All language subtitles for Bill.Nye.Science.Guy.2017.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTG_track4_eng

[people chattering]

Bill Nye's just such
a charismatic individual,

and he just inspires the
enthusiasm for the love of
science, love of life.

[announcer] Currently, he is
traveling the country speaking
about climate change,

science and space exploration.

I grew up watching Bill Nye,
and it was live action,

and, like, kids did it, and I
was a kid.

I was, like, "I could do this."
I'm a doctor.

And, uh, I do
infectious disease, actually.

I think science is everything.
It connects us all.

[announcer] While working on his
TV show,

he won a total of 18 Emmys
in just five years.

[man] When it was a rainy day or
the teacher wasn't feeling so
well,

you would just see the TV cart
come in and the VHS, and you
just hear,

"Bill, Bill, Bill!" That's how
you knew.

The whole class was so happy.
It was just a perfect moment.

[crowd chanting] Bill! Bill!
Bill!

[announcer] Please join me in
welcoming

America's favorite scientist
Bill Nye the Science Guy.

[upbeat music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[man on videotape] Bill, Bill,
Bill, Bill! Bill Nye the Science
Guy!

[Bill Nye] Whoo!
Oh, I love you guys! Greetings!

[whooping]

[instrumental music playing]

Just the start of things. We're
getting things wrapped up here.

We're taxiing out. We're gonna
take off,

and we're gonna see if these
wings develop a difference in
air pressure.

[Nye] So it was really the 1990s

that I started feeling bad
about the United States,

and its relationship to science.

[indistinct]

I wanted to make a world where
young people were excited about
science again,

and that set me on a quest.

[man] Okay, Bill, go!

It's a pretty good day for
parasailing!

[loud thud]

[wind blowing]

Bill himself was the face of the
Bill Nye the Science Guy show.

Uh...

But there really was this
triangle, the three creators of
the show.

Bill, Jim and Erren.

There was this creative energy

that I don't think has ever
quite been replicated.

Jim, writer-director,

could really challenge Bill and
bring out the best in Bill,

and Erren, who was the mama bear
of the whole organization.

She was the consummate producer.

We should... Where is that home
movie?

So, all the video that we know
of that is left of the show is
right here.

[Erren Gottlieb] Oh, my gosh!

This is all of the research.
Background information, shows...

America needed scientists.
We'd see PBS stories,

Time Magazine,
Newsweeks about this crisis.

There are no scientists out
there.

We're going, "Well, we've got
this scientist right here.

We can do this." So we set out
to make this Bill Nye the
Science Guy TV show.

Oh, man. What a mug!
What a mug on this guy!

That was pretty much a silly
venture, that we thought that we
could produce

this national show out of
Seattle.

But I don't think anyone ever
expected that it would become
what it became.

The main stage where most
of the show took place

is right on the other side
of that brick wall,

and one of the most popular
shows is the gravity show.

And we threw stuff off that
roof.

[static]

The pull of gravity isn't so
strong that we can't raise our
arms or anything,

but it does pull on everything
all the time.

Now, we can test this.

This is an old idea, but a good
one.

Watermelon!

Ah!

A computer, sure!

I think the zaniness, uh,
was a great tension reliever

for all the kids in the audience
who were afraid they couldn't
understand something.

Before they knew what was
happening, they understood.

Science!

He's the science teacher we all
wish we had in elementary school

or in middle school,
high school or even college.

Here's the fastest thing in the
universe. It's light!

Light goes 300,000 kilometers
every second.

[electricity buzzing]

Things in the universe...

[Neil deGrasse Tyson] The
Science Guy show contained the
science that excited Bill,

and you, the viewer, can't help
but be just as excited as the
instructor.

It was a game changer for an
entire generation of people.

There's only 92
naturally occurring elements.

But if you think about it, you
can think of a lot more than 92
things.

[explosion]

They're all made of the elements
listed on this table.

So they're grouped together...

[Emily Graslie] Bill Nye days in
school were the best.

When the teacher plugged in the
VCR, you knew you were going to
walk away

having learned something, and
having enjoyed learning
something.

