How to gain perspective in a climate crisis (w/ David Finnigan)

How to Be a Better Human

TED

Self-improvement, Education

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	You're listening to how to be a better human.
0:10.0	You're listening to how to be a better human.
0:12.0	I'm your host Chris Duffy.
0:15.0	If you're like me, you've probably heard a lot of people talk about climate change.
0:20.0	Sometimes that talk is scary and fatalistic. Sometimes it's hopeful and
0:24.9	action-oriented. Sometimes it's confusing. Sometimes it's infuriating. But I bet you've
0:30.2	never heard anyone talk about climate change in the way that today's guest
0:34.6	playwright David Finnegan does. He is so funny, he's provocative and he has
0:39.3	genuinely changed the way that I assess my own actions and ideas about this issue.
0:44.3	David wrote a hilarious and biting satirical play about climate denial, but he also
0:50.8	gave his play a pretty radical title. He called it Kill Climate Deniers.
0:55.0	Now as a result his play got a lot more attention impressed than a typical stage
1:00.9	production would and that attention and the reaction to that title,
1:06.1	it not only led to a series of events
1:08.6	that we are going to discuss on the show today.
1:11.2	It also led to a really useful perspective on the artistic
1:15.3	process itself. So here's a clip from David's TED Talk where he explains.
1:19.6	As the play made its way into the world, something else started happening.
1:25.0	I started hearing from climate deniers.
1:28.0	And not fossil fuel pundits or right-wing journalists, real climate deniers.
	...

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