Last Wednesday at Rose Café, Aaron Sachs, Associate Professor in the Department of History, raised a point that had never occurred to me. Virtually every group of people, religion, political party, etc. has a plethora of jokes and comedic skits targeting them – except environmentalism.

Why?

During the Rose Café, it seemed to me like comedic material to use was scarce. Professor Sachs had to search deep into the bowels of The Onion’s website or pull up a clip from Modern Family to find videos that put environmentalism in a humorous light.

After the official session was over, a few students stayed behind with Professor Sachs to discuss this ‘Why?’. And a consensus wasn’t made.

I have spent a considerable amount of downtime trying to figure out the reasoning for the lack of humorous material when it comes to environmental humor. There is some opposition to the belief that humans are ruining the earth, just like there is opposition to any political party. There are opinions on how seriously we should take responsibility and act, just like there are opinions on religion. There are stereotypes are extreme environmentalism, just like there are stereotypes of the French. The degradation of the planet is horrific, like events such as the Holocaust, yet war and genocide have more jabs than environmentalism.

I don’t know. Do you?