Bill Nye, popularly known as the “Science Guy,” joined Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle to discuss the actual threat of climate change and the science behind the warming of our planet.
As an TV scientist and mechanical engineer, Nye is known for breaking science down into understandable terms. In speaking with Velshi & Ruhle, Nye spoke about how climate change is more gradual than disasters such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11, but the effects are still as serious, if not more.
The Trump administration has continued to deny climate change findings and make scientific reports inaccessible to the public. Nye counters EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s claim that the threat of climate change is “50 to 75 years out.” "It’s not 50 to 75 years away — it’s 10 or 15," Nye said.
Nye pulled out a hockey stick graph that he said climate change deniers like to wave around to help show how climate change has been debunked, but he illustrated that it wasn’t. Nye used a simplified calculus formula to show the rate of change in temperature over time.
“The rate of temperature getting bigger is very high… There is enough carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere already to make the world get warmer for many decades to come,” Nye said. “What we want is to slow that rate.”
Nye also laid out what he thinks the three priorities should be: Access to clean water, access to the internet and information, and all energy coming from renewable sources. “We can do this!” Nye said enthusiastically.
“Iowa gets 25 percent of its electricity from the wind. Texas, the oil state, gets 10 percent of its electricity from the wind,” Nye said, bringing these examples up as ways to show how renewable energy is attainable for the entire country.
“Let’s change the world!” Nye said.