Why sustainability and improv?
Hello! We’re Improv Earth – finding light in dark times.
Sustainability, climate change, ecological collapse, inequality, poverty etc. Not much fun. What’s the connection with improv?
Some of my thoughts:
1. Sustainability in my improv is more authentically me
When you care about these issues, and when you work in sustainability, you might want to bring your feelings, experiences etc. into your improv. (I do!)
When team mates have similar concerns and experience, it simply seems natural to draw on and play with that shared language and reality. It feels more authentic to bring this important part of myself into my improv.
2. Can sustainability in improv get people talking and realising that other people also care?
But also, we are in the midst of interlocking climate, nature and human crises. And it seems that as a species, as a society, as a nation, we’re not doing enough about it.
Even though lots of credible research shows that across the world, four out of five people are worried and want action.
Yet we mostly live our lives as if everything will turn out fine. Part of the reason is that we don’t realise that most other people are also worried and also want action. And that’s because we don’t talk about this stuff – we’re worried about being the ecofreak, about opening a can of worms, about getting into an argument with a climate denier etc. etc.
Can humour – and drama – help change this situation? I think it can. Exactly how, and how to do it while avoiding being preachy, I’m not sure! But let’s try.
3. Can find humour in sustainability be cathartic?
Working in sustainability or caring deeply about these issues can be overwhelming. You often have to put on a professional front and keep quiet about your fears about what’s happening and your doubts about whether your work, campaigning etc, is actually making a difference.
I suspect that finding humour, including dark humour, in sustainability with like minded people, could be cathartic. I look forward to finding out.
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What do you think? Do you have experience of this?