Which, for some reason,
is a novel thing in schools.

See the air rushing
over the blades of grass,

taking carbon dioxide from the
air,

light from the sun and water...

the grass is making its own
food. It's growing.

The point was, anybody can be a
scientist. Any kid. Anybody.

[static]

[goofy sound effects]

The cone built up the negative
charge. That's what pulled the
water molecules.

[both] Static!

We always told Bill that he
should be the next Carl Sagan.
That's the plan.

Science is a self-correcting
process.

To be accepted, new ideas must
survive

the most rigorous standards
of evidence and scrutiny.

The suppression of uncomfortable
ideas may be common in religion
or in politics,

but it is not the path to
knowledge,

and there's no place for it
in the endeavor of science.

[Nye] I studied mechanical
engineering at Cornell
University.

I decided to take astronomy from
this famous professor, Carl
Sagan.

He was a great scientist, and
when I had my chance to do my
Science Guy show,

I went back to Carl Sagan.

And he said, "You should focus
on pure science.

Don't do science demonstrations
without describing the bigger
idea."

What he said was,
kids resonate to science.

That was the verb he used.
Resonate.

And I really embraced that.

I will now open the door with my
mind.

I am influencing physical
objects around me with the power
of my brain.

Do you think I did,
or did it just look that way?

We have a saying in science.

"Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary proof."

The process of testing claims,
the world is flat, the world is
round,

is what we call science.

There has always been this
little behind- the-scenes thing
between scientists.

"Is Bill really a scientist?
He doesn't have a PhD."

We catapulted Bill into who he
is.

But it is a big step to go from
this television host, kid goofy
guy,

to a really well-respected
expert.

[whirring]

[whistling]

[blows]

[Nye] So the Science Guy show is
over.

We did 100 shows. It almost
killed me,

and I gotta move on to something
bigger.

But the frustrating thing is, I
would continually be asked to be
on

the news as a commentator,

about the weather especially,
and about climate change.

Bill, over to you.

The problem is, we're just
burning carbon

and spewing carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere at an
extraordinary rate.

What Bill Nye just did was waste
everyone's time explaining

that C02 is rising.

Bill Nye is just going around
saying, "C02 is up.

Therefore, global warming is
dangerous.

We should be concerned." It's
not. It's not dangerous.

The world is getting warmer.
It's continually getting warmer.

If I'm right, the reversals will
lead to a degree, to a degree
and a half cooling.

If you're right, they're not.
But what are we worried about
right now?

Okay.

[Nye] We have this increasing

anti-science movement
in the United States.

Our president is worried
about global warming.

What a ridiculous situation.

All right, that was Donald Trump
calling out President Obama.

It seems our commander in chief
is...

[Nye] It's worse than ever.

The anti-science movement is
more powerful than it's ever
been.

Charles Darwin never thought of
evolution as anything other than
a theory.

He hoped that someday it would
be proven by the fossil record,

but did not live to see that,
nor have we.

[Nye] The longer we put off
doing something about it,

the more serious it's gonna get.

It's this problem where the
anti-science people have been so
successful.

I mean, there's this guy in
Kentucky who doesn't believe in
evolution,

who doesn't believe in the
fundamental idea in all of
biology.

[Ken Ham] I don't believe that
at all.

I don't believe that dinosaurs
lived millions of years ago,

and I certainly don't believe

that you came from ape-like
creatures, or anything like
that.

I mean, did your grandfather
look like that?

[kids laughing]

I don't think so. Does your
grandmother look like that?

No, not at all. You're very,
very different to...

[Nye] If we raise a generation
of kids,

they can't think critically,
they can't think scientifically,

we're headed for trouble.

We don't believe in evolution,

and I certainly don't believe
that life came about by chance,

random processes millions of
years ago in some soup in the
sea,

life was formed
and then one kind of animal...

What has evolution
got to do with engineering?

I mean, Bill Nye himself
actually is not a scientist.

He studied mechanical
engineering.

As a science educator, I'm
really more serious about it
than ever,

these people who are denying
science,

denying evolution, denying the
efficacy of vaccinations,

and especially denying
human-caused climate change.

