{"id":3889,"date":"2019-09-30T16:15:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T16:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=3889"},"modified":"2019-09-30T16:16:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T16:16:05","slug":"leave-em-laughing-instead-of-crying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2019\/09\/30\/leave-em-laughing-instead-of-crying\/","title":{"rendered":"Leave \u2018em Laughing Instead of Crying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Climate humor can break down barriers and find common\u00a0ground<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Max Boykoff
The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change is not inherently funny. Typically, the messengers are serious scientists describing how rising greenhouse gas emissions are harming the planet on land<\/a> and at sea<\/a>, or assessing what role it played in the latest wildfire<\/a> or hurricane<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society may have reached a saturation point for such somber, gloomy and threatening science-centered discussions. This possibility is what inspires my recent work with colleague Beth Osnes<\/a> to get messages out about climate change through comedy and humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have studied and practiced climate communication<\/a> for about 20 years. My new book, \u201cCreative (Climate) Communications<\/a>,\u201d integrates social science and humanities research and practices to connect people more effectively through issues they care about. Rather than \u201cdumbing down\u201d science for the public, this is a \u201csmartening up\u201d approach that has been shown to bring people together around a highly divisive topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why laugh about climate change?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Science is critically important to understanding the enormity of the climate challenge and how it connects with other problems like disasters, food security, local air quality and migration. But stories that emanate from scientific ways of knowing have failed to significantly engage and activate large audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Largely gloomy approaches and interpretations typically stifle audiences rather than inspiring them to take action. For example, novelist Jonathan Franzen recently published an essay in The New Yorker titled \u201cWhat If We Stop Pretending?<\/a>\u201d in which he asserted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal (of halting climate change) has been clear for thirty years, and despite earnest efforts we\u2019ve made essentially no progress toward reaching it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Social science and humanities research have shown that this kind of framing effectively disempowers readers who could be activated and moved by a smarter approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comics took a different path when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report in 2018 warning that the world only had until about 2030<\/a> to take steps that could limit warming to manageable levels. Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Show,\u201d observed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know the crazy people you see in the streets shouting that the world is ending? Turns out, they\u2019re all actually climate scientists<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On ABC\u2019s \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live,\u201d Kimmel commented:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a silver lining. One planet\u2019s calamity is another planet\u2019s shop-portunity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He then cut to a going-out-of-business advertisement for Planet Earth that read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything must go! 50% of all nocturnal animals, insects, reptiles and amphibians \u2026 priced to sell before we live in hell. But you must act fast because planet Earth is over soon. And when it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s getting hot in here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social science and humanities scholars have been examining new, potentially more effective ways to communicate about climate change. Consistently, as I describe in my book, research shows that emotional, tactile, visceral and experiential communication meets people where they are. These methods arouse action and engagement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars have examined how shows like \u201cSaturday Night Live<\/a>,\u201d \u201cLast Week Tonight<\/a>,\u201d \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live<\/a>,\u201d \u201cFull Frontal<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Daily Show<\/a>\u201d use jokes to increase understanding and engagement. In one example, former Vice President Al Gore appeared on \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d in 2017 and took turns with Colbert serving up climate change pickup lines over saucy slow-jam background music:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gore: \u201cAre you climate change? Because when I look at you, the world disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colbert: \u201cI\u2019m like 97% of scientists, and I can\u2019t deny \u2026 it\u2019s getting hot in here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colbert: \u201cIs that an iceberg the size of Delaware breaking off the Antarctic ice shelf, or are you just happy to see me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gore: \u201cI hope you\u2019re not powered by fossil fuels, because you\u2019ve been running through my mind all day.\u201d Read more …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate humor can break down barriers and find common\u00a0ground by Max BoykoffThe Conversation Climate change is not inherently funny. Typically, the messengers are serious scientists describing how rising greenhouse gas emissions are harming the planet on land and at sea, or assessing what … Continue reading →<\/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":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentaries","category-news","category-publications"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-20 07:14:06","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\/3889","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=3889"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3892,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions\/3892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}