CNN hates on Bill Nye the Science Guy. Nye will have none of it.

We just might be experiencing the hottest year on record (can't be sure yet, but it looks like it might be) and if that is the case, I estimate it may be the hottest year (except a few unidentified and undocumented outliers) for a half a million years or so.

She's wrong about the forest fires; The reason there are so many fires right now is that timber is at record low moisture level.

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So if her concern is that Bill Nye ISN'T a climatologist, why didn't she interview one. She would have gotten the same answer. The side she refers to that DOESN'T thing AGW is real are not qualified either. She's just being dishonest.

With the lower half mostly in drought and big fires so early, this is going to be one hell of a summer. God damn Rick Perry and his god - he prays for the end of the drought and it gets even worse throughout the nation (while some places in Tx were flooded). That's why I can't stand any goddamned religion - people believe the dumbest shit and refuse to act sensibly to what's going on around them. Oh no, AGW is another of Satan's lies - our big book of fairy tales says only gawd can destroy the earth. Gawd will take care of the economy (now there's a libertardian philosophy).

By MadScientist (not verified) on 06 Jul 2012 #permalink

Bill is a science popularizer. While not a climate scientist he specializes in explaining science to the layman.

re: Burgess

OK, that was the regurgitation of catchphrases from the batshit loony right wing. The question is whether it was compiled by a Poe or a deeply disturbed individual.

I am totally willing to believe you, Burgess. Really. Here's all you have to do: falsify the data we have on global warming. Show me where the flaws are and how those flaws undermine confidence in the models and findings. Then, give me proof of your assertions with regard to the "antichrist" etc. That would be the honest thing to do, no? That would be putting your money where your mouth is.

Otherwise, I hate to say it but you just sound like a raving lunatic. You don't want to sound like that, I'd imagine. So, please, submit the evidence that has so convinced you. The truth will prevail, right? That is, we're all beholden to the cold light of reason and rational thought here, so appeals to that will hold weight, because, after all, the truth is always accessible to any person who takes the time to look for it, and that same truth is then communicable.

I'm just waiting for one single person to do this. So far, not a one has risen to the challenge or successfully proved anything other than his or her own ignorance, biases, unfounded beliefs, stupidity, and/or outright craziness. Meanwhile, we continue down this path we're on, carried on the backwash of willful ignorance toward the precipice where we will, one way or another, sacrifice the futures of our progeny to the oil-dripping mouth of mammon.

Did anyone really expect intelligent debate from a news anchor? The news media is there to sell advertising and to do that they have to attract readers and viewers. They do that by playing to the lowest common denominator of intelligence. In the USA, that is very low.

By James Smith (not verified) on 07 Jul 2012 #permalink

I just want to let y'all know, here in Texas we NEVER complain about floods. My house can wash into the sea as long as there's water in the creeks.

Burgess: I have to believe you are really liberal, just writing things like that to make the right wing fundamentalists sound so crazy that everyone will ignore them.

I think Burgess has been drinking too much of that Texas tea to wash down the bible horseshit that he's been swallowing. I hope he's not representative of Texans. On the other hand I wouldn't be too surprised; Arizona used to be a pretty decent state but now it's overrun by cowardly whackaloons who have a morbid fear of The Chicano Invasion.

By MadScientist (not verified) on 07 Jul 2012 #permalink

from the outside looking in...5 out of 6 Americans are raving fucking lunatics

Screw you CNN! Bill Nye is my bro

It's not her fault she is part of the female race.. There was just a lot of girls born in the same year she was. If your going to be a reporter please have a college degree or else your going to make the general public's IQ increasingly lower. See I can be a dick on the regular basis too!.. It's really not too difficult ;)

I have watched and loved bill since I was only a few years old. He is the reason I am going into astrobiology and is one of the few people I actually respect on this screwed up planet. I have been alive for 18 years and I can see, bright as day that we are going to kill ourselves if we don't change our short minded and juvenile ways. He has been doing his part; he even competes with a neighbor to see who can be greener. He has enlightened many young people and contributed more than this ignorant bitch ever could. If you listen to his voice, you can hear how frustrated he is that stupidity is so rampant. He is why I wrote my senior paper on how to shift from a society dependent on fossil fuel to one that works with the planet, my teacher even gave me a hug for how “passionate” it was. I even have his Bill Nye the science guy theme song as a ringtone. And if you have a problem with what he is saying because he isn’t a climatologist, why not consult a climatologist before making an ass of yourself.
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore if there are more of her lurking about. Also, where in the west is she talking about? I live in California, and EVERYONE here knows that global climate change is real. Even my 70 year old grandparents, one of whom is descending into madness due to Alzheimers, and another that can tell because he was a farmer his whole life and knows how the land should feel. People young and old all know we have signed our own death certificate; it’s just a matter of wanting to do it then or now. CO2 is at its highest levels since the dinosaurs, and I think the only reason it went down is because so much carbon was trapped under the surface by so much stuff dying. I don’t want to have to wait till half the human population is dead for me to be able to say “I told you so”. I hate people.

