{"id":2124,"date":"2016-05-31T19:58:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T19:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2016-05-31T19:58:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T19:58:47","slug":"an-experimental-evening-of-comedy-for-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2016\/05\/31\/an-experimental-evening-of-comedy-for-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"An Experimental Evening of Comedy for Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2016\/05\/comedy2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2125\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2016\/05\/comedy2.jpg\" alt=\"comedy2\" width=\"660\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2016\/05\/comedy2.jpg 660w, https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2016\/05\/comedy2-300x136.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This Spring, in CSTPR&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidethegreenhouse.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Inside the Greenhouse<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/sciencepolicy.colorado.edu\/students\/envs3173\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>\u2018creative climate communications\u2019 course<\/em><\/a> we conducted an experiment. We challenged forty senior undergraduate students to come up with a comedy skit or standup routine that drew on issues associated with climate change\u2026a we gave them a mere four weeks from start to finish (the finish being a live comedy show on campus).<\/p>\n<p>Though a bit bewildered at the prospect of such an unusual assignment, every student courageously embarked on the challenge. In groups of four, they quickly got to work on a composition.<\/p>\n<p>While some found quick inspiration, most of the students understandably struggled with various elements of the task at hand. Early comments included, &#8220;you&#8217;re telling us to take something really serious and make it funny &#8211; that is very difficult&#8221;, and \u201cI\u2019m just not very funny \u2013 why would I want to show that off?\u201d. But to their credit, drawing inspiration from class exercises\/activities and visiting speakers (including <a href=\"https:\/\/maxliboiron.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Prof Max Liboiron<\/a> [Memorial University of Newfoundland], <a href=\"http:\/\/www.petermcgraw.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Prof Peter McGraw<\/a> [University of Colorado-Boulder], <a href=\"http:\/\/cas.msu.edu\/places\/cas-deans-office\/communications\/our-team\/name\/david-poulson\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Poulson<\/a> [Michigan State University], and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joshuarollinsplays.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Rollins<\/a>)\u00a0 students began to find some traction and satisfaction from their sustained efforts to find the funny in climate change.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the creative process, each group were asked to state what their main communication\/climate message(s) is\/are.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cDon\u2019t let economic or religious beliefs interfere with environmental priorities\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe point out the ridiculousness of climate change and human error while attempting to deliver a message of the need for change\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cBe aware of your environmental impacts and don\u2019t be hypocritical. If you talk the talk, then walk the walk and know how to do it effectively\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cClimate change\u2026can be framed as a relatable subject and doesn\u2019t have to be a daunting doomsday problem\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After a month of hard work and rehearsals, it was show time. So on a cold and snowy St Patrick\u2019s Day evening (which we learned was considered as a quasi-religious University student holiday), about seventy-five attendees joined the performers as they packed into the CU-Boulder Atlas Institute Black Box theatre for an experimental evening of \u2018Comedy for Climate Change\u2019. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidethegreenhouse.org\/blog\/experimental-evening-%E2%80%98comedy-climate-change%E2%80%99\" target=\"_blank\">Read more &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Spring, in CSTPR&#8217;s Inside the Greenhouse \u2018creative climate communications\u2019 course we conducted an experiment. We challenged forty senior undergraduate students to come up with a comedy skit or standup routine that drew on issues associated with climate change\u2026a we &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2016\/05\/31\/an-experimental-evening-of-comedy-for-climate-change\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-30 11:51:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2126,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions\/2126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}