We love the new book Trudeau & Doonesbury - A Biography: The Cartoonist Who Turned the News into Art. Trudeau of course created Doonesbury, the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic that has been running since 1970 and syndicated in more than 1400 newspapers worldwide.
Doonesbury tracked the lives of a recurring cast of characters as they navigated contemporary American life. The cartoon was always daring—using art and satire to tackle various heated issues of the day, ranging from presidential politics and war to mental health, sexuality, and generational change.
We decided we’d write about the book in the Doonesbury spirit by using the comic strip format to make some of our points.1
We often encourage fellow environmentalists to try different genres and formats in order to reach bigger audiences. Reading about what Trudeau accomplished, we couldn’t help but wonder whether environmentalists might learn from his example.
Maybe environmental messages don’t always need to be so long or complex. Maybe subtler delivery and more wit will actually achieve more.
We’ve always admired Trudeau’s range. He stood up for the full gamut of injustices that he saw as they happened in real time: LGBTQ, mental health, unjust wars, shabby treatment of returning vets, and corrupt politicians all got his attention. And, in turn, public awareness and discussion of these issues changed dramatically.
We wonder now if environmentalists should also choose to be less siloed. For example, if we care as much as we say we do about climate and biodiversity, why don’t we do more about related challenges like abuse of animals in factory farming, political attacks on universities and science, cuts to budgets for global poverty and health programs, and outright lying about these same issues?
We found the book’s review of how Trudeau spoke up about AIDs especially inspiring.
Not everyone was a fan. Many newspapers canceled Doonesbury at various times because it took strong stands on controversial issues. But that never intimidated Trudeau. He just kept on speaking his truth one strip at a time, and in the process changed hearts and minds. The newspapers always came crawling back too. Their readers were ahead of them. The readers wanted to be challenged. They wanted their comic strip back too and they always got it back.
In today’s fragmented media landscape, it’s hard to see how anyone can make as big an impact as Trudeau. But we applaud those who are trying.
We admire how Kim Kardashian uses her platform of 344 million followers to advocate for criminal justice reform. And when we think about our issues, we remember Greta Thunberg’s bold messaging on climate (even if we didn’t always agree with her message 100%). The late Pope Francis brilliantly grabbed the world’s attention at the time of the Paris COP. Yvon Chouinard and his team at Patagonia have had many bold and provocative moments. And just over the past week or so a new X (Twitter) account has appeared with the handle Lake Ontario, charmingly explaining the origins of her name! Bravo to this entire gang. But who else could and should be doing more now?
And, closer to home, at this newsletter, we keep trying. Maybe—just maybe—The Instigator is having some impact too:
Extra Credit:
Please let us know what you think about all of this. In particular:
What do you think are the best opportunities to reach big (ie, majority) audiences right now?
Should environmentalists focus on a narrow range of core issues or should they join forces with broadly aligned movements?
How do we use satire and humor more effectively?
Who are today’s Trudeaus?
What will work best for the hugely important upcoming midterm elections!
Which messages and messengers inspire you the most right now?
Meanwhile, please keep spreading the word! If you can, try to have fun while doing so. And please make sure that you and your friends all vote.
Apropos: Potential Energy (disclosure: I am on the board) has released a report on climate communications, which suggests that talk about mandates, bans, and net zero is far less effective than talk about love, health, money, and power. I'm no longer surprised by this finding. Are you?
Onward,
We used AI in creating these comic strips.
There’s so much more we can do on the social and cultural side! I love the example of getting designated driving as a consistent theme in the show Cheers and the actual practice of it went up significantly afterwards. Think of where people are already engaged and listening/watching media and where we can subtly weave in environmental messages, so much potential. Just one example but such a big greenfield for new ideas!
AI slop bullshit. You oughta be fucking embarrassed.