Overcoming Climate Chaos With Comedy

Turns out, being able to laugh at something increases our ability to understand it鈥攁nd take action.

4 MIN READ

Apr 14, 2023

When applied to be part of a climate comedy program, he felt a little out of his element: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 recall one time I鈥檇 ever had a conversation with my friends about climate change,鈥� says the Atlanta-based comic. Purdue, who is Black, adds, 鈥淏ut I knew it was an issue that was going to who look like me, so I wanted to use comedy to address that.鈥�

Perdue was one of nine comedians who took part in a nine-month fellowship where they learned about climate science and solutions and collaborated on . The Climate Comedy Cohort produced shorts, toured together, and pitched ideas to television networks. Their work is part of a broader effort to bring some levity to a topic that is increasingly present in everyday life.

For Perdue, that meant bringing race into the conversation about sustainability and clean energy. 鈥淸Solar power] is free labor, and the most American thing to do is to use free labor,鈥� he says in one of his sets. 鈥淲e just have to tell people the sun is Black.鈥�

What’s Working

Queering Climate Activism

Queer activists and organizers are part of a growing movement that centers identity in the fight against climate change and in the broader environmental justice movement. Examples include “Queer Nature,” a community where queer people can reconnect with nature, and the “Queer Ecojustice Project,” which addresses how queer perspectives were ignored by the environmental movement.
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Climate change is increasingly featured in . But comedians like Perdue, as well as higher-profile acts, like Michelle Wolf and Joel Kim Booster, are also . (Wolf, in her HBO special, says 鈥渕other nature is trying to kill us in the most passive-aggressive way possible. She鈥檚 like, 鈥榃hat? I raised the temperature a little.鈥欌€�)

By talking about climate, even irreverently, social scientists say, they may be helping to combat and boost civic engagement.

Comedy鈥攅ven if it鈥檚 about heavy topics like climate change鈥攃an motivate feelings of hope and optimism, says Caty Borum, a professor at American University and author of . 鈥淭hose are routes to persuasion because we鈥檙e being entertained and because we鈥檙e feeling emotions of play鈥攁nd this is particularly important for climate change,鈥� she says.

Just because climate change is heavy and important doesn鈥檛 mean comedy about it can鈥檛 be really silly.

The Climate Comedy Cohort, a joint project between American University鈥檚 Center for Media & Social Impact, which Borum runs, and Generation180, a clean-energy nonprofit, announced earlier this month.

鈥淎s it just turns out, the very unique qualities of comedy that allow us to break through taboo, allow us to use social critique and translate topics, all of that really contributes鈥� to people feeling like they can take action, Borum says.

Actor and former Obama aide Kal Penn hosts a on Bloomberg called 鈥淕etting Warmer鈥� that focuses on climate technology and solutions 鈥渨ith a dose of humor and optimism,鈥� according to its tagline. And in April, a group of comedians is putting on a show called lol climate change: a show in Los Angeles.

A say climate change is real and caused by humans, but only about half think there鈥檚 anything they can do about it, according to a .

Borum says programs like hers can help combat and inaction. 鈥淭he goal of the program is not to have comedians tell more scary stories about climate change, but to really dig in on the solutions,鈥� she says.

Just because climate change is heavy and important doesn鈥檛 mean comedy about it can鈥檛 be really silly, says , a comedian who helped create the Climate Comedy Cohort.

He notes that comedy often draws from tragedy. Marc Maron鈥檚 new special, From Bleak to Dark, delves into the death of his partner, Lynn Shelton; in Nanette, Hannah Gadsby opens up about being sexually assaulted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the comedian鈥檚 job to pull from that,鈥� Gast says.

On stage, Katie Hannigan, part of the Climate Comedy Cohort, notes that . She says, 鈥淚 am doing my part for climate change. I have never even used my gas stove 鈥� since I started that fire.鈥�

Kat Evasco, one of the lol climate change comedians, has a joke connecting her mother鈥檚 skepticism about climate change to her denial about being gay鈥攅ven though she鈥檚 shared a bedroom with a woman for 25 years, Evasco quips. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about moments that might not center on climate change, but can tie back to it,鈥� she says.

鈥淲e aren鈥檛 big on sharing data and statistics,鈥� Evasco says. 鈥淲hat we are looking for is: How does this show up in human experience? How do you laugh about death?鈥�

Max Boykoff, a professor in environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, says he believes comedy can help drive the conversation forward on polarizing topics like climate change. (The majority of Americans with their neighbors or co-workers.)

鈥淭he comedic approach is not just simply a matter of making someone laugh. It鈥檚 actually a way to open people up,鈥� he says. In 2018, Boykoff and Beth Osnes, a professor of theatre, developed a creative climate communication course in which students developed their own comedy skits. At the end of the semester, 90% of students feeling more hopeful about climate change, and 83% said they believed their commitment to taking action on climate change was more likely to last.

Borum says that when comedy is done well, it can change minds on almost any topic鈥攕he has studied how comedy can create social change around poverty, inequality, and human rights. 鈥淭he best comedy that inserts something important about the world is not boring and lame,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 true from a science perspective, but also a comedy perspective.鈥�

This story was originally co-published by , , , and , an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow .

CORRECTION: This article was updated at 12:31 p.m. PT on April 17, 2023, to correct the spelling of Esteban Gast鈥檚 name. Read our corrections policy here.

Katharine Gammon is a freelance science writer based in Santa Monica, California, and writes for a wide range of publications covering environment, culture, tech and science.