A laughing matter??

It’s weird to think of climate change as something th to laugh at after seeing the horrible affects it has on our lives and our environment. However, authors of “Confronting Climate Change Through Humor” along with those apart of the “Inside the Greenhouse” project set out to challenge this notion. Maxwell Boykoff and Beth Osnes write, “Among possible pathways humor is underutilized; yet comedy has power to connect people, information, ideas, and new ways of thinking/acting (Scott).” When we think about humor we mostly think about is as something that’s only meant to bring laughter. However this articles push the boundaries of humor; it gives humor a new meaning, connection. Humor is something most human have and can relate to. Therefore mixing humor with critical matters is a great way to inform and get more people interested in wanting to listen and help. The article explains this again saying, “Research has shown that positive emotions can actually serve to inhibit the sense that something is wrong and needs to be address through problem solving behavior (McGraw, Schiro & Fernbach, 2015).” This research essentially proves that people are more likely to listen and take action against a matter if they are introduced it in a more positive way. This doesn’t mean that climate change should be viewed positively and humorously; this article shows us that humor is used just to introduced the subject in a lighter way to get better results.

I really agree with this article. As a person I tend to get distracted and bored with things easily, and many other people are just like me. Therefore a great way to grow the movement is to meet them halfway. The article brought out a good point; it briefly compared using comedyto a vehicle that meets you and take you to the place you need to be. This analogy is amazing it really paints a picture of how useful using comedy for important, crucial matters. Although many people might feel this method may be inappropriate I feel that this method is pure genius.

Vocab
Humor - “The quality of being amused or comic.” & “A mood or state of mind”
ITG -  Inside the Greenhouse project
Technique - “A way of carrying out a particular task.”