Environment and Sustainability Humour

Posted on by Warren Tang

Here is a list of ten of my favourite environment and sustainability jokes (not in any order). It is not so much that I find them funny but that because they have some truth in them. Enjoy.

  1. We need science to solve all the problems we wouldn’t have if there were no science.
  2. “If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy long ago.” Sir George Porter
  3. Gravity is a myth – the Earth sucks.
  4. Whenever he thought about the environment he felt absolutely terrible. So he came to a fateful decision. He decided not to think about it.
  5. The modern electric toothbrushes are having an effect on tooth care. In fact, my dentist was telling me that in Great Britain today, the major cause of tooth decay is weak batteries.
  6. Progress: the continuing effort to make things to be as good as they used to be.
  7. Have you ever noticed how modern developers operate? They bulldoze the trees and then name the streets after them!
  8. Most people in the city have come up from the country to make enough money to leave the city and live in the country.
  9. The government is finally doing something about energy conservation. They are asking motorists to remember to turn off their wind-screen wipers whenever they drive under a bridge.
  10. How wonderful it is to wake up in the middle of London every morning to the sounds of the birds coughing.

Know of any good sustainability humour? I would love to hear it.

See also Mara’s Dictionary

Published by Warren Tang

I write about linguistics and philosophy. I also write poetry and take photographs.

10 thoughts on “Environment and Sustainability Humour”

  5. The metamorphosis of the frog is certainly interesting because one can see it happen in front of us. Unlike the catepillar turn butterfly which is hidden within the crystalis.

    And your TED video link was a scary one. Before they Tyrone mentioned Rachel Carson I had thought already this was a new silent spring. I am thankful that at least where I live organic farming is the norm. The vegetables we grow for ourselves are organic. And I am pleased to say our frogs are very healthy.

    Thank you.

    Like

  6. This exchange motivated an undertaking to research the symbolism of the frog within western cultures.

    The “A Dictionary of Symbols” by J. E. Cirlot notes,

    “The frog represents the transition from the Element of earth to that of water, and vice a versa. This connexion with natural fecundity is an attribute derived from its amphibious character, and for the same reason it is also a lunar animal; there are many legends which tell of a frog on the moon, and it figures in many rites involving rainfall.

    …the frog was one of the principal beings associated with the idea of creation and resurrection, not only because it was amphibious but because of its alternating periods of appearance and disappearances (phases which likewise characterise all lunar animals).

    …in the center of his picture of “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” Bosch places a frog, with the head of a very aged human being, poised upon a platter held up by a Negress. Here it represents the highest stage of evolution, Hence, the frequency of the ‘transformation of prince into frog’ in legends and folktales.”

    Additionally, this brings additional sadness of the environmental factors that are being attributed to the disappearance of frogs worldwide as noted in a Ted Talks program – http://on.ted.com/ToxicBaby

    No, not in Japan…more like “in the middle of nowhere and beyond” — Wyoming, USA.

    Like

  7. Yes, frogs are held here in high esteem (as all animals should). And Issa is one of the great poets. Lovely poems. Thanks for sharing.

    I gather you are in Japan also, then?

    Like

  8. Frogs are reputed to have taught an ancient Chinese hermit how to fly, and here in Japan they say that frogs once fought a brave battle at Tenjoji. …I consider it the crowning glory of their race that it was a frog who was chosen judge in “Mushi Aware” (Poetry Competion of the Insects), as related by Choshoshi.

    serenely poised,
    the frog sits
    and views
    the mountain.

    a weighty frog
    crawled out to meet
    a lighthearted
    nightingale
    Kikaku

    cited in “The Year of My Life” A Translation of Issa’s “Oraga Haru” by Nobuyuki Yuasa

    Like

Leave a comment.