Climate
activist groups form a matchmaking program to help their LGBTQ organizers build
up a love life. The deep and profound parallels between both social movements of climate justice and gay liberation generates a
renewable supply of "Flam-Boi-ant" humor.
This lovelorn comedic adventure
is held together by a series of strategically arranged word puns which fit
together like pieces of a complex puzzle.
Carbon Man--Dating impacts the audience on multiple levels of head and
heart simultaneously-- a creative balance that is stimulating both mentally and
affectionately.
Here are some Featured Reviews from when I performed this content as part of the 2019 Minnesota Fringe Festival show:
I have never experienced a performance like this, which is exactly what I love about the Fringe Festival show. Samelson combines an endearing, almost coming-of-age fictional gay love story with the stark, all-too-real reality of the climate crisis. The writing lands the homo-playful climate puns blow after blow. As a person who is in both the queer and climate activist communities, this show was spot on. The language comes fast, so people who aren't up to snuff with climate activism may find themselves falling behind. Very fun! - T. S.
Witty Climate Activism Meets the Gay Experience
Taking his audience on an
intellectually stimulating journey where everything carries a double meaning
(or more), climate activist Lee Samelson reminds all what's at stake in a time
where climate change ravages our world. With a Powerpoint at-the-ready and
countless facts, Lee's presentation will leave you more aware than you began.
Also openly exploring the depths of his own experience of angst as a gay man on
the fringes of the dating world, he moves from topic to topic, hilariously
exploring multiple themes at one time. The more closely you listen, the more
details you can learn about climate change, Lee's own journey, and the plethora
of topics he covers. If you like word-play, puns, and unpacking layers of
meaning, you will love Lee Samelson's heady and amazing routines that both
educate and humorously tickle the audiences. If you like word-play and
unpacking humor that requires deep thinking, see Lee Samelson's show. Fair
warning: you'll have to concentrate and be ready to think, but it's well worth
it. - D. C.
Very deep puns
Loved
Lee's show of deep, multi-layered climate-dating puns. The volume of content of
these 5 shows, which are all different from one another, is absolutely
stunning. You can tell Lee's been working on this for a long time. It's a great
show with metric tons of laughs. - R. H.
AP Climate + Puns
full of clever, high-level
inside-jokes and puns on climate accords and the intimate parts of dating...
It's great a great length at 60 minutes - the only thing I would add is 5
minute overview at the beginning to get beginners up to speed. would recommend. - A. M.
Punniest intelligent monologue ever!
Rapid fire juxtapositions
and slick segues peppered with puns challenged my mental capacity and tickled
my funnybone. Lee has a unique vision of how the hot topics of climate change
and sexual identity intersect. - C. H.
Very Funny & Very Real
This comic monologue by a
1-man pun machine is very clever, super funny, and also not afraid to be real
about relationships formed in the context of the awareness of climate
catastrophe. Some of that awareness, as well as a few basic points remembered
from high school chemistry, will help you get some of the puns, but if not,
don't worry because they come a mile a minute. You probably will need to see it
twice to catch all the subtle humor involved! -J. M.
A Cool Take on Dating in a Warming World
Lee brings a fresh
perspective to Minnesota Fringe as he explores the interplay between climate
activism and gay dating. As we all search for our place in relation to each
other and to our changing world, these seemingly unrelated topics are an
unexpected platform for his offbeat sense of humor and endearing delivery. - J. B.
Outstandingly Clever and Exceedingly Important
Lee takes the audience
through his presentation (which is filled with punch lines) to engage with
important topics. Climate Justice becomes “Climate Just-Us” in this romance
saga. Each show has unique content. Bravo. - K. A.
Intersectional Comedy
This show was extremely
funny and thought that the connection between climate change issues and queer
issues were well highlighted. -L. G.
Pun-derful show
Lee's show is funny and
clever, even if your knowledge of climate and the environment is
"green". The visual effects helped illustrate the concepts. Would
definitely recommend. - P. K.
Don't Trust Atoms - They Make Up Everything
After this show you'll
realize global warming is heating EVERYTHING up. Wink wink nudge nudge. No one
can turn almost anything into a pun or play on words like Lee. Bring your brain
and leave with a smile. - S. S.
