Appearing on Last Week Tonight With John Oliver in a segment about climate change, scientist and activist Bill Nye didn’t mince any words. He bluntly said we’d better act now or the consequences will be dire.
In the video, he warned the Earth is on “f**king fire” and urged lawmakers to “grow the f**k up” and allocate funds to curb rising emissions, The Hill reports.
“By the end of this century, if emissions keep rising, the average temperature on Earth could go up another four to eight degrees,” he says in the video.
He got right to the point.
“What I’m saying is the planet’s on f**king fire. There are a lot of things we could do to put it out — are any of them free? No, of course not. Nothing’s free, you idiots,” he said. “Grow the f**k up. You’re not children anymore. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12. But you’re adults now, and this is an actual crisis, got it? Safety glasses off motherf**kers.”
As is typical whenever anyone of any status talks about climate change, right-wingers went nuts, Media Matters for America reports. And Fox News host Jesse Watters was first in line. Appearing above a chyron trumpeting “climate hysteria” he claimed Nye wasn’t serious.
“If it was a real crisis, he wouldn’t be joking like that,” Watters said.
Joe Bastardi, frequent Fox News guest, and rabid climate change denier posted a video and asked: “It’s just crazy, are you angry?” Well, the guinea pig is cute, anyway.
Then there’s Dana Loesch, apparently stepping out of her role as panderer for the NRA. she wondered:
“If the planet is on blanking fire, and we’re all going to die in 10-12 years, then how is it that the only action you want is to take people’s money?”
Then there’s RedState, which is notoriously extreme right-wing.
“WATCH: Fake reporter John Oliver and fake scientist Bill Nye try to sell you a fake crisis.”
WATCH: Fake Reporter John Oliver and Fake Scientist Bill Nye Try to Sell You a Fake Crisis https://t.co/fiswOJXZE8
— RedState (@RedState) May 13, 2019
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles also got a dig in.
“Guys, @BillNye is using the f-word. That’s how you know he’s super serious.”
Guys, @BillNye is using the f-word. That's how you know he's super serious.pic.twitter.com/riaQpC2Z8N
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) May 13, 2019
But despite what these right-wingers say, Bill Nye is an educated man, having graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and has taken classes from Carl Sagan. Even Wikipedia, unlike the so-called “pundits” above, knows this.
Nye is beloved by many, including this author, and became known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” from his widely popular program of the same name. He’s currently the host of Netflix’s “Bill Nye Saves the World.” He helped develop a sundial that was used on the Mars Exploration Rover missions. He’s also the CEO of The Planetary Society, a non-profit organization that advocates for science and space exploration.
In short, he’s no dummy. None of his critics above (except for Bastardi, who has a degree in Meteorology) have science-related degrees and Dana Loesch has no degree period. So she should just stick to her usual job of preventing any meaningful gun control legislation.
Oliver also lambasted conservative pundits who trash Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.
“It is a nonbinding resolution that very briefly sets out some extremely aggressive goals, including achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, meeting 100 percent of the country’s power demand through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources and creating millions of good, high-wage jobs in the United States,” Oliver said.
Information compiled by NASA corroborates that anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is devastating the planet.
While these people bicker and disparage scientists and proven science, our planet, the only home we have, is being suffocated right along with the life within it.
Featured image courtesy of the video above