We just can't have this.
We've got to fight this fight.

I have got to fight this fight.

[people chattering]

[growling]

[Nye] Now, this is
scientifically inaccurate.

Humans and ancient dinosaurs
did not live at the same time.

The evidence for that is
overwhelming,

and to suggest this to
schoolchildren is irresponsible
at best.

It's very troubling.

[snarling]

The Head Minister, Ken Ham,
challenged me to a debate.

And after consideration, I
accepted it.

[Eugenie Scott] Ken Ham is the
most successful creationist

in the United States.

I first heard about the debate
when Bill sent me an email
saying,

"Hey, I've signed a contract
to debate Ken Ham.

Can I talk to a couple of your
people?"

[chuckles] And I wrote back
saying,

"Seriously? Do you realize
what you've gotten into?"

Debates between scientists
and science deniers

could be a trap that scientists
probably should not get involved
in.

[Nye] Well,
they present Lucy as a gorilla.

And in mainstream science,
Lucy stands upright.

And she has a lot less hair.

You will not see that
in a mainstream museum.

Understand that in mainstream
science, when we find this, we
consider evidence.

[Jerry Coyne] The Creation
Museum is a temple of ignorance,

but it's also a temple of lies.

And warping the minds of
children,

which is what the Creation
Museum is dedicated to doing,

is one of the most awful and
mendacious things I think
anybody can do.

[recording of gunfire
and people screaming playing]

There's a lot of anxiety
and concern about evolution,

because people see it as somehow
incompatible with religious
beliefs.

I'm a believer in God myself,

and I don't, at the present
time, see any conflicts between
understanding

the nature of living things and
how they're related to each
other,

and what I believe as someone
who perceives God as the
creator.

You can find fossils in the DNA
of humans.

Genes that don't work anymore,
and haven't worked for a long
time.

They're called "pseudo genes,"

and they're on the same place in
the human as they are in the
chimpanzee.

Unless you're gonna say that God
was playing a trick by hiding
some sort of

misleading clue, you have to
conclude that we had a common
ancestor.

Bill has an opportunity,
and has taken that on

in his discussion with Ken Ham,

to try to explain
what the scientific facts are.

I'm Tom Foreman from CNN,

and I'm pleased to be tonight's
moderator for this
evolution-versus-creation
debate.

And now let's welcome our
debaters, Mr. Bill Nye and Mr.
Ken Ham.

[cheering and applause]

[Tom Foreman]
Mr. Ham, you opted to go first.

You cannot ever prove, using,
uh, the scientific method in the
present,

you can't prove the age of the
Earth. So you can never prove
it's old.

Mr. Nye?

Well, of course this is where we
disagree. You can prove the age
of the Earth

with great robustness.

Radiometric dating does exist.
The universe is accelerating.

These are all provable facts.

I just want people to understand
too that there's aspects about
the past

that you can't scientifically
prove because you weren't there.

We can be investigating, uh, the
present.

Understanding the past
is a whole different matter,

and, uh, let me just say this.
My answers...

[Coyne] To say that evolution
is somehow questionable

because we only have the
historical remnants of the
process

is a complete misunderstanding
of how science operates.

We have so much evidence
in the fossil record.

We have so much evidence from
our DNA.

We have so much evidence from
embryology

that you don't need to see it
happen, because we have the
historical record.

It's like trying to deny
that Napoleon existed.

Mr. Nye, the next question is
for you.

How did the atoms that created
the Big Bang get there?

This is the great mystery.
This is what drives us.

This is what we want to know.
Let's keep looking. Let's keep
searching.

Bill, I just want to let you
know that there actually is a
book out there

that tells us where matter came
from.

[audience laughing]

Mr. Ham, this is a simple
question, I suppose,

but one that actually is fairly
profound for all of us in our
lives.

What, if anything,
would ever change your mind?

[Ham] Hmm.

Well, the answer to that
question is, I'm a Christian.

And the Bible is the word of
God.

No one is ever gonna convince me
that the word of God is not
true.

[Foreman] Mr. Nye?

[Nye] We would just need
one piece of evidence.

