I clicked on this link.
Wow. You’re an idiot.
Why so pessimistic? All he’s doing is using his celebrity status for a good cause. Imagine if even 50 men saw this and decided not to waste water when shaving. Every little bit helps. And frankly, you should start watching Parks and Rec because this “dork” and the rest of the cast are wonderful and the show is just hilarious.
It’s JC the teabagging Sarah Palin loving moron again.
So jc, this is idiotic yet you STILL chose to click on the link…hmmmm.
I think it’s a great idea if it just gets people to think about the commodities we take for granted, e.g. water, electricity
It’s called “raising awareness.” Yes, his stunt got attention. It drew attention to how much water can be wasted during shaving. This makes at least some people more aware of what they waste and more inclined to reduce it. No one’s suggesting that growing a beard saves the planet via water resources. But it’s kind of like how turning all the lights off for an hour every Earth Day doesn’t REALLY do much to fix the state of the planet; it’s simply to make people aware of the fact that their regular everyday activities can be wasteful, and they ought to take steps to reduce that waste. These kinds of stunts can actually be very helpful.
Five gallons? That doesn’t seem correct. A 5-minute shower consumes about 10 gallons. Are guys letting the faucet run the entire time they’re shaving?
I know right? I just fill up the sink and swish the razor around in the water to get it clean. Why leave the water running? That and leaving the water running while brushing your teeth baffles me.
you’re absolutely right… there’s no way I use 5 gallons… I turn the faucet on to rinse for a second, then I turn it off and repeat… I might use like a cup lol
Yea right, just shave over the toilet! Then flush it down, when its brown!
Yet people still do it. I used to be guilty of letting the sink run while brushing my teeth, so that whenever I needed to rinse my face off or add some more water to the lather, I could do it instantly. It’s just laziness and thoughtlessness, and those are two things that people are VERY good at. Once it really hit me how much perfectly good water was just going down the drain for no reason, I stopped letting the water run. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if lots of men really are that wasteflu while shaving.
I think they probably include the water it takes to make supplies for shaving, transit, etc. I don’t think it’s just the actual act of shaving but the entire process from production of razors to the final swish of razor in water.
The fact is, there has been a recent trend of men shaving (at least partially) in the shower rather than over a sink…supposedly it helps prevent cuts (although I have no idea how you can prevent cuts WITHOUT A MIRROR). This may account for men using so much water. But that’s just a guess on my part.
I get the shave-in-the-shower concept. I shave before I shower, because if I shave without or after a shower, I get a dozen little bloodspots. MAybe it’s the hot water, maybe its just that 2-3 minutes is enough to close the cuts anyway.
For me, the mirror doesn’t prevent cuts, it prevents me from leaving weird stubble spots.
And the 5 gallon number sounds ridiculous.
I am ALL FOR saving water, the planet, trees, owls etc. But I agree with ZF. Five gallons is a stretch. A loooong stretch. Love Nick! Love Ron Swanson!
Don’t really care to learn about whatever they are trying to do but I just have to say that he looks ABSOLUTELY HANDSOME in that photo!!!
He’s not my usual type, but I thought the same thing.
So, can I stop shaving my legs now? Because I’m pretty sure we girls use a lot more water shaving than the guys do.
Yes. I want to see those furry legs!
I just turn the shower water off while shaving my legs. It’s not brain surgery. I’m not calling you an idiot; just making a statement.
I’m gonna do it but I shave in the shower… does that count equally as wasting water?
Yes because you’re still using water…think it about it but not too hard.
This beard that I’m growing won’t fully grow so I look like I have dirt on my face if I let it go. In honor of Nick’s pledge I will be the dirtiest “LOOKING” person at work for the rest of the week.
I love men with beards as long as they grow nice and full and are trimmed occasionally so they don’t look like Forrest Gump after he ran across the country. Thanks Nick Offerman for being so hilarious and encouraging the men of the world to stop shaving.
Beards are great everyone should grow one.
Nick Offerman (and Ron Swanson) are my heroes!
Seriously, this is so sexist. Don’t make men feel guilty for shaving their beards when women shave WAY more parts of their body and use way more water. Too bad gender roles in this country make Americans think hairy women are unclean. Ughhh.
Yeah, I don’t see why women need to feel guilty for shaving way more parts of their bodies when it is MEN who b*tch and moan when they see a woman with hairy pits or legs.
i love that Nick Oferman is basically a less-extreme version of Ron Swanson in real life. he built that canoe? seriously? awesome.
He’s apparently a real-life carpenter, or has the skills of one. So they’ve incorporated his carpentry skills into the show a little bit. He IS pretty awesome. That is a simply gorgeous canoe.