I'M A CLIMATE SCIENTIST. THIS IS WHY I'M LAUGHING
An increasing number of stand-up comedians are devising routines around climate breakdown
Q: How many climate deniers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What are you talking about, the bulb is fine.
See, despite the post-COP28 despondency, it is possible to laugh at climate change. In fact not only is it possible, it is essential. What we needed from Dubai was a binding commitment to cut emissions in half within 72 months, so as to have any chance of keeping the global average temperature rise (compared to pre-industrial times) this side of 1.5°C, and side-stepping dangerous, all pervasive, climate breakdown. What we got was a vague intention to transition away from fossil fuels - no timeline, no roadmap. It was the sort of outcome that elicits a chuckle and a shaking of the head in disbelief. But chuckling is a healthy response, even when things seem bleak - especially then in fact.
Comedy and humour have long been tried and trusted ways of coping with hard times. They can help to relieve stress, distract the mind from the problems of the moment, and bolster general well-being, all things we now need more than ever. In the second world war, comedy was utilised to belittle Hitler and reduce him to a figure of ridicule that morphed him from a monster into a joke; from someone to be feared to someone who could be beaten. Those suffering the devastating nightly carpet bombing of British cities in 1940 and 1941 fought back in the only way they could, with laughter. The so-called Blitz 'spirit' depended upon a good dose of black humour, which I am sure continues to play a key role in lifting the mood, today, in war zones like Ukraine.
Whenever times are difficult, people resort to wit and repartee. The reason is simple. If you don't laugh, you will cry, and that marks the beginning of a very slippery slope. As civilisation faces a threat that dwarfs that of every war ever fought combined, and the outcome of the most recent climate COP offers little hope, its something we need - not only to remember - but to actively adopt as a weapon in our armoury to fight for a better future for our children and their children. They say that laughter is the best medicine and boy do we need it now to help counter the explosion of stress, fear and depression that our dire predicament is driving. But weaponised comedy has the potential to do more - not only to help inform and educate about global heating and the climate breakdown it is driving, but also to encourage and bolster action. Fortunately, this is happening.
Because comedy can reach the parts other approaches to climate change don't, it can be used to get the climate message across to those whom it might otherwise have passed by. This is why the Climate Science Translated venture is so important. The brainchild of ethical insurer, Nick Oldridge, and the climate communications outfit Utopia Bureau, the project teams up climate scientists with top comedians, who 'translate' the science into bite-sized, funny,and pretty irreverent, chunks that can be understood, digested and appreciated by anyone. Four film shorts have now been made - all of which can be viewed on Youtube - the first 'starring' me and brilliant comedian and actor, Kiri Pritchard-McLean. As Kiri has pointedly observes: "if comedians are helping scientists out, you know things aren't going well". Other comedians onboard include Nish Kumar, Jo Brand and Tom Walker's marvellous alter ego, Jonathan Pie.
There are other ongoing initiatives too. A number of stand-ups have devised routines around global heating and climate breakdown - including the excellent Lara Ricote, who won the 2022 best newcomer award at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Stuart Goldsmith's climate-focused Spoilers routine, which launched at this year's festival. There is even a Sustainable Stand-up course aimed at teaching comedy beginners about how climate and social issues can be addressed in their shows, and which has run in 11 countries. In the US, the Climate Comedy Cohort brings together comedians to develop new routines informed by the (ahem) hottest climate science, and take their work on the road in a series of live shows and short-form video. Some climate professionals have even taken things into their own hands, like Scot Dr. Matt Winning, who has a PhD in climate policy, and uses stand-up to get his message across. It might sound as if plenty is happening but, as the climate continues to collapse about our ears, it is clear that more is needed - much more.
The world's biggest climate joke has just ended in the United Arab Emirates, where more than 80,000 delegates - including 2,400 from the fossil fuel sector - have conspired to take the mickey. Nearly three decades of climate COPs have done nothing to reduce emissions, nor rein-in ever-climbing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The UK Met Office has just predicted that the global average temperature rise could touch 1.5°C in 2024, yet the COP28 final communique is still banging on about how we can still avoid a permanent rise above this critical threshold, while at the same time failing to show how.
COP28 was always set to be a bit of a comedy show, and one that even the best comic writers would find hard to make up. Held in a major petrostate, the colossal wealth of which is predicated upon fossil fuel extraction, and which has no vested interest in slashing the carbon dioxide emissions that result from burning them, the conference was presided over by the head of the country's national oil company. Papers leaked in advance revealed that the UAE planned to use the opportunity provided by the meeting to set up new oil and gas deals, while - half way through - the COP president made a vigorous defence of fossil fuels, arguing that dumping them would see us back living in caves. You have to laugh - the sort of slightly hysterical laugh that quickly turns to weeping. Oh, and to add to the fun, the host for next year's COP29 is going to be Azerbaijan - another big oil producer.
Rather than making progress on tackling the climate emergency, then, we are at the very least standing still, and quite possibly going backwards. A role for comedy in helping to turn things around has never been more urgent. So let's see more comedians build the climate emergency into their shows, and let's get the really big hitters involved. Come on Bill Bailey, Lee Mack, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Jack Dee and the rest. It's your world too. And what about a climate sit-com - surely it's time has come? Last of the Summer Heatwave anyone, or perhaps Only Fools and Climate Scientists? I know - Third Overheating Rock fom the Sun.
A version of this article was published in CNN Opinion on December 15th 2023
Humour certainly stays in the mind. In a cartoon by Joel Pett a presenter stands by a screen bearing the words 'Green jobs, energy independence and rainforests’, when a member of the audience cries out: What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing? In another, on the Alliance of World Scientists’ website, a lecturer stands at a board with the words: ‘Research concludes WE ARE DESTROYING THE EARTH’. An onlooker representing government asks: Could you rephrase that in equivocal, inaccurate, vague, self-serving and roundabout terms that we can all understand?
Bill, I admire your courage in appearing on Climate Science Translated. However:
1. As an exercise in public education the swearing presumably excludes it from schools, and the scientists give a didactic delivery that plays into the stereotype that they are remote and perhaps unduly earnest (Rollie Williams of Climate Town avoids that).
2. The theme isn’t good. Governments can be exhorted to do more, but as I understand it the contribution of renewables has hardly done more than keep pace with the absolute increase in the demand for energy (15% in 2020 vs. 13% at the start of this century), so the better theme would concern growth.
3. The exercise raises awareness, and even ridicule against named politicians, as when Will Ferrell mocked George W. Bush [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1gC8qWh2Hs], seems to have that kind of general effect. It would be a different matter if those individuals or institutions whose public duty it is to respect evidence were ridiculed. So Bill, what about doing another one on the false balance and related devices of BBC reportage since 2011 (when Steve Jones did his excellent review), or the logical weakness incorporated into the Sustainable Development Goals that is the source of so much greenwash?!