We would need evidence that the
universe is not expanding.

We would need evidence that the
stars appear to be far away, but
they're not.

That rock layers can somehow
form in just 4,000 years.

Bring on any of those things,
and you would change me
immediately.

[Scott] That last question just
so crystallized this whole
debate,

and I think the answers of both
Ken and Bill were very, very
telling.

Is Ken Ham's creation model
viable?

I... I say no. Absolutely not.
Thank you very much.

-Thanks so much to Mr. Nye and
Mr. Ham... -[audience cheering]

...for an excellent discussion.

Thank you. Goodnight from
Petersburg, Kentucky and the
Creation Museum.

[tweeting]

[keyboard clacking]

-May I touch these things?
-Sure.

I know you're not supposed
to touch science demonstrations.

That's conventional Newton,
but what happens here

when they're in different, uh...
Oh, it's a wave. That's
beautiful.

There was a point where I had
thought that Bill Nye was dead,

because he was no longer putting
out any kind of informational
videos

trying to teach kids about
science.

-[woman] Love you, Bill! -Thank
you. Good morning. Good morning.

He did disappear for a little
bit, and everybody was, like,

"Where did the Science Guy go?"

What is he, "Soil Man"? Who is
he?

Well, we are teaching forensics,
and he is our, uh...

He's dead.

[audience cheering]

[Nye] It's the National Science
Teacher Convention.

These are the people, man.
These are the science teachers.

They're really the fans.

People still watch Bill Nye the
Science Guy in school.

Teachers showed it in class
for years and years.

Greetings, greetings!
It's great to see you all,

and I'm very happy that,
as I understand it,

I've been teaching
a lot of your classes this year.

[audience laughing]

Here we go.

[indistinct chatter]

-Whoa, whoa.
-One more, Bill, thank you.

There you are. Hey.

-Thank you.
-Cool.

-Hey, cool.
-Thank you.

[exclaims]

Hey...

Go, go, go! [exclaims]

-Three, two...
-We got it. Yeah, yeah.

We don't need a countdown. Just
go for it.

You've gotta reach out. You've
gotta go. Gotta turn it around.

-Catch up!
-All right, all right!

How hard can it be? I'm not
sprinting.

Reach out, man. You're too
close.

I was asked to talk about selfie
fatigue,

and I haven't.

I'm pretty sure it shortens your
life.

[exhales]

[audience cheering]

Now, you may have heard about
this thing I did last year.

I went to Kentucky and I took a
meeting with this guy

who insists that the Earth
is 6,000 years old.

[laughing]

So, along this line, the next
morning,

maybe you guys saw this,
it was all over the Internet.

[audience laughing]

Bill Nye knows a lot of science,
but when he gets off into
evolution, he's lying.

Dogs are always gonna be
canines. They always will be.

Felines will be felines.
That's real science.

"Client requests that Bill steer
clear of any controversial
topics."

"We also live in a pretty
conservative state,

so the climate-change
environmental conversation

wouldn't be well-received by
some members of our audience,
unfortunately."

That is unfortunate.

The main thing everybody could
do about climate change is talk
about it.

[cheering]

Hi, you guys. Greetings,
greetings.

High five. Yes. Cool. Hi, you
guys.

[woman] I love science.

We're reaching the end of the
line. I love you guys! Carry on.
One more! Ah!

The message I want to get across
today is that climate change is
serious business.

[crowd cheering]

Why is this country, which,
for over a century,

was the world leader in science,
engineering and innovation...

[Nye] Nowadays I'm talking to
adults, and I'm not mincing
words.

The climate is changing. It's
our fault.

We've gotta get to work on this.

So Sarah Palin was on this
panel.

"Bill Nye is as much
of a scientist as I am.

He's a kid's show actor.
He's not a scientist."

I want people to feel empowered
to ask questions about what is
being fed them

from the science community,
um... That, uh,

something's not making
a whole lot of sense

when it comes to inconsistent
data that is being produced and
being fed,

especially to our children,

when it comes to global warming
or climate change.

Whatever they're calling it
today.

Man. That they can get on the
news,

and by "them," I mean
climate-change deniers,

they really are leaving the
world worse than they found it.