By F*ck you CNN (not verified) on 07 Jul 2012 #permalink

Holy mole, nice screaming paranoia there Burgess.

Lol... who'd have thought the guy in the tin-foil hat would be from Texas, the ass-end of America.

As usual, Bill Nye does it very well. However, the headline is unwarranted. The reporter does what she is supposed to do, bring up alternative explanations, for Bill Nye to comment on it. Nye then provides the overall correct explanation, and supports it with scientific evidence.

Just because a reporter does her job does not mean she is advocating a certain point of view. When there is reason to call the "hate" card, by all means, do so. This, however, is not one.

By Claus Larsen (not verified) on 08 Jul 2012 #permalink

I'm just waiting for one single person to do one of the following:

Prove God does exist.
Prove God does not exist.

Burgess, you're an idiot. Take off the jebus-colored glasses, put down the bong, and return to planet Earth.

By Lord of the Dance (not verified) on 08 Jul 2012 #permalink

Don't worry not all Texans are as anachronistic as Burgess is. Many of us can actually understand the validity of facts.

Probably the most important thing Bill Nye touches on is that uncertainty != doubt. It is a huge and oft-repeated logical fallacy that if you don't know something absolutely (or if there is a little uncertainty) then you don't know it at all (or there is reason to doubt the whole thing). Most things we don't know absolutely, but rather we have a great preponderance of evidence and thus very little uncertainty.

For example, let's say a police radar gun has an uncertainty of 4mph. That means that whatever the radar gun says your speed is, X, you can only be sure that your true speed lies somewhere within the range of X-4 to X+4 mph. If the radar gun measures your speed as 60mph, the policeman can be fairly confident that your speed lies between 56-64mph, but he doesnt know whether your speed is EXACTLY 60. What he does know with a good deal of confidence, however, is that your speed is not 90mph or 10mph or even 50mph. Using his radar gun he can clearly tell that your car is moving; there is no rational reason to doubt this fact, even though he is uncertain as to the exact speed which your car is moving.

At the same token, if the radar gun's uncertainty is 100mph, this would clearly be too large to be useful. THEN a measurement of 60mph would be "doubtful" because the uncertainty is too large. In the case of climate change, all of the evidence points to a relatively small uncertainty, even if the exact outcome is not known perfectly. That's how science works.

Not sure this is CNN with a hate on for Bill Nye. Anchor is asking questions although the charge that he isn't a climate scientist is a silly one because he's just reporting what the climate scientists are saying, not contradicting them like some of the twits that don't even have a science background yet are afforded credibility by gullible--or biased--media.

By Daniel J. Andrews (not verified) on 08 Jul 2012 #permalink

Most everyone here has brought up some good points. I persoanlly believe more in science then any religion, but everyone gets their own opionin. The best part though is that I now know bill nye has a new show that I can watch when I come back to america.

By ET1 montoya (not verified) on 08 Jul 2012 #permalink

I thought with the IPCC scandal all the people promoting AGW would have known the scam has been found out. But nope. You guys are still pushing your politicized agenda to control all the resources of the world.

Man simply does not cause climate change. The IPCC created bogus data to say that we do. Try reading something other than the MSM somethime.

Burgess is a religious nut-job, bigoted, pig-ignorant of world affairs and proud of it, sounds like a Tea-Party candidate.

The Sooner the US can expunge this kind of individual from voting, owning guns, home-schooling, etc. the better. The future of the US is being held-back by such people and their bigoted opinions.
Better Public education is necessary.

Burgess, your screed exceeded the technical limit for the number of lunatic assertions in a short statement. Thus it amounts to no rational statement at all, and no reply in detail is required.

By HalfMooner (not verified) on 09 Jul 2012 #permalink

@ Dave N.

"I thought with the NIH scandal all the people promoting "Tobacco causes cancer" would have known the scam has been found out. But nope. You guys are still pushing your politicized agenda to control all individual freedoms.

Tobacco simply does not cause cancer. The NIH created bogus data to say that it does. Try reading something other than the MSM somethime."

By Cedric Katesby (not verified) on 10 Jul 2012 #permalink

Cedric, I don't understand you use of quote marks in your comment.

Nothing she said was smart. Yeah, forest fires are caused because humans aren't clearing out the forests, and NOT because of the record high temperatures, and dry weather...

By Stephanie (not verified) on 13 Jul 2012 #permalink