An Experimental Evening of ‘Comedy for Climate Change’
This Spring, in our Inside the Greenhouse ‘creative climate communications’ course we conducted an experiment. We challenged forty senior undergraduate students to come up with a comedy skit or standup routine that drew on issues associated with climate change…a we gave them a mere four weeks from start to finish (the finish being a live comedy show on campus).
Though a bit bewildered at the prospect of such an unusual assignment, every student courageously embarked on the challenge. In groups of four, they quickly got to work on a composition.
While some found quick inspiration, most of the students understandably struggled with various elements of the task at hand. Early comments included, "you're telling us to take something really serious and make it funny - that is very difficult", and “I’m just not very funny – why would I want to show that off?”. But to their credit, drawing inspiration from class exercises/activities and visiting speakers (including [Memorial University of Newfoundland], [University of Colorado-Boulder], [Michigan State University], and ) students began to find some traction and satisfaction from their sustained efforts to find the funny in climate change.