On the May 29 edition of CNN Newsroom, Carol Costello brought on Bill Nye “the science guy” (who is not a scientist) to lecture conservatives about the supposed importance of climate change. Prior to the interview Costello introduced Nye as someone who is “ready to fight the haters,” and resorted to the usual liberal talking point: “Before we begin, I just want to say 97 percent of scientists say climate change is real and much of it is driven by man, so let's go on.”
Costello then asked if Nye was trying to “freak out” climate change deniers by tweeting about global warming after extreme weather events. In response, Nye decided to compare climate change denial with those who deny a connection between smoking and lung cancer:
I just want to remind voters that, suppose you had somebody running for congressional office in your district who insisted there was no connection between cigarette smoking and cancer. Would you vote for that person? You might, but if this person were adamant, ‘no the scientists who study cigarette smoking are, they don’t know what’ – if they were adamant would you vote them? So, in the same way the connection between climate change and human activity is at least as strong as cigarettes and cancer.
Nye then went on to implore Americans to talk about the issue more:
If we were talking about climate change the same way we talk about the stuff that goes on, let's say, in Ferguson, or Baltimore, if we were talking about – those are serious issues to be sure, but if we were talking about climate change in the same way, we’d be doing something about it.
The so-called “science guy” also claimed that no weathercaster is allowed to “say the phrase ‘climate change’” when they are on TV, even though the consensus is overwhelming. When Costello jumped in to say that weatherman avoid using the term because it has become so politicized, Nye argued that “the other side is politicizing it,” not the scientific community.
The relevant portion of the transcript is below.
CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello
May 29, 2015
9:46 a.m. EasternCAROL COSTELLO, host: Even the Pope is on board. Later this summer, Pope Francis is expected to send a letter to all of his bishops warning them of the effects of climate change on the poor. Bill Nye, the science guy is here, ready to fight the haters. Before we begin, I just want to say 97% of scientists say climate change is real and much of it is driven by man, so let's go on. You tweet about climate change after extreme weather events all the time, and each time it makes climate change deniers freak out. Is this your strategy?
BILL NYE: I just want to remind voters that, suppose you had somebody running for congressional office in your district who insisted there was no connection between cigarette smoking and cancer. Would you vote for that person? You might, but if this person were adamant, ‘no the scientists who study cigarette smoking are, they don’t know what’ – if they were adamant would you vote them? So, in the same way the connection between climate change and human activity is at least as strong as cigarettes and cancer. And so, I just want everybody to keep this in mind that it's very reasonable that the floods in Texas, the
strengthening storms, especially – the president was in Florida. These things are a result of human activity making things worse. It's very bad. I get this that people died in Texas, and I am reminding you what else. This is a very expensive business. When you flood the fourth largest city in the United States, somebody is going to pay for it, and it's you and me. And so, the sooner we get to work on climate change, the better. And people say to me, Carol, Bill they say, what can I do about climate change? What I say nowadays is talk about it.
COSTELLO: Talk about it?
NYE: If we were talking about climate change the same way we talk about the stuff that goes on, let's say, in Ferguson, or Baltimore, if we were talking about – those are serious issues to be sure, but if we were talking about climate change in the same way, we’d be doing something about it. I was born in the U.S., I’m an engineer from the U.S., my engineering license is in the U.S., and so I want the U.S. to lead the world. I don't want the U.S. to wait for other countries to start coming up with the new technologies, the new regulations that we’re going to need.
COSTELLO: Let me run this by you. Some of the ire, you know, surrounding your tweet, came from conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, her site Twitchy. An article called you an alarmist blaming every single weather event on man-made global warming, no matter what. Except that's not exactly what your tweet said. So can you explain it?
NYE: Well I just pointed out that in your business, the media business, no weathercaster on any major network is allowed to say the phrase "climate change." And so there’s – to me that is management, there is something going on where everybody is afraid of losing viewers, and so they’re reluctant to use the expression “climate change.” Meanwhile, the scientific consensus on this is overwhelming, and the problems like the flooding in Texas and Oklahoma are very serious and expensive, so I want us to get to work on it.
COSTELLO: But I think others are – I mean the term has become politicized, right?
NYE: I guess I’m talking to media management. Let your weathercasters say the phrase “climate change,” and then we will be talking about it and we will doing about something about it and we will be leading the world and I hope leaving the world a little better for our succeeding generations.
COSTELLO: Yeah, but I think the term has become politicized. For example, Senator Ted Cruz, who appeared at several weather related pressers in Texas, he said, quote, 'it’s wrong to politicize the weather in this time of tragedy.' So I would like you to respond to that.
NYE: Well, uh, in the scientific community, we don’t feel that we’re politicizing it. Was it a political issue when people insisted that cigarettes caused cancer? Was that politics? I mean, sort of, if certain congressional districts or the tobacco industry – sort of. But in my view, on our side, the 97% of the world's climate scientists and me, we feel that the other side is politicizing it, not our side. The consensus on climate change is overwhelming. To deny it is remarkable, and, uh, unique to the United States, almost unique to the United States. There’s a couple of places in Britain where there’s been some deniers. But the sooner we get to work on this, the better. And by the way, who is the guy, who is the strongest environmentalist? The person who just built his log cabin. Who is the most adamant anti-smoker? The person who just quit, right? So if the deniers on the other side come around, change their minds, let's all work together. We’re in this together. There's only one planet. We’re not gonna go live someplace else. Let’s get to work.
CAROL COSTELLO: Couldn’t agree more, Bill Nye the science guy, thank you so much for joining me this morning and I appreciate it.
