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Esteban Gast performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)2025-04-11T13:41:30Z BURBANK, Calif. (AP) Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint. Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane? were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator. Gast, who said his Catholic guilt compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif. Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people. Thats like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte, he said. The audience roared with laughter. A light with the name Flappers Comedy is visible as Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) A light with the name Flappers Comedy is visible as Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Esteban Gast laughs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Esteban Gast laughs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Gast continued: BP, famous for spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive? And Im like, I dont know, sometimes. And theyre just like pouring oil into a turtles mouth. Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how its communicated. Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink? Raising awareness From left, Kaycee Conlee, Ashley Brooke Roberts and emcee Corinna Yee prepare before Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) From left, Kaycee Conlee, Ashley Brooke Roberts and emcee Corinna Yee prepare before Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More In Rasheda Crocketts YouTube comedy series Might Could, the actor-comedian blends humor with information about climate change. In one video, she quips about the environmental benefits of plant-based diets while begging food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. Im now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their number one priority, she quipped. Because thats whats going to make veganism more viable. Its the change we have to cheese.Her interest in writing climate humor is also deeply personal. As a Black woman, she knows that global warming disproportionately hurts Black and other non-white communities. Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More This is just another instance where people of color are going to be adversely impacted first by a disaster, said Crockett, a 2023 fellow in the Climate Comedy Cohort, a program Gast co-founded that brings together climate experts and comedians. The Earth is warming up like the inside of a Hot Pocket ... and I just want people to care.Surveys show that many people do. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of U.S. adults said theyd recently experienced extreme weather and believed it was caused at least partially by climate change. And about 65% said that climate change will have or already has had a big impact in their lifetime. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gast said. And he thinks comedians are among the unlikely messengers who can do that. We need someone talking about science, and then we need someone who doesnt even mention science and just mentions a dope sunset for surfers, he said. Comedy as a salve Comedians have long used jokes to raise awareness of serious problems, and climate change is becoming no exception. There is a growing group of them using humor to tackle the tough topic and relieve anxiety with laughter. (AP video by Brittany Peterson) At the University of Colorado in Boulder, climate comedy is a longtime tradition. For the past 13 years, professors Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke and Maxwell Boykoff have taught a creative climate communication course on how information about climate issues and solutions can be conveyed creatively. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual Stand Up for Climate Comedy. Its the kind of event the professors help encourage elsewhere, including the show Gast performed at. Several years ago, the professors decided to use their students and event attendees as case studies to learn about the effects of merging climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy increased peoples awareness of and engagement with the issue and reduced their climate anxiety. Professor Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke speaks with students during a creative climate communication class Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Professor Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke speaks with students during a creative climate communication class Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Numerous other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and made it likelier theyd share it with others.You cant just stack up all the IPCC reports and hope that people get it, said Boykoff, an environmental studies professor, referencing the United Nations scientific papers on global climate impacts. You got to find these creative spaces.Theater professor Osnes-Stoedefalke said humor also has the power to exploit cracks in bad arguments and draw nuance from them. But perhaps more important, it can give people hope. Climate comedy helped give this feeling of constructive hope, she said, and without hope, action doesnt make sense. Making sense of the moment Audience members laugh during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Audience members laugh during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of anything given time. Bianca Calderon, a masters student in environmental policy and renewable energy, is taking the creative climate communications class, where shes writing a standup bit about grant proposals. In the piece, she realizes she needs to rewrite her grant summary to omit words like diversity, community and clean energy to comply with the Trump administrations directives. But theres a big problem: Shes seeking federal funding for research on engaging diverse communities and getting them into the clean energy job market. At the end of it, its like, Oh, I actually dont have any words to use because none of them are allowed, she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Kaycee Conlee performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Kaycee Conlee performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Einstein, the comedian and a two-time National Park Service artist-in-residence, is also using humor to talk about the administrations actions. Using a pine cone as a microphone, Einstein has been posting social media videos about the recent mass layoffs of park service employees. The online response is unlike anything hes ever received on the internet, he said. We need an informed citizenry that can can critique the messaging coming to them, said Osnes-Stoedefalke. And I think comedy can achieve that in a way that no others can, in a way that holds peoples attention.___The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment. DORANY PINEDA Pineda writes about water, climate and the environment in Latino communities across the U.S. twitter