The Grand plotline
broken up into 7 main section in which the individual chapters are organized:
Part 1: THE SETTING- HOW DESIRE FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE IS LIKE LOVELORN YEARNING
Part 1 introduces the both central themes for the book, which are Queer Climate Intersectionality and the idea of a matchmaking program for Climate Activists, the latter which helps provide a narrative for the former. Part 1 bounces around these two areas of focus. In the middle of the mix, I introduce the villains in the narrative, those who try to repress or censor climate science as well as gay liberation. A lot of Part 1 is centered around the March for Science in the spring of 2017 as a protest against the same villains. In terms of the narrative, Part 1 is the setting which establishes the central theme necessary for the rest of the plot to take hold.
Part 1 Includes a Bonus Section that goes a bit further into depth on the science behind Climate Change and Associated Metaphors.
Part 2: THE STORY BEGINS - HOW I MET MY DESTINED LOVE ON A CLIMATE THEMED DATING SITE
Part 2 is where the main plotline of the story begins. I describe a Climate Change-themed online dating site which launches in the fall of 2013. I, as the main character, describe the challenges I had to work through on the website as well as the secret trick I discovered to find someone who I matched with on it. My destined love partner and I connect right from the start. I listened intently to what he had to share because I was so intrigued and in suspense about his dating profiles. The only problem is that he lives far away, making it difficult for us to meet up while keeping our carbon footprint down. But that does not initially matter because he is so interesting to talk with. By the end of this section we are deep into a politically related conversation. Includes a Bonus Section on Corporate Personhood
Part 3: OUR FASCINATING DISCUSSIONS ON IDEAS FOR DATES, HOOK-UPS AND QUEER CLIMATE INTERSECTIONLITY
Part 3 is a compilation of our many interesting discussions we had as we were getting to know each other exploring what we know in common. We begin by continuing to explore the climate-themed dating website which we met each other. That included bouncing ideas off each other on ideal first dates. Our discussion then flowed into profound insights on Queer Climate Intersectionality.
Includes one Bonus Chapter
PART 4: MY CRUSH WANTS TO IMPRESS ME WITH AN EPIC SPEECH ABOUT THE FABULOUS CLIMATE MODELING SUBCULTURE... AND SUCCEEDS !
After months of a long distance relationship, I really wanted to get a chance to visit in person the Guy who I liked in person. We have difficulty coming up with an occasion that we both agree upon and which he was comfortable with. But we strike a deal to meet in person. My destined love has long wanted to give a public presentation on his special topic of great knowledge, which was telling the history of the Climate Movement as if it were a struggle for gay liberation. I suspect he really wanted to impress me with it. He finally got a chance to give his presentation in front of his ideal audience the day before the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City, which was something I wanted to travel to attend anyway. So I was able to attend as part of the audience.
In part 5, immediately after the speech in part 4, is the grand occasion where we both finally get to meet up in person after connecting online. We have what is essentially an extended first date immediately before, during and immediately after the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City. We took part in the historic march. But afterward a surprise adventure awaited me that caused a delightful change in my original plans to travel back home. I got to spend more time that I expected with him, which included a fun trip to a science-themed gay bar.
Part 6: CREATING A GUIDE ON HOW CLIMATE MODELS CAN BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN FLIRTING, SEDUCTION AND ATTRACTING MAN-DATES - OUR GREAT PROJECT AFTER THE MARCH
Part 6 starts with the
interesting discussions we had on the mystery of how to convince more people to accept the need to address climate change and join the movement. After this extended first date, we created a guidebook on Flirting and Seduction in this way to make happen a success for all at the upcoming Climate Summit in Paris. Includes
a Bonus Section
Part 7 begins in the lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate
Summit. After an emotional rollercoaster of a lead-up discussion, it culminates in a sex scene which not coincidentally is Chapter
69. It is followed by the immediate aftermath of reaching a deal at the Paris Summit as we make our deal with each other. Our long-distance
relationship grows literally closer when we move in with each other and begin to work on an ambitious project together. But later
in Part 7 the plot goes fast forward and an unforeseen event disrupts our partnership, bringing us
back full circle with where the plot started in part 1 with the March for Science.
Part 8: A SLIDESHOW OF CREATIVE PROTEST SIGNS AT THE MARCH FOR SCIENCE PLUS EPILOGUE
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Intro by Author
Part 1: THE SETTING- HOW DESIRE FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE IS LIKE LOVELORN YEARNING
CHAPTER 1: Climate Activist Orgs Offering a Matchmaker Dating Program- If you giggled at the idea, then what makes it funny?