[man on video] Some of the most
trusted names in the weather
business

dispute that global warming
exists.

It turns out your favorite
TV meteorologist

may have more clout than you
think.

Surveys show Americans are more
likely to believe weather
forecasters

than politicians,
when it comes to global warming.

And many of those forecasters
insist

that climate change poses
no imminent threat.

To think that we could affect
weather all that much is pretty
arrogant.

Mother Nature is so big. I think
we're gonna die from a lack of
fresh water,

or we're gonna die
from ocean acidification

before we die from global
warming, for sure.

So, I was on CNN in the morning,

and I made an offhanded comment.
We were talking about floods in
Louisiana.

You know, here at CNN you have a
climate-change denier
meteorologist.

I doubt this one is even right.

[Nye] Knock yourselves out,
but this is a big problem.

And the next morning
Chad Myers posted this,

succinctly saying,
"I have now changed my mind.

Had I flip-flopped?

Well, that is what it would be
called in politics, but in
science,

it's just an evolution of
understanding."

As I tell my 11-year-old,

it's okay to be wrong,

as long as you learn from your
mistakes.

Chad Myers, I love you, man.
If we can get more,

as they're called nowadays,
thought leaders changing their
minds,

maybe we can change the world.

[dog barking]

[toy train whistling]

[bell tolling]

[Nye] Load up some barrels.

[Nye whistling]

Here's the mark. Whoops.
That's got it. We're done.

[Nye laughing]

Look, a couple of them land
upright. Come on.

But my brother has positioned
this building so close to the
track,

it can't get the barrels to land
in their official barrel
catcher.

Look out! Okay, I'm gonna do it.
Whee!

[laughing]

So, our dad enabled this hobby.

[Darby Nye] He helped me with
it.

He's the one that bought the
trains in the first place for
me.

[Nye] This car is 70 years old.

[Darby] It's from a set from
1955.

A lot of the dates are stamped
on the car.

So 1955 was 61 years ago?

-[Darby] Sixty-one.
-Yeah.

That's a long time ago.

We're pretty close, Darby.

[toy train whistling]

This is the house where my
family grew up.

My parents built this house,
and apparently, at that time,

this was out in the country.

[rapid wooden rumbling]

That is a sound from my youth,
people, right there.

So, in here's the laundry room.

Right here is where I was
Bill Nye, boy scientist.

But this is where I used to do
science experiments.

This was my little space
right about here.

[Nye] Darb, were you here
when Dad fell down the stairs?

[Darby] He was carrying laundry.

He was doing something
he shouldn't have done.

[Nye] Well, that's what you guys
say.

But he was doing a thing that,
to an able-bodied person, is
routine.

This is what my sister talks
about all the time.

You just... You forget that
you can't do regular stuff.

[indistinct chatter]

[Steve Wilson] Bill is probably
one of the best friends I have.

The first time we met, Bill was
in a Steve Martin lookalike
contest.

He was a guest and so I miked
him up.

He is true blue.

He's always there. He's a good
guy.

[Nye] So I'm gonna try the
mystery song.

[Wilson speaking]

Oh, it's, uh...

Um, Angie, "The Christmas Tree
Angel."

["The Christmas Tree Angel"
playing]

So, my mom used to sing this
song.

And I thought... Listen to that.

Here they all come.

I used to cry. This is my mom.

Wils, you're a mensch, man.

[laughing]

* All dressed up in stardust and
tinsel *

Amazing.

* Have a merry, merry, merry
Christmas said she *

[seagulls cawing]

[waves breaking]

[Nye] My mom was a big believer
in women doing everything.

During World War II, she was in
the Navy.

She was recruited
to work on the Enigma code.

And so, she wasn't Rosy the
Riveter.

She was Rosy the Top-Secret Code
Breaker.

We had a very good family

My brother and sister loved me.

We remain very close.

[Susan] Our family has a genetic
problem. It's called "ataxia."

It affects our, uh,

motor coordination
and our speech sometimes.

My brother Darby and I, we both
seem to be affected by it.

