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With 'Too Hot To Handle,' Guardian and Ben & Jerry's Banking on Humor to Drive Climate Action

Can humor save us? Today, the Guardian launched a new multimedia series on climate change that aims to drive the public conversation, debate and action on climate change by making its readers laugh. “Too Hot to Handle,” which encourages readers to take “a lighter look at the dark problem of climate change,” was created in partnership with Ben and Jerry’s and will run through December 2015.

By Brynn McNally | Published 10 years ago | About a 2 minute read

The series kicks off this week with a College Humor video urging viewers to “Save America’s Dumps,” and a similarly snarky opinion piece by comedian Bonnie McFarlane, entitled, “Global warming is totally a lie liberals tell to distract us from their commie agendas.”

Bringing humor to climate change will help humanize the issue and drive engagement, according to Charlie Wilkie, SVP at the Guardian.

“The conversation around climate change is often overwhelming, and traditional ways of engaging people aren’t doing enough to drive change,” he said. “We think humor can help people connect to this important topic and encourage, not only awareness, but action. We’re really excited to partner with Ben & Jerry’s, a brand that cares deeply about the planet and has a long history of championing social justice.”

Ben and Jerry’s, a certified B Corp and active supporter of corporate transparency, hopes to motivate other brands to join.

“Businesses need to play a more active role in building a movement and championing solutions to climate change,” said Jay Curley, Senior Global Marketing Manager at Ben & Jerry’s. “Ben & Jerry’s is excited to partner with The Guardian to bring more people into the movement through humor.”

The Too Hot To Handle series launches as the Guardian’s divestment campaign, #Keepitintheground gets underway. Both of these projects seek to provide new ways for readers to take action in the fight against climate change.