A new comedy project pairing leading comedians with climate scientists offers a new way to cover the climate crisis.
“If people like me have to get involved, you know we’re in terrible shape,” says Jo Brand, the famous British comedian and host of The Great British Bake Off. From where? Because he joins the ranks of other notable comedians like Nish Kumar, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Jonathan Pie on Climate Science Translated, a project that transforms complex climate science into accessible and entertaining content to inspire action for millions of people.
Although climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity, research from the Climate Science Breakthrough team shows that only 2% of the public can name a climate scientist. Almost everyone knows Jo Brand. Having famous comedians translate what climate scientists say in a funny, ironic, and often blunt way makes science much more accessible.
And it works. Research shows that humor can be a transformative tool in science communication and can have a positive impact on people’s understanding of climate change. So far my video with Jo Brand has had over 3 million views and gained mainstream attention, with celebrities including Ellie Goulding, Gary Lineker, Rainn Wilson and Thom Yorke retweeting the videos. Each time, this brings the core message to a wider audience.
It also works because comedians can say things that scientists can’t; For example, they can swear. Jo asked me in our conversation after recording the main film: “Is it time scientists were allowed to swear when things are this bad?” My answer, in the video clip below, is no. Because the public expects scientists to be calm, rational and stick to the facts; As soon as we “become human” we lose our credibility. So, in many ways, Jo Brand is the human side of me that is now yelling at everyone to do something!
The video launch also caught the attention of Good Morning Britain; Jo Brand and I were invited to participate in the program. Susanna Reed asked me why I agreed to do the video with Jo Brand. My answer was simple: “Would I be discussing climate change on national breakfast television if it wasn’t for the wonderful Jo Brand?”
Celebrities can reach a much wider audience than a scientist. Imagine Taylor Swift dating a climate scientist, not an American football player.
Later that morning, TV presenters Susanna Reed and Richard Medley asked the UK Environment Secretary Steve Barclay one of my questions: “Why have the government issued new oil and gas licenses when we have enough reserves to push the climate well beyond 2˚C warming?” ?” Because the new licenses will not be in operation for 10 to 15 years and will not make any difference to the global cost, consumers will still have very high energy prices.
Unsurprisingly, he avoided the question; But this question was asked on Breakfast TV because I was in a comedy video.
find the funny
Comic Relief is a great example of how effective comedy can be. In 2022, it passed a milestone by using the power of comedy to raise over £1.5bn to support people around the world. It now stands out as a calendar moment in British culture.
In politics, comedy has been used largely in a satirical way to attract public attention by proving its power. Spitting Image and The Thick Of It crystallized the essence of politics in people’s minds at that time.
Jo Brand’s involvement in the climate comedy project marks a significant advance in the number of celebrities sounding the alarm about the accelerating environmental crisis. Others include Kevin McCloud, Mary Portas, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Chris Packham, who appeared in Channel 4’s climate emergency season last year. Even William Shatner, the original Captain James T. Kirk, added his voice saying we must act now to save our planet.
This trend points to the increasing urgency of the climate crisis and its recognition in various sectors of society. The blend of humor and science clarifies complex environmental issues, making it more relatable for everyday audiences. It underscores the impact of comedy in driving change and awareness, offering a powerful strategy for addressing one of today’s most critical challenges and an alternative to the direct action activism of Just Stop Oil and other groups.
The irony is, as Jo Brand says, we have all the solutions. Renewable energy is cheaper, safer, cleaner and more secure than fossil fuels. But according to the International Monetary Fund, globally we have subsidized fossil fuel use to the tune of $7 trillion (£5.5 trillion) by 2023; This figure increased by 2 trillion US dollars compared to the previous year. As Brand says, “even dinosaurs didn’t finance their own extinction.”
This is why comedy films call on everyone to step up and take action to pressure governments for urgent change; It ends with a call to ban new fossil fuel investments and the rallying cry: “All hands on deck now.”
Even the COP28 climate summit, held in the United Arab Emirates, a major oil state, called for a move away from fossil fuels. But we’re not getting anywhere fast enough. And why should billions of people suffer just because a few people and countries want to make huge profits by selling us polluting fossil fuels? This isn’t funny at all.
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Mark Maslin is the UNFCCC designated point of contact for UCL. He is co-director of the London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership and a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. He is a member of the Sopra-steria CSR Board of Directors, Sheep Integrated Ltd, Lansons and NetZeroNow advisory boards. has received grant funding from NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, DFG, Royal Society, DIFD, BEIS, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Research England, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, CIFF. , Sprint2020 and British Council. He has received funding from the BBC, Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD, HP and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.