(urth) The green man is a fake

[Lee Berman]

Since the list has taken a turn toward hard science it might be time to expose
the green man for the carnival huckster he really is. There is no way for internal
algae to provide the energy requirements of a warm blooded animal. Simply no way. 
The surface to volume ratio of a solid being is part of it. Trees need thousands of
flat leaves (or 10x the number of needles) to achieve their energy needs and they don't 
have a fraction of the energy costs of a being which moves and stays warm. Moreover,
trees have massive reserves of stored energy that a human-sized body couldn't come
close to.
 
No quibble about "new, high efficiency chlorphyll.." blah blah.  Our green plants already 
have a very high energy conversion efficiency after half a billion years of competition and 
natural selection (much higher efficiency than animal energy conversion). There are laws of
physics to follow. You can't convert more than 100% of received sunlight energy into sugar 
and ATP energy. 
 
The amount of sunlight hitting the area of human skin is not enough energty to allow 
homeothermy and movement. And we know that the Green Man is a walker through the corridors
of time, which requires energy approaching full stellar output. Something is not right with
this guy.
 
It could be argued that Wolfe was aware of these problems but created a fictional green man anyway
just because he is a cool character. I'd be happy with this explanation except the green man
is not a cool guy. He is a self-admitted liar and he has the creepy laugh that is even worse
than the alzabo's. What purpose does this laugh serve? He also fails to live up to his promise
to rescue Severian in repayment for being rescued by him.
 
There is a religious figure called The Green Man, associated with Dionysus and Great God Pan
and other pagan deities. Some Christians associate this guy with a certain, trickster, a liar
The Great Deceiver. I'm not sure if Ushas or Green is this guy's goal for Urth but I think we
should be very leery in considering His future to be the right path.