Let’s discuss Climate Change – how about some theatrics?

http://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/blog/let’s-discuss-climate-change-–-how-about-some-theatrics\\In the run up to the COP21 in Paris, 150+ countries announced ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that aimed at reducing emissions, through a set of voluntary domestic carbon abatement and green growth actions. As a next step in the process, these INDC’s needed to be converted into actionable national targets, which can be achieved by countries through a concerted action involving all key stakeholders to include government, academia, private sector, and most importantly citizens. Given the participatory nature of such actions and transformational nature of some of the low carbon policy actions involved, it becomes extremely crucial to engage citizens in order to have an informed discussion and debate. Several organisations and Think Tanks have already been working toward creating awareness and sharing information in this endeavour.

Over the recent years, Think Tanks and organisations have been attempting to adopt different modes of communication to engage stakeholders to create awareness on issues which are of high importance to society. In today’s world, technology is used as an effective mode of communication by using social media platforms, conducting informed debates through virtual means, publishing blogs and articles, using online portals to propagate, educate and communicate. However, in a country like India, while several people have access to the latest technology, a large part, still rely on non-technology modes of communication. For this purpose, one effective mode of communication could be theatre - including dance, songs, mime - to simplistically communicate complex issues such as climate change, which involve the country and citizens.

Theatre as a developmental Tool

Theatre as a tool, over the years, has helped masses understand complex social issues affecting their lives and find effective solutions. As a powerful communication tool, theatre cuts across literacy skills, reaches to a wide audience (both young and old), and also appeals to the emotions of people while at the same time educating them as well.

Some of the major usages of theatre are:

• Delivering and sharing information
• Encouraging participation of people, who may have not have had the opportunity to engage on the issue
• Challenging people to think and respond
• Providing several alternate narratives rather than recommending one definite solution
• Communicating in a simple manner a complex social and scientific message

In India, theatre is relevant due to the variety of forms which include songs, folk lore, music, dance and drama. It not only touches the emotional aspect of a human being but also is a form of entertainment where the masses respond emotionally and are also open to receiving serious messages in an experiential manner. Much like any other transitioning economy, despite other powerful channels of communication using technology, theatre remains an important medium for disseminating information in India. 

Experimenting a Theatre Production on Climate Change

Since 2012, the Global Green Growth Insitutute (GGGI) and the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)  have been working with the Government of Karnataka state in India, to address the challenges of reconciling faster economic growth with environmental sustainability. In December 2014, the Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Siddaramaiah, launched the ‘Green Growth Strategy for Karnataka’, identifying implementation barriers, policy implications, investment requirements and possible funding sources for specific green growth opportunities, and concluding with concrete recommendations for policy makers. Since early 2015, GGGI and CSTEP have been working closely with the government in supporting the implementation of key opportunities – some of which require difficult policy decision as well as behavioural changes in the society. This is where engagement with citizens and awareness building becomes crucial.

With this intent, GGGI and CSTEP partnered with Kriyative Theatre , a group that has been using theatre to educate people about crucial issues, to produce a play called “Carbon Cake” which revolves around ‘Global Warming’. The play has been written after conducting extensive research on the phenomenon of climate change, and also interfacing and dialoguing with several experts. It attempts to communicate the causes and devastating impacts of global warming, and also highlights the responsibility and ownership of masses towards mitigating it. This is done through the story of a man who tries to fight the menace of carbon emissions through an invention of his own, called ‘carbon cake’ – after which the play is also named.

Lessons learned

Perhaps the first such play to be staged on this topic in India, ‘Carbon Cake’ is science fiction, mystery and drama rolled into one. Since this is done through an entertaining thriller, scientific explanations and actual clippings from documentaries on the subject, the play has been tremendously successful in educating the audience about the issue and advocating effective means of countering global warming. Our experience with ‘Carbon Cake’ clearly shows that theatre can become an interesting tool to raise awareness on complex issues such as climate change research, where given the technical nature of the subject and the wide set of stakeholder involved, the message has to be easily communicable, both in terms of language and the mode of communication.

Themes: 

Climate Change, Development

Countries: 

India

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the GGKP or its Partners.