In a recent interview, Bill Nye, also known as ‘the Science Guy,’ revealed a series of practical solutions to our growing problem: global warming. He said that we have everything we need to tackle it, so we should just go for it.
Nye is popular for bringing real science to children through a beloved TV series, inspiring memes, and launching his own bow tie line. Yet under the stardom lies a real scientist who started his career as a mechanical engineer at a jetliner producer. His current plans include making Internet access readily available to larger parts of the world and raising awareness on climate change.
He even wrote a book on the topic, which urges us to be a fearless generation in the fight against global warming. In Nye’s opinion, climate change is more pressing than a crisis triggered by a world war.
In a recent interview, he was positive that global warming can be reversed with the solutions we have at hand. He argued that there are enough sources of renewable energy on the planet such as wind, solar, and tidal energy to wedge a war against climate change and actually win.
He added that the only steps we need to take to tackle the issue is provide clean energy, Internet access, and fresh water to everyone in the world.
“This is absolutely doable from an engineering standpoint,”
He also believes that a fee on carbon dioxide emissions and methane release may speed things up and literally change the world. He recalled that a few years ago in China he became aware that climate change crisis may deepen as developing countries will continue to strive toward a Western world lifestyle.
Back then, he asked a friend to lend him his dad’s bike for a short ride to a local Peking duck restaurant. His friend told him that the bike was available because his dad recently bought a car. The man’s dad rode the bike for 20 years.
This is when Nye realized that people in developing countries such as China and the Middle East want their standard of living to also improve. But that may trigger more greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in the process.
The Science Guy thinks that every man and woman on this planet deserves access to a higher standard of living, but the Western world can provide developing countries a new model of economic development that is not based on out-dated fossil fuel consumption.
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