Wringing comedy material out of environmental issues is notoriously difficult. Our allies at Grist Magazine (for which I occasionally write) manage to come up with several infusions of humor a week via amusing puns or out-of-context borrowings from the mass of American pop culture -- as in my recent favorite, a Grist List with headlines drawn entirely with lyrics from a certain U.S. cult film. But even as talented a crew as the writers of The Daily Show ended up a bit off the mark with their War on Terra segments. Even though the laugh potential of pollution, endangered plants and animals, or other typical enviro causes is pretty meagre, no one needs the uplift more than those of us working to correct them.
Good news, everyone: the gang from the animated show Futurama has come up with a funny take on global warming, Al Gore, and An Inconvenient Truth -- in no small part thanks to Gore's willingness to poke fun at his own earnest demeanor, and because rude robots are always funny. Ahhhh, I needed that.