CHAPTER 2: What is Carbon Man-Dating? – The True Connections Beyond a
Convenient Word Pun
CHAPTER 3: An Ecovillage Emerges Out of the
Matrix= A Place Where I Can Belong
CHAPTER 4: The Greenhouse Gas Gatekeepers
Guarding the Entrance to Love - How Climate Science Explains Desperation
and Longing
CHAPTER 5: Who Says Climate is not a “Sexy” Enough Topic
to activate enough people to become “engaged”? Debunking the Myth…
CHAPTER 6: Paradise - A Sweet Climate-Themed
Love Poem
CHAPTER 7: Radical Bonding- The Sexiness of
Organic Chemistry Defies the Unjust Authorities
CHAPTER 8: Help! The Control Alt-Delete
Right is Censoring Climate Data and all I got are these Protest Signs at the
March for Science!
CHAPTER 9: The Ironic Connections Between
Climate Justice and Gay Liberation Explained in Terms of End Times Prophecy
CHAPTER 10: When Will Climate Hawks Have
Our Stonewall Rebellion Moment? Ending the 'Reign of Error'
CHAPTER 11: Intersectionality- All Liberation
Movements Unite to Overthrow Goliath
CHAPTER 12: How Building a Climate Action
Movement is like Telling a Cute Guy that I am Interested in Bonding with Him
CHAPTER 13: Queer/ Climate Intersectionality- A
Doomsday Scenario versus Love Actually Winning
CHAPTER 14: I Test My Hypothesis by trying to set up a fun Speed Dating Event, and the Conclusion is Take Neoliberal Economics out of Dating Life !
PART 1 BONUS SECTION: AN IN-DEPTH DIVE INTO CLIMATE CHANGE'S DATING PROFILE
BONUS CHAPTER A: If Climate Change had an Online Dating Profile, What would it say?
BONUS CHAPTER B: Why is Climate Change Having such a Hard
Time Getting a ‘Man-Date’?
BONUS CHAPTER C: Why Climate is so Sensitive? Climate was
Infatuated with Skateboarders Growing up and had a Secret Crush on one that did
not turn out so well.
BONUS CHAPTER D: Could Climate Model Matchmakers Save the
Day? Discovery of Mutual Attraction from a Climate
Science Perspective
Part 2: THE STORY BEGINS - HOW I MET MY DESTINED LOVE ON
A CLIMATE THEMED DATING SITE
CHAPTER 15: Unleashing the Magic of Mutual Discovery! Featured Rave Reviews of the “Carbon Dating” Website
CHAPTER 16: Decoding the Movement Jargon and Inside Lingo on
CHAPTER 17: Is there a ‘Floe’ Chart on how to Break the Ice with a Climate Model?
CHAPTER 18: A Global
Warming-Themed Dating Site Self-Summary
A:
Header/ Intro:
B: Values I Can Offer in a Relationship:
C:
Politics:
D:
Work & Career:
E:
Most Private Thing I am Willing to Admit:
F:
Children & Family:
G:
Musical Interests:
H:
Please Message Me If:
CHAPTER 19: None of My Matches on the Carbon Dating Website Excited me. So, I Discovered a Different Dating Site that had Way Hotter Models
CHAPTER 20: The Secret to How I Finally Found my Match & What He Wrote on his Two Fascinatingly
Enticing Dating Profiles
CHAPTER 21: My Destined
Love and I Send Our First Messages to Each Other… and Discover We had both Met
at Powershift !
CHAPTER 22: How to Connect 1) Singing in a
Choir, 2) Fishing and 3) Gay Pride using the Highest Imaginable Concentration
of Word Puns- The Fascinating Origin of the Dating Site 'Plenty of Fish'.
CHAPTER 23: How Sane Climate Policy is Like Safe and
Consensual Sex (and “Vice” Versa!)
CHAPTER 24:
The Great Beasts of the Social Darwinist Wilderness- An Epic Takedown of
Corporate Deregulation
Part 2 BONUS SECTION: CITIZENS CHAINED AND UNITED
BONUS CHAPTER E: The Supreme Court Wizard of Oz Unleashes
Citizens United Ruling Obscenity
BONUS CHAPTER F: Citizens United Was Supposed to be a Public
Nudist Event, not a Private Orgy Party!
