Humour over purity: a better way to talk about the climate

For Stuart Goldsmith, climate action shouldn’t be reserved for only the “purest” among us. In fact, laughing at our imperfections is what opens the door to more climate conversations.

For the final episode of the On Purpose Creativity for Action podcast series, I sat down with climate comedian Stuart Goldsmith to learn how he uses humour to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time.

As someone early in my career and passionate about the climate, moving into the sustainability space has often brought up a sense of imposter syndrome: the feeling that you should know everything, be vegan and have cared about the climate since the day you were born. Speaking with Stuart helped me remind me what it means to participate in climate work. You don’t need to be climate pure. You just need to show up, imperfectly and in whatever way you can. Stuart speaks to this so clearly. He breaks down the illusion that we should ignore our contradictions and instead tackles them head on:

“Climate is full of contradictions. Only this year I flew to America to talk about the climate crisis, which is terrible — but it’s better than flying to America and not talking about the climate crisis like you’ve all done.”

In the West, we live in a world that is, by its nature, damaging to the planet. It is still of course critical, especially from a position of privilege, to think carefully about our choices. However, we limit ourselves if we believe only the “purest” few among us can act or speak up.

I recently read 'Moral Ambition' by Rutger Bregman, and what really stuck with me was this line:

“In some circles, you’d think the highest good is not to have any impact at all. A good life is then primarily defined by what you don’t do. Don’t fly. Don’t eat meat. Don’t have kids… … Best-case scenario? … your impact on the planet is so negligible you could just as well not have existed.”

I love the idea of expanding our contribution to what we can do, rather than defining ourselves only by what we avoid. Action over perfection and discussion over purity is key to bring more people into climate conversations.

If there is one piece of advice to take from Stuart, it’s this: no matter who you are, don’t be afraid to enter the conversation.

“Above all I talk about talking about it. We have to talk about it. We have to talk about it and talk about it.”

In the podcast, Stuart and I delve into topics from resilience to legacy, AI to veganism. Humour won’t solve the climate crisis, but it might just get more of us talking. Hear the rest of Stuart’s reflections in the full episode of the On Purpose podcast.

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