The ataxia, this thing where you
fall backwards and you catch
yourself...

You start to fall backwards...

It's cerebellar,
and it's related to balance.

I've seen my brother do it,
I saw my dad do it.

And my sister...

-Well, she's way past that, I
gotta say. -[Wilson] Okay. Yeah.

So every time I lost my balance,
I'd presumed it was ataxia, so,
uh...

And part of the reason that, you
know,

-I never had kids and stuff...
-[Susan] Well, sure.

...is because I was afraid
of passing this on.

[Susan] Right. Absolutely.

[laughing]

What are you laugh... She's, you
know...

Because I can't stand up.

That is funny, you know.

That's the fence.

[Susan] Bill's so charming to
help us get along in life.

-[Nye] Do you want your little
feetsies? -[Susan] I do.

And he helps us to cope with
what we have to deal with.

[Nye] That's true.

-[Susan] You don't need to...
-[Nye] I was the obnoxious kid.

[beeping]

[Amy Bastian] Hold it there.

Okay, you can move your right
arm into the next triangle.

Go the other direction. Finger.

Nose.

Finger.

I don't see any change at all
from the last time we saw you.

-Oh, really? That's--
-Two years ago.

And right now I don't see
anything that looks ataxic.

All right. I'm gonna look
at your eyes now.

What I want you to do
is focus right on my nose.

Open 'em nice and wide for me.
Now look at my finger.

So you can see the beading
movements of her eyes?

And now look at my nose.

Good, Susan. And slide it down.

Okay. Let's switch sides.

[Nye] I really worry
about my sister falling,

or if something goes wrong.

Because I watched how ataxia
affected my dad's life,

and look how it affected my
sister's life.

So, I may have
a so-called survivor's guilt,

where, "I don't have it?

Do I deserve to not have it?

What did I do that allows me
to not have it,

where my beloved brother
and sister do have it?

What happened?
Do I owe the world a living?

If I were to have kids,
would they not have gotten it?"

I am aware of how fortunate I
am.

It makes me all the more... It
motivates me all the more to do

something to leave the world
better than I found it.

Hey! Dude. Man.

-How you doing?
-Good.

[Tyson] So what did you bring?

[Nye] Some Aveeno.

Very nice. What's gonna happen
is, if I'm drinking wine with my
man here,

it's gonna have to be cosmic.
Just so you know.

[Nye] That's right.
He's proud of his 'stache.

[Tyson] Here you go.

-Rocket science!
-Yes!

That's the bottle I'm drinking
with Bill.

[Nye] We're living at this
extraordinary time where people
are anti-science.

Anti-science in the country

that got to be preeminent
through its innovation.

-[Tyson] Okay. Let me get on
your case. -[Nye] All right.

-There's an entire generation of
people... -I know.

...who grew up looking at you in
their elementary school
classroom.

I know. It's all me.

-[laughing] It's all your fault!
-It's my fault.

-Whatever I did wrong...
-Where have you failed?

You had as much street cred as
is possible among
schoolchildren.

But somebody's gotta believe you
more than a childhood educator.

Yeah, yeah.

But I knew you had it in you.
I knew. We knew. We knew it.

I went to the board...

[Tyson] I serve on the board
of the Planetary Society.

Carl Sagan founded the Planetary
Society back in 1980.

[music playing on TV]

Mars is the world next door.

The nearest planet on which
human explorers could safely
land.

[man on TV] The Planetary
Society,

with Cornell University
astronomer Carl Sagan as its
president,

is the largest space interest
group on this planet,

with some 125,000 members
in over 60 of Earth's nations.

I and other board members
determined that the best thing
for the society

would be to have Bill become its
CEO.

So, here's gonna be where
the work's gonna get done.

Look at all of the space we have
for people. "Space," get it?

Before Bill took over, we had
been in a low point for some
time.

And Bill coming onboard started
to change us really
dramatically.

One thing that's very important
to Bill is the Planetary
Society's solar sail launch.

It's been our mission since
1980.

[Johnny Carson] Isn't this
interesting.

Well, there's just a
tremendously exciting prospect
called "solar sailing."