BONUS CHAPTER G: How Superhuman Corporation-Persons Have Sex
and Replicate Themselves
BONUS CHAPTER H: Greasing the Skids for Oligarchic Dystopia & Endangering Our Right to Protest
Part 3: OUR FASCINATING DISCUSSIONS ON
IDEAS FOR DATES, HOOK-UPS AND QUEER CLIMATE INTERSECTIONLITY
CHAPTER 25: Our Hilarious Climate-Themed First Date Ideas
CHAPTER
26: My Ideal First
Carbon ‘Man-Date’ – How Meeting Fun Guys for Coffee is a Climate Solution
CHAPTER
27: The Sexiest Soul Science Lesson You Will Ever Hear
CHAPTER 28: “Merger Equality” - How Corporate
Persons Gaining Marriage Rights puts us on the Road to Biblical Ruin!
CHAPTER 29: Flowers may be a Romantic
Gesture, but they are Geniuses at Word Puns
CHAPTER 30: Deconstructing Toxic Masculinity- Remediating an Environmental Hazard
CHAPTER 31: From Radical
Fundamentalist to Fundamentally Radical- A Church Sermon on Queer- Planetary Pride Intersectionality
Part 3 BONUS SECTION: IF A CLIMATE MODEL GAVE A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPEECH
PART 4: MY CRUSH WANTS TO IMPRESS ME WITH AN EPIC SPEECH ABOUT THE FABULOUS CLIMATE MODELING SUBCULTURE... AND SUCCEEDS !
CHAPTER 32: We Resolve
Our Biggest Relationship Challenge- Making Plans to meet in Person
CHAPTER 33: My Climate Hawk Partner Begins his Great Speech with his Coming Out Story
CHAPTER 34: How Climate Awareness Parallels Gay Acceptance- A Historical Commentary
CHAPTER 35: How The Predatory Delayers kept up from Dating and Forming Accords
CHAPTER 36: College Life for Climate Models During Bush's First Term- All Drudgery/ No Love
CHAPTER 37: The Predatory Delayer Gets Busted, Explodes in Outrage and gets Caught on Camera
CHAPTER 38: The Brief Glamor Years when Sustainability & Climate Models were a Fashionable Fad
CHAPTER 39: The Phony Climategate Scandal Rocks the Climate Modeling Subculture
CHAPTER 40: From the Darkness of Purity Culture to Sunrise in America- The Grand Finale of his Great Speech
CHAPTER 41: Sweet Caressing – We Finally Meet Each Other in Person!
CHAPTER 42: We Perform Magic Tricks for each other on our First in-person date
CHAPTER 43: Winning a Green New Deal- The Ultimate Kinky Fantasy for Climate
Models
CHAPTER 44: We Hold a Spiritually-Woke Pizza Joke Telling Competition as we Walk
Through New York City
CHAPTER 45: Intersectional Pride- The Queer Planet Section
of the People’s Climate March
CHAPTER 46: Myco-Remediating Toxic Masculinity
with Healthy, Regenerative Fun Guys
CHAPTER 47: Debunking the Common Negative Stereotypes about Climate Models
CHAPTER 48: A Dream Come True- I get to spend more time with my Climate Model
Companion !
CHAPTER 49: Special Gay Bar for Science Geeks and the Climate Modeling Subculture - We Have Our Fun Night Out Together!
Part 6: CREATING A GUIDE ON HOW CLIMATE MODELS CAN BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN FLIRTING,
SEDUCTION AND ATTRACTING MAN-DATES - OUR GREAT PROJECT
AFTER THE MARCH
CHAPTER
50: Tapping into the Wooden Skeptics- How Climate Conversations are like Making Maple Syrup
CHAPTER 51: Inverted
Reality 3D Glasses- A Sarcastic Guide to Seeing the World Upside Down
CHAPTER 52: An ‘Inaction Figure” Toy Series- The "Dragons of Inaction"
CHAPTER 53: Red-Baiting Climate Deniers are the Real Stalinists
CHAPTER 54: My Climate Model Companion shows me his Erotica
Collection – What Gets Him Excited? (Warning- Non-Pun-O-Graphic Content)
CHAPTER 55: Managing the Backfire Effect- Models Have Gaps
that need to be Filled
CHAPTER 56: What are the Best Questions to ask to find out if
Someone is your Climate Type?
CHAPTER 57: A Field Guide on How to Attract Dates from the Easiest of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication 6 "Americas.”
A: The Alarmed
B: The Concerned
C: The Cautious
D: The Disengaged
CHAPTER 58: Advice for Dating a Climate
Doubtful- Go to a Green Tea Party!
CHAPTER 59: Mitigating the Disaster Impact
of Dating a Climate Dismissive by using Beatles songs (and Rolling Stones too) !
