Bill Nye: Want to Combat Climate Change? Talk about It. | Big Think

Want to Combat Climate Change? Talk about It.

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Danny Miller is at odds with many of his friends; they don’t believe in climate change, but he does. It’s a predicament Bill Nye can lend some guidance on; science skeptics and climate change deniers have been one of his longest uphill battles in the public sphere.

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BILL NYE:

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.

In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle’s home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live.” This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®” was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate.

While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children’s books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.”

Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries” airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye” airs on PBS stations across the country.

Bill’s latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens.” It’s about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you’ll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There’s also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It’s fun for him; he’s an engineer with an energy conservation hobby.

Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world’s largest space interest organization.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Danny Miller: Hello Bill. My name is Danny Miller. Politically I tend to be conservative. I believe that anthropogenic global warming is real and that the Big Bang Theory and evolution are perfectly valid theories. Obviously this puts me at odds with most people in my demographic and I find that conversations with my peers on these topics usually develop into arguments on some other random subject entirely. My question to you is why are these topics so politically charged in the matters of science and not politics and how do I engage into meaningful conversation? Thank you for answering.


Bill Nye: Danny. Danny. Danny. You have touched on a subject that I find

fascinating and I've spent a lot of time on myself so I'm really glad you asked this. But when it comes to anthropogenic global climate change, or human caused global climate change, it's politicized because of the fossil fuel industry. And I've spent a lot of time with this, I've asked myself as a native of the United States. I have an engineering agree in the United States; I've got my license and I practice - I'm an engineer in the United States. Why is the United States not of the world leader in addressing climate change? Why isn't the United States the world leader in renewable energies, better water purification or desalinization techniques? Better ways to provide the Internet to everyone on earth? Why isn't of the U.S. leading?

And I am satisfied it's because of the success of the denial community or the deniers. They have managed to introduce the idea that scientific uncertainty, plus or minus two percent about whatever it might be, is the same as plus or minus a hundred percent. There's doubt about the whole thing and that's wrong. So what to do about it? What I always remind myself, and the example I learned from or claim I learned from was what we traditionally call skeptical thought or skeptical point of view or clinical thinking, when you tell somebody who reads her or his horoscope everyday that horoscopes are false, that t...

[SerebralK]

And more importantly, eventually go vegan. Maybe go vegetarian first so it's easier to maintain as you transition, but definitely go vegan eventually.

[j-gaming]

Canada had a f***ing tornado!!! Not normal bill I have so much respect for you!!!

[Asymmetrical.athlete_]

Climate change is real....4 months ago it was snowing...now, it's 75 degrees out....I'm scared

[AlanWatts]

You see, many of the troubles going on in the world right now are being
supervised by people with very good intentions whose attempts are to
keep things in order, to clean things up, to forbid this, and to prevent
that. The more we try to put everything to rights, the more we make
fantastic messes. Maybe that is the way it has got to be. Maybe I should
not say anything at all about the folly of trying to put things to
right but simply, on the principle of Blake, let the fool persist in his
folly so that he will become wise.

[Ian-smsu]

#Cowspiracy

Check it out in Netflix
Combat climate change

[HelloBeast]

Animal agricolture. Talk about that Bill.

[alexmac]

today my earth science professor was explaining how if we got rid of fossil fuels, our electricity bills will increase immensely; i agree that this is true, but i think the future of our planet is a bit more important. Something like an increase in expenses, is nothing compared to the affects of climate change. This is a serious problem and we must do something now before its too late.

[rubytuby]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, said chicken Little and Bill Nye.

[furonwarrior]

I love how Bill says, "And change the world!" 😂 I think it's crazy how much I'm seeing more of this awesome man. He used to be this guy making cheesy science videos on VHS tapes that we watched in school to give teachers a break and now he's preaching what we all should be hearing. But... there isn't much we can do, Bill. Climate Change was a huge wheel that we spun faster and all we can do is to reduce the speed and the impact, but it's still going to hit us hard. And we're not even doing much to stop it other than minor changes. We did this to ourselves; we are causing our own mass-extinction. I'm just glad that our planet will recover our mess that we did to it when humans go extinct. And our issue is mostly not greed or government corruption... it's the illusion, ignorance and denial of nothing bad will ever happen to us. We live in this perfect little bubble that everything outside of it will eventually fix itself.

[KateeAngel]

I dont want to combat it. It is very interesting to see such large scale changes on the planet happening so quickly.

[thearchitecturegirl]

Individual climate change solutions:

1) Go vegan
2) Switch energy providers to 100% renewable (ecotricity or good energy in the uk) you only have to do it once!
3) Switch your investments to building societies/banks that don't invest your money in fossil fuels (nationwide in the uk, charity bank or triodos - see the 'move your money' campaign for more info). Check your pension as well.

I really think less emphasis should go on small personal environmental gestures (like recycling, even though it's important!) and more on making sure that companies who are contributing to climate change get the message financially. Money is all they understand, so let's not just talk about it, let's buycott so that the good companies are rewarded and the companies stuck in the past get the message.

If anyone has any other suggestions that have maximum impact with minimal effort, let me know!

[manukid]

Its not what we can do, its what we need to stop doing

[furonwarrior]

People have this bad habit of shutting off how they see the world because they're too afraid to change it for the better. They want someone else to take care of it for them. They want someone else to make the differences. We live in a world of sheep being controlled by hungry wolves. The wolves aren't going to stop when there is still meat. They're not going to stop when they're still hungry. They will finish this world until there is nothing left for the sheep and then that they will realize that without any sheep, the wolf shall die...

[thelaststraw]

Years ago I learned about the UN's Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development program and thought, there is no way people would fall for
this This comment section has proven otherwise.

[TheAidsaids]

the problem with talking about it is that if im not an expert in it people just call me out and im too lazy to get super knowledged on the topic

[HDeverythingSD]

He has some shirts on his website that he sell. Can someone give me a link or show me how to get there? I couldn't find the ones with the galaxies, or universe. Thanks.

[sidewinder]

Well, it's simple. The more hoomans are born the more infrastructure is build to support human needs, more water is taken, more energy is released ( and i'm not talking about the pollution and stuff) - the warmer it gets. Very slowly, but it will inevitably get warmer and warmer.

[mikerr]

The issue I see more often isn't climate change denial anymore, but "Man made" climate change denial.
I know there is still clear data that shows we do greatly contribute, but there was clear facts that showed climate change itself was a real thing, and it was massively denied for a very long time.
I wonder if this is a symptom of refusing to deal in facts and separate bias from themselves, or people simply always moving the blame elsewhere. If we convince them that man made climate change is a thing, what gets blamed next?

[AvangionQ]

On a macro level, elect politicians that understand climate change, democrats, greens and independents over republicans, then support their initiatives when offered. On a personal level, switch to a green ESCO, install a renewable energy source such as a mini-helix wind turbine or solar voltaic panel with battery backup on your roof, don't drive a gas guzzling minivan alone, don't fly on a jet airplane unless if you have to, and perhaps most importantly, curtail your consumption of beef.

[tygertyger]

The main thing all of us can do- every single one of us- is go vegan! It would have a huge impact but people are to selfish to do that, so it is almost never mentioned in mainstream because it's the one thing we cannot blame politicians or corporations for ! We need to grow up and stop being selfish!