film / tv / substack / social media / lists / web / celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / substack / web / celeb

Screen Shot 2017-02-27 at 3.31.24 PM.png

Bill Nye and Bernie Sanders Livestreamed Their Chat About Climate Change

By Kylie Cheung | Politics | February 27, 2017 |

By Kylie Cheung | Politics | February 27, 2017 |


On Monday morning, I started my day as one does, by watching Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and “science guy” Bill Nye sit down and talk about climate change in a Facebook livestream on the senator’s Facebook page. And sure, it was as boring as it sounds, but still undeniably a delight to watch just because both men are a couple of my favorite people in the world. Honestly, what better time to have a frank and matter-of-fact conversation about the very real phenomenon of global warming than now that we’ve inaugurated a man who seems to have made planet Earth’s destruction his ultimate goal?

While running for president, Sanders made climate change a focal point of his campaign, taking a hard stance against fracking and consistently bringing attention to how global warming disproportionately harms indigenous and other marginalized people, in America and around the world.

Sanders introduced Bill Nye as “a guy with us who has done more, I think, than anyone else in our country to popularize science,” and personally thanked Nye for making “science” fun for children, and popularizing “reading” and “thinking” for youths.

The dynamic duo dove right in to the turbulent political scene around climate change at the moment, now that Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt has officially been confirmed as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency despite repeatedly suing the agency as attorney general, and even doubting the reality of climate change. Nye called the current political situation “catastrophic.”

Additionally, the two painted a picture of what the future looks like if things continue to worsen at this rate, in both developed and struggling countries: increased flooding, droughts and extreme weather which will all, of course, disproportionately affect the world’s poor.

That some can continue in their persistent denial that global warming exists is a form of privilege in itself, as they’ve never had to experience firsthand, like so many groups in America and around the world, the struggle to obtain clean water or a loss of land as a result of natural disasters and rising sea levels.

The two noted that solutions to this modern crisis that frankly seems to worsen every day do exist. They discussed renewable energy, or wind, solar and hydro power, and Sanders brought his economic perspective, bringing up the economic opportunity that a conversion to renewable energy would provide.

The one thing that’s standing in the way of this is climate change denial, or, you know, the original fake news.

Watch the adorable and, of course, informative exchange for yourself below:

As of Monday evening, the conversation has already racked up roughly 3 million views.