CHAPTER 60: The Climate Contrarian Winter Olympics- Ski
Racing Down the Slippery Slope to Intellectual and Moral Calamity
BONUS CHAPTER J:
BONUS CHAPTER K: The Top
Two Levels of the Pyramid
BONUS CHAPTER L: The
Third Level Down on the Pyramid
BONUS CHAPTER M: The 4th
Level Down on the Pyramid
BONUS CHAPTER N: Below
the Floating Apex of the Pyramid
BONUS CHAPTER O: Us Climate Models Formed a High School Debate Team, but why was Being Right not Enough?
BONUS CHAPTER P: The Transition from Caterpillar
to Butterfly- Becoming who we are meant to be: Metaphors be With You !
CHAPTER 61: How Reaching a Deal at a Global Climate Summit is like Trying to find a Boyfriend by Attending a Party of Parties
CHAPTER 62: Global Warming and Impressive Endowment- Why Climate Hawks are not the Usual Type of Size Queens
A: Awkward Insecurities
while Gayming
B: The Secrets of What
Climate Models are Excited By
CHAPTER 63: A Novel Advertisement to Get More Guys to Care about Taking Action on Climate
CHAPTER 64: The Shower Scene- My Impressionable Moment When I Found Out I Was of the Climate Hawk Orientation-
CHAPTER 65: The Dark Secrets of Why Past Climate Summits Have Broken Down: The Big Shots Created a Gayme of Music Chairs
CHAPTER 66: Conspiracy Theories are being put out by the Conspirators themselves – and how we will Foil their World Dominance Plot
CHAPTER 67: “Greta-Tude” Autism Spectrum/ Climate Hawk Intersectionality
A: The Double Rainbow- Queer Spectrum Meets Autism Spectrum
B: A Visualization of “Greta-Tude”
CHAPTER 68: When our Tender Male Bonding Hopes got “Bully-Dozed” –Our Harsh Coming Out Experiences at An All-Boys Boarding School
CHAPTER 69: A Climate-Themed Gay Erotic ‘Fiction’ – Reaching the Climax of a Global Climate Summit
CHAPTER 70: Following Climax is Resolution- We Pledge to a Long-Term Accord Together
CHAPTER 71: “'Dessert'-if-ication" – Using Cake and Pie to Explain the Endangered Habitat for the Green Economy
CHAPTER 72: Explaining Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan in terms of Cake Recipes
CHAPTER 73: What did they Actually Mean by “Draining the Swamp”? Entropy Squared & The Decline into Disorder
CHAPTER 74: If Mitch McConnell Became a State Fair Food Vendor plus his Federalist Society Judges going to the Bowling Alley.
CHAPTER 75: We Saved Our Climate from the Tangerine Tyrant! We Protected Our Planet from Papaya Pinochet!
Part 8: A SLIDESHOW OF CREATIVE PROTEST SIGNS AT THE MARCH FOR SCIENCE PLUS EPILOGUE
Chapter 76: Make Truth Matter Again, Make Earth Cool Again! (Slideshow)
CHAPTER 77: Epilogue / 96:
A: The Moral Tuning Fork
B: small r Capital E rEvolution
C: Cosmic Oblivion
D: My Final
Legacy
Introduction from the author:
I have long felt something of a soul
mission to lend a creative voice for an important & timely topic.
Out of that motivation, I read an earlier version of this work as a spoken
word comedy performance for the Minnesota Fringe Festival in August of 2019. I was
performing as one among an eclectic collection of 130 different shows. (Click
here for description). I started creating
and occasionally performing earlier versions of Climate-themed spoken word
comedy 6 years before I won a
lottery drawing to be in the 2019 MN Fringe Festival.
My paid work over the past several years has been as an
organizer for local renewable power with a nonprofit called Community Power MN.
It matches my deep calling for a clean, resilient energy future with the
additional dimension of working on strategic campaigns that address climate in
a way which can double as housing and economic justice.
My specific tasks are frequently changing and that is part of
the fun. But a consistent objective behind my tasks throughout the years has been
organizing community education events on our energy utility system and making invites
to get turnout at these events. It is line of work which depends upon community
members gaining a curiosity to learn. I then started pondering about lending
some sort of entertainment value to the topics of Climate and Energy as a pathway
to build interest among a greater proportion of the public.
As someone who has attended a lot of similar community events
hosted by allied organizations, I have built a network of positive
change-makers from around the Twin Cities. This has provided me a meaningful
sense of belonging as well as a network of contacts to make invites to.
