That’s (Not) Funny: How To Use Humor To Raise Climate Change Awareness
4 factors that make a humorous approach to environmental issues successful
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Credit: This article is based on the scientific article “An Inconvenient Joke? A Review of Humor in Climate Change Communication” by Miriam Kaltenbacher and Stefan Drews (Full citation and link available at the end of the article)
With extreme weather events due to climate change happening more and more often, the importance of raising awareness and taking action is becoming more urgent. The good news is that every one of us can be part of the solution. The bad news is that behavioral change is slow and complex. That is why it is important that climate change communication is as effective as possible.
Whether climate change communication is effective depends on several factors, which are explained in 5 Ways To Make Climate Action Communication More Effective. One of these five ways to make climate action communication more effective is considering how you say something. This is important because the wording can influence the reaction.
One type of wording that can be used in climate change communication is humor. Humor can be effective when communicating environmental issues, including climate change, even though these topics are very serious. This is because humor lets us perceive messages in a positive way. Sometimes though, humor can also distract people from the central information. That is why it is important to know which factors make a humorous approach to climate change and environmental communication successful.
1. Purpose or effect
The first factor that should be taken into account to make a humorous approach successful is the purpose or effect of the climate change communication. This is because the communication can be designed to reach different goals and affect people in different ways. Humorous communication can be used:
- to raise awareness for climate change or environmental topics, for example by breaking taboos