-"Solar sailing"?
-And this is a very crude model.

And it works exactly
as an ordinary sailboat does,

but it would travel on the
radiation and particles that
come out of the sun.

The wind from the sun.

[Tyson] If you look at old
footage of Carl Sagan on The
Tonight Show,

it's Carl Sagan unfurling a
model of a solar sail,

describing that to Johnny Carson
and to the American public.

[Ann Druyan] Carl was so excited
about the solar sailing project.

What could be more mythic
than riding the light?

[Nye] At the Planetary Society,
we are gonna launch LightSail.

When this thing gets in space,

Mylar sheets are deployed, and
the photons from the sun will
give it a push.

You never run out of fuel.

You could greatly lower the cost

and make space exploration
accessible to many, many more
people.

We will be able to launch
spacecraft

and take them farther
and deeper into space.

[Druyan] It's the best shot we
have at getting to travel out
into the cosmos

on the scale of even the nearest
stars.

This is my office. This will be
my office.

Carl Sagan changed my life,
and I am honored

to be the CEO of the society
that he started. The Planetary
Society.

[indistinct chatter]

[marching band playing]

[cameras clicking]

[crowd applauding]

People from all over the world
have heard of Noah's Ark.

People say, "What are you really
doing here? What statement are
you making?"

See, people haven't been taught
genetics correctly,

haven't been taught about
speciation and natural selection
correctly.

We're gonna correct that in here
and undo

the brainwashing
that's occurred, uh, through...

[crowd cheering]

I'm gonna challenge Bill Nye's
evolutionary worldview. So,
Bill,

you're invited to come, and I'll
personally tour you through the
Ark.

You can do it ahead of opening,
if you want,

or you can do it after opening.
Whatever.

As we stand here, the Juno
spacecraft just went into orbit
around Jupiter,

which is an extraordinary
accomplishment of engineering
and rocket science.

Here's anti-science.

[crowd applauding]

What do you say to those who
scoff at dinosaurs on the Ark?

People have so many
misconceptions about dinosaurs.

You know, Bill Nye scoffs at me
for believing dinosaurs were on
the Ark,

but people like Bill Nye believe
dinosaurs grew feathers and
became birds.

-It comes down to beliefs.
-[crowd laughing]

It's a clash of worldviews.
That's what it's all about.

[crowd applauding]

It's not a problem with
religion. I'm hip.

The Earth's not 6,000 years old.

It is inappropriate
to teach that to young people.

[man speaking Spanish]

Well, I know enchilada and taco
and...

[people laughing]

Speciation is not evolution,
because dogs actually always
remain dogs.

It's one of the things we've
observed, and cats always remain
cats.

-We've observed that too.
-[crowd applauding]

Oh, and by the way, elephants
always remain elephants.

[people laughing]

[recorded animal calls]

[Nye] This looks like an
apatosaurus, or a something...

[Ham] Yeah, it's a sauropod.
Yeah.

Your claim is that a family
built this enclosure for ancient
sauropods.

-For each kind of land animal.
-And then the sauropods
disappeared.

Oh, lots of animals have
disappeared.

I mean, that's why
we have endangered species--

But it happened in the last
4,000 years?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Ham] Would you allow someone
to teach the possibility

that God created them
in the public schools?

-No.
-Okay.

-Not in science class.
-Mm-hmm.

In religion class, in history
class, philosophy class.

But that's not science.

But you said your belief was
everything happened by natural
processes,

and they're teaching that
religion in the science class.

-Well, you're calling it a
religion. -Yeah, it is.

We're calling it "the process of
science."

-No, but it is a religion.
-So you can teach...

It's a belief.

Teach your worldview in a
different class, but not in
science class.

[Ham] You must admit, these are
quite exquisite exhibits, right?

They're very troubling.

[stammers] But they're
beautifully done, aren't they?

I guess.

[Hams voice] And the Earth was
without form and void,

and darkness...

[somber instrumental music
playing]

[Nye on TV] My scientific
colleagues go to places like
Greenland,

Arctic, Antarctica,

and they drill into the ice.

And we pull out long cylinders
of ice.

