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Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine<\/em><\/a> by Clint Talbott<\/p>\n Climate change is about as amusing as death, but the gallows can inspire a kind of humor. Consider this, from late-night jokester Conan O\u2019Brien:<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, a group of scientists warned that because of global warming, sea levels will rise so much that parts of New Jersey will be under water. The bad news? Parts of New Jersey won’t be under water.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rising sea level is no laughing matter. Teasing New Jersey, however, is. Such humor can help those with different perspectives find common ground, at least to the extent that they laugh together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s a rationale for \u201cStand Up for Climate Change: An Experiment With Creative Climate Comedy,\u201d a comedy showcase scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, March 17, in the Old Main Chapel<\/a> at the University of Colorado Boulder. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The event\u2019s organizers contend that humor is underutilized in climate-change discourse and that comedy has the \u201cpower to connect people\u201d on this topic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Friday\u2019s event will include stand-up comedy, sketch and situational comedy. Also, there\u2019s a video competition featuring videos from students in this semester\u2019s \u201cCreative Climate Communications\u201d course and from contenders elsewhere.<\/p>\n The course, taught by Associate Professors Max Boykoff of environmental studies and Beth Osnes of theatre and dance, is part of CU Boulder\u2019s Inside the Greenhouse<\/a> project. Inside the Greenhouse describes itself as a \u201ccollective of professors, students, scholars, practitioners\u201d who creatively frame climate-change issues via video, theatre, dance and writing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Inside the Greenhouse, founded by Osnes, Boykoff and Rebecca Safran, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is an interdisciplinary project. It reflects the fact that climate-change discourse can amount to little more than a dueling fusillade of talking points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPeople keep throwing scientific information at people, thinking that\u2019s going to change their behavior, and we see time and time again that it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Osnes recently told Colorado Public Radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n Comedy is another way to communicate, Osnes added. \u201cComedy has been taking on serious issues for a long time,\u201d Osnes said. Bringing her background in the stage to bear, she cited \u201cLysistrata,\u201d the comedy by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, who wryly advanced a \u201cpreposterous idea\u201d for the Greeks to solve a big problem, the Peloponnesian War:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lysistrata, a strong woman, convinces the women of Greece to stop having sex with their husbands until the men forge peace with Sparta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThrough comedy, we can introduce preposterous ideas that then can become reality and can become a better version of our shared humanity,\u201d Osnes said, adding that Lysistrata\u2019s idea was adopted by war-weary Liberian women in 2003, and that this apparently preposterous idea helped end a war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the CU Boulder Creative Climate Communications class, the goal is for students to identify and expose incongruities in climate discourse, \u201cnot in a way that seeks to humiliate, but in a way that seeks to share our common challenges and our foibles.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeking to make these issues more relevant, more meaningful, more accessible for more audiences through humor,\u201d Boykoff told CPR.<\/p>\n Students themselves say the assignment is rewarding and also fun. The winning entry in last year\u2019s video competition was a skit called \u201cWeathergirl Goes Rogue.\u201d It began with a routine weather report and escalated as the TV meteorologist\u2019s recapitulation of key climate trends was met with the anchor\u2019s inane banter. Read more …<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine March 2017 by Clint Talbott Climate change is about as amusing as death, but the gallows can inspire a kind of humor. Consider this, from late-night jokester Conan O\u2019Brien: \u201cYesterday, a group of scientists warned … Continue reading
\nMarch 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n