CU Class Combines Comedy and Climate Change

9 News
February 24, 2017

The two topics are combined as part of ‘Comedy for Climate Change’ – a video competition and project which organizers say is a creative way to tell stories and communicate about climate change.

The competitions comes to fruition on St. Patrick’s Day, as a performance that organizers call a comedy variety show.

This is the competition’s second year.  Last year, submissions came in from five different countries and ranged in everything from a spoof on a Simon and Garfunkel music video, to a fake newscast featuring a flustered weather person.

Max Boykoff and Beth Osnes, who are both professors at CU, say using comedy to highlight real world issues is a practice that goes back thousands of years.

The students and others who participate, typically have a lot of experience with researching climate change. The competition is part of a hybrid Theater/Environmental studies course at the University of Colorado Boulder, but it also is open to people around the world.  Last year, people from five countries entered into the competition.