This past weeks Rose Café was by far the least formal lecture I’ve attended. With swears and religious jokes flying, it definitely did not feel like a typical discussion on the environment.

Aaron Sachs started the talk with an anecdote about his Jewish Rabbi grandfather who would spend time thinking of the “hereafter”. As he fondly remembers it, his grandfather would go into the kitchen at night for a snack, and forget why he went there, what he was “here after”. That joke was pretty much the attitude of the day.

It was strange to hear an environmentalist speak critically about other environmentalists, but as Sachs claims, environmentalists have no sense of humor, and it might be hurting the cause to be so uptight. He thinks that between tragedy and comedy, people are more likely to not be offended by comedy. Therefore, to get the message through about climate change, environmentalists should make people laugh about it to get them thinking. If one just brings up how climate change is “the worst thing to ever happen in the world”, they are more likely to get a negative reaction than if they make fun of a big hummer driving down the road.

I had never thought that comedy was a way to get an issue across, but now that I think of it, this tactic is used all over to grab attention. In political campaigns, it is not unlikely to see candidates on SNL or Late Night talk shows, poking fun at themselves or their competition. It is a harmless way to get people to listen up and reach the youth specifically. Now that I’ve notice these similarities, I can’t help but agree with Sachs’ view on how to actually tackle climate change.

We watched many comedic parodies about the environment or standup acts that addressed the facts. Regardless of what outlet it is, SNL or Sachs possible comedic environmental book project, as long as the message gets across, I’ll count it as a win.