2024-10-28
37 分钟When it comes to a controversial topic like climate change represented in art, is the conversation its sparks more significant than the art itself? In this episode, Chris talks with David Finnigan, a playwright and climate activist who knew what he was doing when he titled his 2014 play “Kill Climate Deniers.” The result? Outrage from hundreds of climate skeptics — and new conversations sparked around the climate crisis. Listen as David shares how he used the power of theater to shift perspectives and what it really means to grasp the science behind climate change in everyday life.
TED Audio Collective.
You're listening to how to Be a Better Human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
If you're like me, you've probably heard a lot of people talk about climate change.
Sometimes that talk is scary and fatalistic.
Sometimes it's hopeful and action oriented, sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's infuriating.
But I bet you've never heard anyone talk about climate change in the way that today's guest, playwright David Finnegan, does.
He is so funny, he's provocative, and he has genuinely changed the way that I assess my own actions and ideas about this issue.
David wrote a hilarious and biting satirical play about climate denial, but he also gave his play a pretty radical title.
He called it Kill Climate Deniers.
Now, as a result, his play got a lot more attention and press than a typical stage production would.
And that attention and the reaction to that title, it not only led to a series of events that we are going to discuss on the show today, it also led to a really useful perspective on the artistic process itself.
So here's a clip from David's TED Talk where he explains, as the play.
Made its way into the world, something else started happening.
I started hearing from climate deniers and not fossil fuel pundits or right wing journalists, real climate deniers, regular, normal people.
Now, I couldn't get my head around it.
Like, why did they care so much?
Like, if you're an ExxonMobil executive, then you have a financial incentive to downplay climate science.
But if you're a high school teacher in Queensland or a massage therapist in Massachusetts, why would you spend your nights and weekends desperately trying to debunk earth science research?
We're going to find out the answer to that and so much more right after this quick break.