Editorial: humour and environmental education

Feminists, according to Sara Ahmed (2010), 'kill other people's joy by pointing out moments of sexism' (582) and their interventions are often 'read as about the unhappiness of feminists rather than about what feminists are unhappy about' (583). The same might be said about environmental educators, who have a reputation in some quarters for being 'killjoys' who peddle in doom-and-gloom (Verlie 2020). While environmental educators often do raise discomforting issues in their efforts to disrupt and transform the unsustainable and inequitable status quo, are we the universally dour bunch such stereotyping suggests? The three of us would say not. Like Ahmed, we have found that, "There can be joy in killing joy " (592) and such joy can bubble up, for example, when we work with kindred spirits committed to a shared purpose or when we witness others having an "aha! " moment. Alongside the impassioned pleas and occasional harsh words, peals of laughter can be heard ringing through the conference halls, windowless rooms, Zoom meetings, and other sites where we environmental educators gather together professionally.