Appy Sluijs presenter of Dutch TV programme Code Rood
Micro palaeontologist and climate scientist Appy Sluijs is presenter of the Dutch TV programme Code Rood and played a role in its development. On the basis of the four seasons, the programme shows how climate change affects and changes the Dutch climate.
Appy, how do you become a TV presenter as well as a researcher?
It is just like with the ministry: you are asked. In this case, the producers of Tuvalu Media had seen a video of me for the ice-breaker of a large congress we organised in Utrecht. Sitting in a dinghy with a flooded Domtoren and Van Unnik building in the background I managed to formulate one phrase after another. Apparently, that is what attracted attention. I was called in January and from then on I played an advisory role on the content and the colleagues to be involved, edited texts, and yes, indeed spent a few days in the green screen studio.
What are you doing differently in this programme than how climate change is usually communicated?
In this programme we want to break with the traditional tone of climate communication on television. Scientists are used to being very neutral in their communication, to presenting facts. On TV, the sound is very often alarmist and dramatic. That appeals to a certain audience, but we can reach far more people if we vary a little more. We need to be much more attuned to specific groups in our communications. In this programme we bring serious items about climate change in a funny and somewhat sarcastic way. I do not think anyone can look at the programme without at least once laughing out loud. And humour always works in the Netherlands. Retaining facts, of course.
How do you bring humour into such a serious subject?
As a presenter, I sometimes make a very bad joke and there is all sorts of craziness in and between the items. But the subjects that come along are serious. We think that the humour makes some viewers more open to the serious message we bring.
What is that message?
Well, of course that the climate in the Netherlands is really changing, that we are now clearly noticing that. Compared to five to ten years ago, we can now define much better that some of the aspects we see in the weather, in biology or in the landscape are really partly caused by climate change. That is because climate change has become stronger, but also because climate science is able to allocate those aspects to climate change. This attribution is extremely important for the public debate.
However, there is also hope in the programme. There are initiatives everywhere to combat climate change, from citizens and entrepreneurs, to deal more confidently with CO2 emissions from products and to make people aware of their CO2 emissions.
The programme has been broadcast. What kind of reactions did you get?
A lot of nice reactions. Several colleagues asked me how I managed to do that (well, sitting in a rubber dinghy, making a video and putting it on Youtube). But most of the reactions are that they really like the programme. And that is exactly what we hoped for.