We Asked Bill Nye to Answer Trump's Questions About Climate Change

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

While extreme winter weather froze the Midwest this week, with many parts of the country setting record lows, President Trump again used the deadly cold to question the existence of climate change.

“What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!” the president tweeted Monday, mocking countless scientists who have tried to warn the Trump Administration about climate change’s effect on not just the U.S. economy, but life as we know it.

Famed scientist and educator Bill Nye, who is one of the world’s leading advocates for climate change action, told Rolling Stone on Thursday morning that we’re living in an extraordinary time as one of the world’s top leaders is also one of the world’s leading climate deniers. “It’s irresponsible and very troubling,” says Nye, speaking from his Los Angeles home where a freak morning thunderstorm clapped loudly outside.

This week, President Trump questioned how global warming can exist when the Midwest is facing record lows. Does extreme cold weather mean that climate change isn’t effecting us?

No, in fact there’s been a lot of discussion on the polar vortex. Around 2015, it became famous or notorious by conservative cable news media insisting it was a made-up phrase, but the polar vortex goes back to the discovery of jet streams. It dips, from time-to-time, south. There’s more heat energy in the atmosphere than there has been in the last several centuries, so you would expect weather patterns to be more energetic and to change more rapidly. As we say about climate change, it’s the speed of change that’s the problem, not just the change itself. It’s the rate at which it’s changing.

-more-

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/bill-nye-trump-climate-change-788347/

[Doodley]

1. I say it like this. That is cold air escaping from the North Pole. It"s like the fridge door has

been opened letting cold air escape. Does that mean.the air in the kitchen is warmer? Yes, but it also means the air in the fridge is warmer. If that air in the fridge stays warm for too long, we are going to have a lot of rotten food.

[PoliticAverse]

2. "Famed scientist and educator Bill Nye" - Bill Nye is not a "scientist". n/t

[FBaggins]

3. That's ok...

... Rolling Stone isn't much of a science mag either.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I understand he is a "Science Guy"

What, exactly is a scientist?

I sympathize, but, what would make a “Science Guy” a “scientist?” An MS?

Is he an educator?

[PoliticAverse]

5. Nye has an engineering degree, specifically a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell.

He's an engineer. He really should have called himself "Bill Nye the engineering guy".

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Yes, I realize that. That's why I said "I sympathize."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientist#History

…

The roles of "scientists", and their predecessors before the emergence of modern scientific disciplines, have evolved considerably over time. Scientists of different eras (and before them, natural philosophers, mathematicians, natural historians, natural theologians, engineers, and others who contributed to the development of science) have had widely different places in society, and the social norms, ethical values, and epistemic virtues associated with scientists—and expected of them—have changed over time as well. Accordingly, many different historical figures can be identified as early scientists, depending on which characteristics of modern science are taken to be essential.

…

Would you say that Benjamin Franklin was a scientist? (Why?)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scientist

1 : a person learned in science and especially natural science : a scientific investigator

[PoliticAverse]

7. I would consider Franklyn to be what was known as a "natural scientist". n/t

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Do you mean a "natural philosopher?"

However, would you consider him to be a scientist?


Is Bill Nye a scientist?

https://sciencecouncil.org/about-science/10-types-of-scientist/

…

Communicator scientist

The Communicator Scientist combines their science and technological know-how with an ability to communicate. They enthuse, inform and get their message across through an empathy and understanding of the needs of the audience, expertise in how media and other communication channels work and, of course a deep knowledge of the science involved.

Science communicators are found across TV and radio, advertising and promotion, regulation and public affairs as well as social media. They may also have a full time job as another type of scientist.

…

https://www.famousscientists.org/bill-nye/

Bill Nye

…

His scientific works included helping with the development of a small sundial which was part of the missions of the Mars Exploration Rover. It was called the MarsDial and it had small panels of different colors. It was used for calibrating colors and as a timekeeping device. In 2005, Bill became The Planetary Society’s vice president, and this society advocated space research especially on other planets—Mars in particular. In 2006, Bill was a supporter of Pluto’s reclassification from being a planet to a dwarf planet.

…

Bill Nye holds several U.S. patents which include ballet pointe shoes and an educational magnifying glass which can be created by filling a plastic bag with some water. In addition to his career as a host and television personality, he served as a university professor at Cornell University.

While he is a member of several academic and scientific organizations, he is also a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. This is a non-profit educational and scientific organization which promotes science and scientific inquiry, critical thinking, science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues.

…

http://www.planetary.org/about/staff/bill-nye.html

…

William Sanford "Bill" Nye, popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. Scientist, comedian, teacher, and author, Bill Nye is best known as the host of the PBS children's science show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” (1993–1998), and for his many subsequent appearances in popular media as a science educator.

…

I dunno… Seems kinda like a scientist to me…

[PoliticAverse]

9. Bill Nye is a Mechanical Engineer and Educator. I would not call him a scientist. n/t

[hunter]

10. Mostly when I hear "Bill Nye is not a scientist..."

... it's from people who don't like what he's saying about climate change, vaccines, evolution, etc..

I figure we're all born scientists but it's been beaten out of too many of us by bad religion, bad parenting, bad schools... or it's evaporated in a fog of intellectual laziness and innumeracy.

My formal definition of "scientist" might be someone with a graduate degree doing formal research, grinding out papers for respected scientific journals.

My own generic use of the word "scientist" has a much greater breadth. There are plenty of people who are amateur scientists doing work that *is* science, and plenty of people doing work that *is* science who don't have graduate science degrees.

I haven't seen Bill Nye misrepresenting himself, unlike all the television and radio personality "doctors" who are not medical doctors pushing their own peculiar brands of snake oil.