My hobby of creating climate comedy did not start as a deliberate
decision for the calculated purpose of driving up attendance for events I was
organizing for work. Its origins were much more spontaneous and unplanned. I
was originally inspired by seeing Bill McKibben's “Do the Math Tour” in late
2012. His presentation humorously connected Keystone Beer with the Keystone XL
pipeline. Out of that one single side joke, I had a burst of interconnected
word puns and metaphors come to my mind in the following weeks. This quickly evolved
into my original climate comedy performance, where I described the climate
crisis as a “deadly cocktail” of XL sized Keystone Beer, diet Koch (referring
to the Koch Brothers) and 1% Milk (referring to the richest 1% which Occupy
Wall Street turned into a meme. By February of 2013, I handed a very early copy
of my work to Bill McKibben when he town visited again. At that time, I had
compiled an several books worth of my own non-fiction writing on topics where
sustainability and the social sciences intersect. This written work of mine
revolved around a central theme: Taking a pre-emptive strike against fossil
fuel dependency rather than only acting in response to a crisis. I never got
around to publishing a vast majority of this writing. It was a never-ending battle
for me to keep content on global warming and peak oil updated and current given
a continual stream of new reports and findings. In addition, the main points I
had expressed in this non-fiction work had already been covered by additional
authors.
With Carbon Man-Dating however, I fill a niche that is
largely uncovered by preexisting authors. Plus, writing this comedy involves far
fewer references and citations than my non-fiction work.
As Bill McKibben often points out from his own experience,
simply authoring a book which catapults the truth out is rarely enough to lead
to the changes our world needs to see. But it is nevertheless rewarding to author
a book that helps inspire a dedicated following and attracts lots of readers.
Rather than going the direct route of publishing my comedy as a book, I took
the route of reading it in front of an audience with a projected slideshow as a
visual cue for where the word puns and other punchlines are.
In the lead up
to my Fringe Festival show, I had been grappling with the same familiar
haunting question that I have in my paid work. What would it be like for me to
promote an ecological-themed performance only to have almost no one actually
show up to watch it? It would feed into this dark suspicion that this
planet might not be saved after all and that we won’t be able to mobilize the
public engagement and interest on the mass scale needed before it is “too late”.
By the time 2019 came around, it
was year of the school climate strikes and that helped cancel out the sharpest
pangs of that fatalistic speculation. The timing of my Fringe Festival show
made me feel like I was part of something larger.
For decades prior, there was this
long-standing Conventional Wisdom that climate was “not a sexy enough” topic to
activate and engage anything more than a niche audience within a wider culture
that is so preoccupied by entertainment with an ever shorter attention-span.
The realm of marketing and
advertising uses sex appeal all the time because it is attention- grabbing and
is also effective in directing the audience to focus on the message at hand rather
than tuning it out as noise. A topic as urgent and timely as climate deserves
all the attention it can get. It seems like the fate of the world depended upon
making the topic of Climate sexy in some way.
Climate was supposedly too heady
and geeky to be sexy. It was supposedly too much of a serious downer to fit in
with the entertainment/ pop culture template. Climate has also been taken as
too abstract for anyone who is not yet in this niche audience to feel a sense
of personal relation toward.
But I was determined to disprove
this conventional wisdom. So, I took upon the challenge of actually finding a
way to make the topic of climate sexy, with entertainment value and with themes
which make it personally relatable. I figured hitting this trifecta that would
inoculate my public performance on climate from getting the lousy outcome which
conventional wisdom would suggest.
Let me break down the elements
here:
1:
I lent entertainment value by putting a presentation about climate into
the format of a pun-off competition, where I strategically arranged a series of
word puns which strategically fit together like a crossword puzzle.
2: I also structured the narrative
around grand metaphors between climate science/ policy concepts and romantic
love relationships as a strategic way to make the topic more personally
relatable. Making it a romantic relationship-themed comedy on climate justice
thus provides a bridge to sexy.
3: Then I directed themes of
sexuality by making the overall topic of climate intersectional with LGBTQ
acceptance rather than arranging the metaphors involving romantic relationships
to assume the more typical and familiar heteronormativity. This added a whole
new dimension of depth and originality to the comedy. In fact, much of the
actual humor is generated by highlighting the very surprising number of deep
and profound parallels between the LGBTQ and Climate movements (Which I have
detailed here: https://environomicaliconoclast.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-extensive-intersectionality-between.html)
In addition to a series of strategically arranged word puns, I present many
cases where the exact same set of words yields a double meaning which describes
2 different narratives from both the climate activist world and LGBTQ pride
world.
