#29 Can Comedy Help Us Tackle Conversations About Climate Change? | WeAreSTS

Ever heard of climate change comedy? Here’s the idea. The climate crisis dominates our news. But more and more, messages about action are ignored. Fatalism is growing. People seem frozen with the scale of the problem. It’s clear we need new ways to tackle these tough conversations. In this episode, STS’s very own Grace Tyrrell explores the growing niche of climate change comedy. With her guest Dr Matt Winning, an environmental researcher and comedian, Grace shows us how climate change comedy works and she explores the question of how these two ideas can fit together. Grace is finishing her master’s degree in science communication with us. After interviewing Matt Winning about the theory, Grace asks a set of fellow students about the practice. Does climate change comedy work? Do it inform the head? Does it engage the heart? Does it lead keep up momentum in climate action? Thanks to her guest, Dr Matt Winning and to fellow STS students Joe Woof, Steph Hawes, Megan Thomas, Gusti Ayu Ismayanti, Annabel Bourne for their time. Grace completed this podcast episode as part of the Podcast Sprint 2023, run by Professor Joe Cain for STS students.   Further information on climate change comedy Is climate change a laughing matter? (Carroll-Monteil 2021) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2022.2113764 Climate Strange - Dr Matt Winning, TEDx Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPCEqPdEY1A&t=281s   Featuring Interviewer and researcher Grace Tyrrell, UCL Science Communication MSc Class of 2023 https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracetyrrell/ @gracescicomm   Interviewees Dr Matt Winning, Senior Research Fellow at UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/people/mr-matthew-winning https://mattwinning.com/about/   Science Communication MSc Class of 2023 Joe Woof, Steph Hawes, Megan Thomas, Gusti Ayu Ismayanti, Annabel Bourne   Host Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain   Music credits (show) “Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5   Music credits (within the episode) “Accralate,” by Kevin MacLeod https://filmmusic.io/song/3336-accralate License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0   Podcast information WeAreSTS is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, or to leave feedback about the show: https://ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast Editing by Grace Tyrrell Post production by Professor Joe Cain   Listen to Science Refresh Science Refresh is a bi-weekly podcast bringing you a fresh take on the latest in science and technology. Join hosts Grace, Meg and Dom as they take you through the stories that you won’t have seen in the headlines. https://open.spotify.com/show/0aS44BehxWXfFLpm5FgrcM?si=fe84b76444ce45d2&nd=1