A few days after heating up the internet with a world-class Donald Trump burn, Bernie Sanders sat down for a conversation about climate change with Bill Nye the Science… Man? Person? Fellow? Something like that. After praising Nye for doing “more than anyone else in our country to popularize science,” the senator wasted no time in getting to the point. “Let’s cut right to it,” Sanders said. “We have a president of the United States who thinks that climate change is a ‘hoax’ emanating from China. We have a new administrator of the EPA, someone I strongly opposed, who is in the process of dismembering environmental protection regulations in this country. What are the short and long-term implications of a president who has that view?”
Nye’s response: we’re doomed.
“The long-term implications are potentially catastrophic,” the Science Male responded. He later said that climate change deniers suffer from cognitive dissonance — they would rather pretend global warming isn’t real then face the consequences. But there is hope, and it involves… outer space? “We want to find common ground, and I think a place to start is space exploration,” Nye said. “The United States has led the world in space exploration. Other countries are very interested in catching up… But here’s what I submit to you: if we were to discover evidence of life on another world, it would change the course of human history. And I’m not joking you.” Here’s the deal I would offer Trump: if he scales back devastating cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency, then the first hotel on Mars can be named after him.
Check out the rest of Sanders and Nye’s conversation above.
Ordering the EPA or NASA not to talk about climate change isn’t going to cool things off. Don't double down on denial @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/vpI89E26Gi
— Bill Nye (@BillNye) January 25, 2017