Very accidentally. I was doing stand-up comedy for five years before the pandemic, and it was always pretty political. I've always been into politics and political science – I took classes on it in college and wrote for the school newspaper, so I was always dialed into that world. When the pandemic happened and all the live shows closed, I just started doing my jokes on TikTok. Nothing came of it for a year and a half. The following I have now didn't exist until, completely by accident, I did a joke about a news event and added some girly pop humor to it. It was when Russia invaded Ukraine — I made Russia a jealous ex who can't stand to see her thrive, be independent, and leave him, so he's like, "I want her back." A lot of people responded to that.

I feel a certain duty to my audience to guide them through all the horrors we're experiencing right now. Climate change, genocide, wars, AI - all the heavy stuff dominating the headlines and social media. That's not to minimize the gravity of any of it. But I want to guide people through these times with a sense of hope, action, and knowledge. A lack of knowledge can lead to fear, and a lack of hope can lead to inaction. That's the very last thing we need right now. It's exactly the state the powers that be, and fascism, want us in. I'm not trying to be delusionally optimistic — I just don't want to feed the dominating narrative of doom, gloom, and agitation on social media.

My content is political, so climate was just a natural byproduct of things I was already talking about. Nature and climate aren't inherently contentious topics, but unfortunately they do fall into the realm of the political. That's why I really appreciate other creators talking about it. This is an issue that affects everyone. It's not a matter of divisive politics. The general public still sees politics as something that's up for debate, something that agitates people. But it's not — it's information.

Not great. I don't think there's a way to talk about it that isn't extremely negative, because it is bad. We're not going through a great climate right now. Everyone is experiencing the effects of it. I think the human brain, almost as a protective response, tends to minimize these huge existential issues. How can you even digest that there might be no planet, or a mass extinction, or however it's being framed right now? So any time I talk about it, there's a tendency to shut down. I think we really need to change our messaging and framing to be more hopeful and actionable. Instead of showing all the things that could go wrong, what about all the things that could go right? What would the world look like if we relied only on solar? What would our summers look like if we all took climate action?

Don't do it all at once. Don't overload your audience, especially if you usually talk about something unrelated, like movies. If you suddenly pivot topics, your audience will be really turned off. Slowly start peppering it into your daily topics and see how it goes. There are ways to bring up climate and sustainable living without directly saying the words "climate change." And if you don't want to be suppressed, you're going to have to find a way to incorporate climate without saying those words. It's f***ed up and it's super fascist, but that's the reality we live in. One of my most successful videos is a series where I take my Amazon wish list and look for all of those items in person. Not once do I say "climate," but it's implied. That's what I'm trying to say with all of this: make it something your audience enjoys. That's the thing I learned from the Ground Crew program.

A shift away from doom and gloom. And I don't think that's the climate movement's fault, by the way — I think it's the news in general. I haven't met a single person who's said, "I saw a really terrible post on Instagram and it motivated me to take action." It just backs people into a corner and makes us accept a reality where nothing can be done and it's too late. And it's not too late. We have all the solutions. It's a matter of people knowing them and being part of them. So like I said, the vibe shift shouldn't be naively optimistic, but it should move toward messaging that's more hopeful, actionable, and community-oriented.