Translating the words of a top scientific expert

Comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean has a recorded a new video to help drive home the message of how serious climate change is.

In the Climate Science Translated film, the stand-up puts the proclamations of  expert Bill McGuire  into ‘more direct and emotional language’ to give it more impact.

The film has been released as the IPCC – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – releases its latest report outlining  the increasingly dire state of our climate.  

The document warned of ‘catastrophic levels of global warming’ and said the was ‘a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all’.

In her video, Pritchard-McLean offers her interpretation of the dire situation, as explained by Prof McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London.

In  a second film, Jonathan Pie, the comic alter-ego of Tom Walker, is paired  with Professor Joanna Haigh, an atmospheric physicist and fellow of the Royal Society.

The films end with each couple having a frank discussion between about what is to be done.

Prof McGuire said: ‘We need to tackle the climate issue from every angle and comedy has a massive role to play, one of the problems for many people is they don’t realise how bad things are and how bad they’re going to get."’

In one example, the scientist says: ‘We are understating some major potential risks and tipping points,’ which Pritchard-McLean translates as: ‘Even the crazier predictions probably aren’t crazy enough. You thought it was bad, well, it's a lot worse than that."'

And another segment on fossil fuel, she describes as: ‘There's still trillions of dollars of oil in the ground, and they plan to dig it all up even if it screws up Planet Earth for the rest of us. Zero corporate fucks given.’
 

Ben Carey of the lobby group Climate Science Breakthrough, which put together the video, said: ‘Scientific reports like the IPCC's are well and good, but people naturally don't find them easy to process, and therefore don't all realise we face a full-blown emergency.

‘A comedian’s day job is to tell it like it is, so they are perfectly placed to translate the science into language that hits home.’

Published: 20 Mar 2023