Halfway through my 5 Fringe
Festival performances, I decided to create a new opening script so I could
introduce the audience to my style so it would come off as less jarring. I
described it as being one of “radical pun-da-mental-ism!”, meaning putting puns
alongside “da-mental”. The word puns each have a deeper underlying meaning
where you have dig way down to uncover the root. And to bring the meaning of
the phrase to a full circle, the word root just happens to be “the root” of the
word radical. To work in a sexual double entrendre, this means ‘going deep’ in
order to stimulate maximum arousal, where mental insightfulness makes the
sexual references all the more rewarding.
To take a step back to square one,
devising a comedy on a rather serious topic is quite a challenge in the first
place. A comedian can’t simply look at the topic of climate for about 15
minutes and be able to come up with content that is actually funny and not cliché.
It requires a dedicated effort to dive deep enough into climate in order to create
comedy about it in a quality manner that brings light to the topic rather than
makes light of it.
A few weeks before my Fringe Shows,
I watched several prolific local comedians do performances on climate for a one-time
event. Rather than someone who devotes a small fraction of one’s overall
comedic content toward the topic of climate disruption, I focus like a laser on
the topic. The vast majority of my comedic content being climate and energy
related and that enables me to reach a level of depth.
Such an important topic deserves to
be treated with high regard and I accomplish that by offering some depth. This
means coming up with a version of humor which contains enough "Aha!"
moments to belie a difficult subject matter. That stands in contrast to a more
purely silly form of humor which would serve to cheapen the stark real-world implications
of what we are facing. From the standpoint of adding depth, a comedy about
climate becomes all the more deeply meaningful if it serves an additional dual
purpose, which I do by making it intersectional with LQBTQ causes.
My intention behind working in the
element of dating and love relationships goes beyond using rote sex appeal to
get attention. It serves the additional benefit of having a humanizing effect
on a topic usually associated with hard science. This is particularly valuable
to do for climate science which psychologists specifically recognize as
difficult for our brains to process and relate to on a personalized level. With
this in mind, I arranged Carbon Man-Dating to “impact the reader/
audience on multiple levels of head and heart simultaneously-- a creative
balance that is stimulating both mentally and affectionately” (as I had on my
show description page) https://www.minnesotafringe.org/2019-show-information/carbon-man-dating-a-climate-themed-gay-romantic-comedy
Making liberal use of word puns and
double entendres enabled yet another stylistic advantage. It allows the benefit
of presenting sexual themes & references without directly using adult words
or images. That way the content comes across in a beautiful, funny or ironic
manner rather than a vulgar one that would detract from treating the topic of
climate with dignified regard. The content can straddle the line of being for
somewhat mature audiences without being overtly X-rated. With all the
above harmonic balances in mind, I felt genuine excitement that I had perhaps
the most brilliant concept for a Fringe Festival show.
There are a countless number of performance artists,
including my estimates of least about 10% of the 2019 Fringe Festival performances,
who put LBGTQ content into some type of comedy format. Doing a comedy
performance about climate disruption is a quite a bit more unusual in
comparison. I counted only one additional 2019 Fringe Festival show about
Climate Change. But the concept of Climate Comedy is far from being unheard of given
that a couple of researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder both
study and compile climate comedy. Intentionally fusing climate justice with
LGBTQ causes is another frontier which is rather rare to encounter in the same
space though far from unheard of. One example I found is with the organization
called Out 4 Sustainability. By the melding together of all three; climate,
comedy, and LGBTQ content, I felt very giddy about coming up with a combination
of genres that was totally unique
and original.
Melding all three
together is sort of like mixing Middle Eastern instruments and melodies with
Techno beats while adding in electric guitar and drums to match the structure
of a western Rock band. The concept may sound jarring to some. But the Album
South Moroccan Motor Berber by the band Argan pulls it off.
The personal pride of being a pioneer into uncharted waters
presents a bit of a double-edged sword however: Where is my ideal audience?
I
was my possible audience as being on a spectrum with 2 extremes. I imagined one
extreme being a constituency who frequents gay bars / nightclubs that would
enjoy the sexual innuendo component but might interpret a heady and intellectual focus on climate as too
nerdy and geeky to have appeal. At the other end of the spectrum were
professionals who study climate and energy for a living and would get my
science and policy references very well but would not value mixing it with
humor or appreciate combining it with sex appeal.
