Authorized by the Department for Going Gentle into that Good Night
摘要
This chapter examines the role of environmental satire as a tool for socio-political intervention in the Honest Government Ads (HGA) series, produced by Juice Media in Australia. Focusing on environmental advocacy, the series critiques governmental corruption, corporate influence, and the failures of neoliberalism and capitalism in addressing climate change. By employing affective and performative satire, HGA challenges prevailing narratives on environmental policy, highlighting systemic issues such as state capture, kleptocracy, colonialism, and imperialism. The chapter explores how HGA targets both local and global environmental crises, from Australia’s fossil fuel dependency to international cases like the US Supreme Court’s limitation of EPA powers and Brazil’s deforestation under Bolsonaro. It also analyzes HGA’s strategic use of negative emotions and intersectional framing to inspire collective action. While the series does not fully break with the constraints of (neo)liberal democracy, its critiques underscore the limitations of democratic mechanisms in addressing ecological and social justice issues.