At 30, MSNBC guest host Luke Russert is young enough to gush over Bill Nye the Science Guy by saying he used to watch his Nineties PBS show when they had a substitute science teacher in class. But in this December 23 interview, Nye got weird and insisted no one on TV says the words “climate change.” Is this guy a scientist? This is like saying no one on TV says the word “politics.”
“We have a situation where no one in regular television will say the phrase ‘climate change,'” Nye proclaimed, calling out several MSNBC meteorologists by first name. “Nobody will mention this phrase.”
Russert helpfully added that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared November the “warmest month on record in the history of the world – at least what we’ve been able to record. Climate change, I suspect, is probably behind that.” But he wondered if it’s the latest weather extreme after last year’s blizzards. “The term climate change is accurate because the local climates are changing,” Nye said, as he began a lecture that lasted a minute and a half without interruption:
NYE: Now this is ‘the place for politics,’ is my understanding. I claim, and the deniers are out there, they’re gonna go wild. What is everybody concerned about? Everyone’s concerned about jobs. Everyone’s concerned about the economy. And everyone’s concerned about security, international relations, or terrorism.
We in the scientific community connect all of these things with climate change. If the United States did not need energy from elsewhere in the form of fossil fuels, it would greatly affect relations between governments and the effectiveness of terrorists, because they wouldn’t be able to get money for black-market oil, for example.”
Since when is America buying oil from ISIS? Nye claimed wind turbines would create tens of thousands of jobs in Kentucky and West Virginia, “So why nobody will say anything about this is what I would call charming and also troubling.”
“I think it’s been discussed extensively,” Russert insisted, but stayed helpful: ”On your point, the Pentagon has said that climate change is one of the greatest national security threats out there.”
Then the Science Guy changed the subject to presidential politics.
“I have a question for you, hard hitting political journalist,” Nye said sarcastically to the MSNBC host. “Yes, a conservative can win the primaries without any millennial votes, right? Nobody in their 20s and early 30s is needed to win the primaries. But can a conservative win the national election for president and deny climate change and alienate millennials?” he asked. “It’s a near-run thing. It’s a very close call.”
Liberals just naturally assume millennial voters think climate change is an important issue, when in reality, it's about as important to many as "campaign finance reform."
