Tuesday with Bill-“Hey Bill Nye, What Keeps You Up at Night?”
This week’s question arrives via Big Think producer Elizabeth — What’s Bill Nye frightened of? In two words: climate change.
Listen to him here
Transcript –
Elizabeth Rodd: Hi Bill! So you know me as a producer at Big Think and my question for you is my favorite question for all of our guests, which is, “What keeps you up at night?”.
Bill Nye: What keeps me up at night? Climate change. Climate change keeps me up at night. Everywhere I look there are opportunities to be addressing climate change and everywhere I look we are not doing it. And by we I mean not just humankind writ large but my United States where I grew up, where I went to engineering school, where I worked as an engineer trying to make the world better for somebody. And we are missing all these opportunities. It’s just crazy making. And this is by the way why I’m very proud to be the CEO of the Planetary Society. We are accomplishing something in space. We are getting things done in space and I claim that space exploration is good for everybody. So it’s not the Apollo era. We are not devoting ten percent of the world’s largest government funding to this one thing. We’re spending about .4 percent. It would be nice if it were .5 percent but we’re spending a reasonable amount of our intellect and treasure on learning about the cosmos. And the Planetary Society works very hard to direct that expenditure in what we think is the best most efficient way. Today by the way right now is the press conference about what instruments will be put on the Europa mission. This is a spacecraft going to the moon of Jupiter called Europa looking to see if it’s habitable. Is there a chance there are living things there? Such a discovery would change the world. With that said climate change keeps me up at night. The opportunities that we’re missing is just crazy making.
These people who are in denial of climate change. If you’re a denialist and this will probably find its way to you and you will post these crazy mean spirited comments about me and knock yourself out. It’s fine. If that brings you joy, okay. But if somebody told you that there is no connection whatsoever between smoking and cancer would you vote for that person? Would that be somebody you’d trust now? Fifty years after that discovery was made? Well the connection between humans and climate change is about that strong and by some very reasonable modern statistical reckoning slightly stronger. So if you’re a denier out there I strongly encourage you to cut it out. Just change. Just get to work. There’s nobody more passionate about the environment than the guy who just built his log cabin. There’s nobody who wants you to quit smoking more strongly than the guy who just quit or the gal who just quit. There’s no more antismoking advocate stronger than the person who just quit smoking. So if you’re a denier out there you could change and we’d embrace you. And we can get to work. And the opportunities are renewable energy, transmission of electricity – electricity’s like magical energy. Electricity storage or energy storage. And then if, that’s from an engineering standpoint. And then the huge opportunity is to create a system where people have to pay for the carbon dioxide they create. And then take those funds, that treasure, and redirect it into basic research so that we can dare I say it change the world. And then I could sleep at night.
Interesting question and nicely explained answer though!! There is a great debate going on climate change and that is significant for a matter. I do not think that the lobbies who deny that climate change is not going to affect the world or silly statements like it goes like this only or bla bla bla ….are going to pay for the worse effects of climate change. Instead of this our future generation will pay for this. What has happened in London in the late sixties or what is happening in New Delhi currently is few things that set the alarm. If we could not awake even now then we will run out of time for damage control. Like always Bill nicely explained by analogy of cancer and smoking. With the same logic it is a proven fact now that carbon emission is the new big challenge in front of the world today. Let’s not blame the developed or developing countries for it!!…it’s time to get for work and move towards sustainability….