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Bill Nye, everyone’s favorite Science Guy, appeared on Meet The Press on Sunday to discuss climate change. He continued his whirlwind tour of debating science-deniers by taking on six-term congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Blackburn traded “facts” with a slightly groggy Nye, who appeared via satellite from California.
There’s no debating the fact that the weather has been Nic Cage-levels of crazy lately, and Blackburn wisely avoided engaging Nye in any meaningful discussion of the topic. She instead chose to spend her time casting doubt on Nye’s credentials, on whether the scientific community has reached a consensus on climate change, and on what constitutes a lot of carbon dioxide in the air. As I mentioned, Nye seemed a bit groggy, and didn’t respond to Blackburn’s “actor” comment with his usual vigor. The fact is that the man has a whopping 14 credits on the “Actor” section of his IMDB page, and in half of them he portrays a host, a narrator, or himself.
At 8:28, a tired Nye incorrectly identifies a picture of the Arctic ice cap as the Antarctic, a flub that a more astute opponent would have jumped all over. Sadly, most of his recent opponents seem to favor stubbornness to savvy. It seems a bit odd for a man of science to choose to debate people whose denial is so deeply ingrained, but it shows how strongly he believes that science is right, and we need to work quickly to limit the damage of climate change:
[T]here is no debate in the scientific community. And I can encourage the congresswoman to really look at the facts. You are a leader. We need you to change things, not deny what’s happening.
Only a member of the House of Representatives could try argue to that a 97% majority is not a consensus. When was the last time that 97% of Congress agreed on anything other than a pay raise?
Via Geekosystem
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Well, Bill Nye is certainly no Home Economics Major, Ms. Blackburn.
No, he’s a mechanical engineering major, which means he probably took all the same science classes she did. I don’t want to trash talk Nye, but I’m more than happy to do so about engineers. When you’ve been threatened with arrest (wonderful thing about military life, they can’t fire you, but they can throw you in jail) because you just showed an engineer a defect that he says couldn’t have happened because it doesn’t work out that way on paper, come back to me about how grounded in reality a holder of a BS in mechanical engineering is.
@knightofbob “Engineers” in the military are not equivalent to actual degree holding engineers. The military will designate pretty much anyone with a degree at all an “engineer” if they want to. Nye’s degree in Mech. engineering meant he had to take at LEAST calculus 3 & Diffe Q. He also would necessarily have had to take the full suite of Phyiscs courses (including thermodynamics) plus at least basic p. chem. Ms. Blackburn’s course load included “how to fold laundry 101” and no significant mathematics, or science course work.
@NathanD I was referring to the actual, masters-degree-or-higher-holding, licensed and registered engineers working for Lockheed Martin. Yes, sometimes things get so broke they will pull in the people who designed it to figure out why. And yes, often those people will rather deny there’s anything wrong than admit they or their colleagues made a mistake.
I’m currently enrolled in a school with a large focus on engineering. They have specific, accelerated science classes for engineering majors (for instance, covering physics 1 & 2 in one three credit hour class). Their course load is heavily focused on professional conduct and major specific classes, not as much math or science as you might think.
Marsha Blackburn has a B.S. in home economics from an accredited state school, which means there was math and science involved, like it or not. I don’t know what the requirements were in 1973, but you can’t get a B.S. in anything anymore without at least college algebra and eight credit hours of science with lab. A friend of mine is finishing up a communications degree right now, and he needs to take calc 2. I’ve never seen a sample course load for a HE degree, but it seems to involve a lot more math (the “econ” part) and human sciences than getting stains out of linen.
Now, obviously Nye is smarter, being that he has an actual interest in understanding and promoting scientific pursuits, and is not a member of Congress. I don’t doubt he could kick my ass at math, since I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a major part of his childhood. What I was getting at is that if a BS a scientist makes, then technically, a BS in home economics is as much a scientist as a ME.
Face, meet Palm:
“Blackburn is also a member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board.” – See more at: [blackburn.house.gov]
I can’t wait to see the moment where Bill Nye gets so fed up with them that he goes all V or Vendetta and makes an elaborate plan to blow up congress all while cackling manically about he was going to show them. Show them all
The real question about clilmate change, are we as a nation or even a global community ready to leave the old technologies behind to switch to the new? We could give all the rights to eco friendly tech to the Top Dogs so they won’t lose a dollar. Then, the government could implement a new “garbage-man” mandate to deal with littering. Idk
“climate change is real and is happening and could lead to unstoppable warming”
Science’s consensus was never anything beyond “could be” and never “WILL be” or “eventual” so what’s to “believe”? Don’t tell kids that science “believes” as much as you do.
Only science can be certain in “belief” that billions of children are doomed, not you.