Global warming is not funny. But more comedians use humor to make it aware

Burbank, California (AP) – Esteban Gast remembers that he felt embarrassed at high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the most important climate change driver, his daily activities, known as a carbon footprint. “Have you ever driven a car or flew in a plane?” was one of the long list of questions asked by the calculator. Gast, who said his “Catholic debt” forced him to keep adding activities to the calculator and thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, California. Then he turned the crowd with a turn: it was the oil and gas giant BP that detects the idea of ​​individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change of businesses that produce oil, gas and coal. “It’s like your friend who is addicted to cocaine who says you shouldn’t have a latte,” he said. The audience roars from laughter. Gast continued: “BP, known for wasting oil in the Gulf of Mexico, was like” Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive? ” And I’m like ‘I don’t know, sometimes.’ And they are just like pouring oil in the mouth of a turtle. of vegetable diets that emit fewer plans. in the eyes and looking back at us and then giving it a little wink? “The awareness in Rasheda Crockett’s YouTube comedy series ‘Might Call’, the actor comedian mixes humor with climate change information. In one video, she says about the environmental benefits of vegetable diets, while she begs food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. “I am now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their biggest priority,” she said. ‘Because that’s what makes veganism more viable. This is the change we have to cheese. ‘ Her interest in writing climatehumor is also deeply personal. As a black woman, she knows that global warming is disproportionate to black and other non-white communities. “This is just another case where people of color will first affect a negative impact on the disaster through a disaster,” says Crockett, a 2023-year-old fellow in the climate comedy-Kohort, a program that has set up climate experts and comedians. “The earth is warming up like the inside of a hot bag … and I just want people to care.” Surveys show that many people do. In a 2023 survey of the Associated Press-Norc Center for Research on Public Affairs, it was found that 64% of American adults said they had recently experienced extreme again and believe it was at least partially caused by climate change. And about 65% said climate change in their lifetime would have a huge impact or already had. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gaste said. And he thinks comedians are one of the ‘unlikely’ messengers it can do. “We need someone to talk about science, and then we need someone who doesn’t even call science and just calls a dope sunset for surfers,” he said. Climate comedy is a long -standing tradition as an ointment at the University of Colorado in Boulder. For the past 13 years, Professors Beth Osnes Study and Maxwell Boykoff has learned a creative climate communication course about how information on climate issues and solutions can be creatively conveyed. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual “Stand Up for Climate Comedy.” This is the kind of event that helps the professors to encourage elsewhere, including the show guest staged. A few years ago, the professors decided to use their students and opportunities for opportunities as case studies to learn about the consequences of the merger of climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy raised people’s awareness and involvement in the issue and reduced their climate. Many other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and probably made them share it with others. “You can’t just record all the IPCC reports and hope that people do,” says Boykoff, a professor of environmental studies, referring to the scientific articles of the United Nations over global climate impacts. “You must find these creative spaces.” Theater professor Osnes-stewfalke said humor also has the power to utilize cracks in bad arguments and derive nuances from it. But perhaps more importantly, it can give people hope. Climate comedy “helped to give this sense of constructive hope,” she said, “and without hope actions do not make sense.” To make sense of the moment the climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of all that is given time. Bianca Calderon, a master’s student in environmental policy and renewable energy, takes the creative climate communication class, where she writes a stand -up piece about awards proposals. In the piece, she realizes that she has to rewrite her awards summary to omit words such as ‘diversity’, ‘community’ and ‘clean energy’ to comply with the Trump administration’s prescriptions. But there is a big problem: she is looking for federal financing for research on different communities and to get it in the clean energy market. “At the end of it, it’s like,” Ah, I actually have no words to use, because none of them are allowed, “she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Einstein, the comedian and a two -time national park service artist in the residence, also uses humor to talk about the actions of the administration. Using a pine concept as a microphone, Einstein has placed social media videos on the recent mass impairments of park service employees. The online response is different from anything he has ever received on the internet, he said. “We need an informed citizen who can criticize the messages that come to them,” said Osnes Towers. “And I think comedy can achieve this in a way that no other can in a way that holds people’s attention.” ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for the coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is exclusively responsible for all content. Visit apnews.com/hub/climate-and-and- andvironment for all the AP’s environmental coverage.