I
have thus far found my ideal audience among the more activist/ organizer types
in the climate and energy fields as opposed to the more technocratic grasstops
types. Even before the Fringe Festival I had been gradually building up a
growing fan base from previous comedy performances. The audience I have built
up is why my Fringe Festival show at least managed to break even and why I did
notably better than the much-feared worst-case scenario outcome of hardly
anyone showing up.
I
made 2 particular efforts to reach out to LGBTQ spaces. I do remember getting
hearty responses of laughter I got when I waved my “Love is Carbon Neutral,
Let’s C how many O’s the 2 of us can make” sign when marching through the Twin
Cities Pride Parade in June of 2019. My original plan was to have a local free
LGBTQ publication publish the photo alongside a description of my Fringe
Festival show. Its readership tends to overlap with those who would watch a Pride
Parade. I figured there would be some who remember seeing my sign at the Pride
Parade would be enticed enough by that one little taste to come see my show. But
mention of my show only ended up in an online article rather than in printed magazine
which was freely available on multiple street corners. So, my clever strategy
to build up my audience size did not end up panning out in that way.
Lack of turnout to any given event can have multiple
additional explanations. I later found out that a linear measure of audience
size is far from the best factor in determining level of public interest and
engagement. The bigger factor is the extent to which the audience who does
offer the gift of showing up is able to follow along and enjoy.
What particularly struck me was reading one review of
my show from someone who commended my ability to do the shock-and-awe of word
puns but was not being able to follow along with what I was speaking about in
my performance, despite my visual cues.
I found it rather disturbing that the common lingo
among climate activism is not even close to universal common knowledge given
the weighty seriousness of what we are facing and given the extent to which
knowledge is power. It is haunting for me to think that anyone could have too
little interest in the existential topic of climate to learn the terminology on
their own or in peer groups.
I acted upon a mission to educate, enlighten and mobilize the necessary public interest in this very timely topic by adding entertainment value and making it emotionally relatable. But I admit there is one weakness that I struggle to overcome. Doing a comedy format gives me limited ability to explain the climate science policy and activism concepts to audience members less familiar with them while also being able to maintain a rhythm that does not lose the attention of the rest of the audience. It throws off the rhythm of the comedy to explain and build familiarization with the terminology. For that purpose, I used a slideshow to illustrate the words alongside supporting images to the audience.
The core narrative I chose as the intro to my Fringe Festival show description was “Climate activist groups form an online dating program to help their LGBTQ organizers build up a love life”. At first, this core narrative may sound like mere tongue-in-cheek comedy fodder. But my subconscious motivation was to suggest that this would actually a good idea to make happen in real life. It is no random accident that I called for Climate Justice organizations to all join together to offer a program to help climate activists and organizers (LGBTQ in particular) who are interested in dating others with shared interests.
What I can say is that this creative work of incorporating humor has been a therapeutic way for me to process a wide array of emotions both about the climate crisis as well as the challenges of being somewhere on both the LGBTQ and autism spectrums. Creating this content helped unite these 3 social circles of my life that often feel so fragmented and don’t often talk with each other.
Could my performance inspire curiosity to learn or to
set foot in climate activist community spaces? Will the content be effective in building
a new community where the Climate Justice & LGBTQ rights movements can be
of mutual benefit to each other?
Back in the year 2011, something noteworthy happened in my state legislature. Many of the same legislators who would eventually vote against resolutions stating that climate change is real/ human caused happened to be largely the same ones who voted to put an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment on the ballot for November 2012.
The two movements were brought into an informal alliance with each other mainly because both just happened to share common enemies. But what would it feel like for both movements to unite around something affirmative?
A newfound wisdom and a newfound strategy of talking about love and values is how we mobilized to defeat the anti-gay constitutional Amendment on Nov 6th, 2012. In that way love had won or more accurately, love would at the very least not be disallowed.
It may have been unthinkable just one year before it happened. But love became formally allowed in State Law just several months later, on May 14th, 2013 and went into effect Aug 1st.
Witnessing that rapid shift in social values caught the attention of organizers in the Climate Movement. We started to ask if the same love and values-based strategy that worked for the Vote No campaign could also work for building up the Climate movement.
Many years later, some of the movers and shakers
from the Vote No Campaign showed up for climate in an expression of
intersectional pride by forming an organization called Ullu.
This is a great, thorough explanation! Well done!
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