Certain of these cylinders
have 680,000 layers of ice.

The truth is that these layers
in the ice are not annual
layers.

So Bill Nye and others have
pushed the idea of millions of
years

while talking about annual rings
in icicles are simply wrong.

So this is the most troubling
thing you do, Mr. Ham.

Trying to convince young people

that climate change
is not real is very serious,

because they're gonna have to
grow up and deal with it.

[Ham] Actually, climates change
all the time.

Let me rephrase it for you.

Human-caused climate change
is very serious.

-Well, there's a lot of debate
about it. -This is the worst
thing you--

There's a lot of scientists
who would disagree with that.

-In fact, we--
-Very, very few.

We have PhD scientists on our
staff who would disagree with
that.

We have PhD scientists.

Your scientists on your staff,
as respectful as I can be, are
incompetent.

[Ham's voice] ...contradicts the
secular belief of millions of
years.

[girl] How did God create us?

[Ham] "How did God create us?"
The Bible says He spoke, and it
happened,

because He is all powerful,
because He is infinite creator
God.

So, young woman, I would say to
you,

that there's a process

that humans have developed over
a millennia by which we know
nature.

And we call that "science."

The big thing in science
is questioning things.

So, are you telling this little
girl that she is just an animal?

The word "just" I disagree with.

She's a wonderful, beautiful
animal.

I believe Mr. Ham.

-Say that again?
-I believe Mr. Ham.

Okay. So, as you get older,
just look at the world.

I really encourage you to go to
college.

[Nye] Some of those kids, I
don't think they were in fifth
grade.

You know, when we did the
Science Guy show,

we had very compelling
evidence that ten years old

was the oldest you could be to
get the lifelong passion for
science.

We're gonna lose thousands and
thousands of kids from this
area,

who grew up with this weird,
untenable worldview.

[people chanting] ...we don't
want your Ark no more!

One, two, three, four,
we don't want your Ark no more!

One, two, three, four,
we don't want your Ark no more!

[people cheering]

Today that grand opening of the
Ark Encounter kicked off about
an hour ago.

Across the street, we saw
a lot of people going in there.

Hundreds of people.

I want to go talk to Jim Helton,
the president of the Tri-State
Freethinkers.

Science is part of it,

but you say there's more to it
than just that?

Yes. We want to draw attention
to where your money is going to,

and that your children
will be indoctrinated

to say that evolution
and science aren't true.

Here's what happened. They
strategically placed Bill Nye at
the Creation Museum.

After that debate, they raised
millions of additional dollars
for the Ark Encounter.

Was Bill Nye responsible for
some of that?

Unfortunately, probably yes.

[people chanting] One, two,
three, four, we don't want your
Ark no more!

[TV reporter] It's a theme park
of biblical proportion,

but until now, the money to make
it has not been flooding in.

But $15 million in the last two
weeks

came from a rather ironic chain
of events.

...who don't understand natural
law...

[TV reporter] When thousands
watched science advocate Bill
Nye

debate Ham online,

believers pulled out their
wallets.

[Coyne] Nye's mistake was giving
credibility to Ken Ham

by giving him a public platform.

Everything I've seen about Nye
is that

he really misses being the
Science Guy,

because he was much beloved
and very popular.

It's hard to give up celebrity.

The starting position for me is,
"What is your goal?"

My goal is helping the public
understand

why evolution is good science,
why climate change is good
science,

why they should be taught to
kids.

I don't know what Bill's goals
are.

Bill has always wanted to be
famous from the get-go.

He's actually said that to me,
"I wanted to be famous."

He wanted to be a star.

I see...

You've seen the pictures
with the drone on the back.

[man] Okay, Bill. I'm rolling,
whenever you're comfortable.

Okay. So everyone just give a
big...

[Jim McKenna]
The Science Guy is a character,

but Bill is a human. He's not
perfect.

See, that's why airplanes take
off and land pointing into the
wind.

[McKenna] So we committed
to a TV show with Bill,

but suddenly Bill went to
Portland, and he did a pilot
with our material.

Our show, Bill Nye the Science
Guy, almost did not happen.

[TV show theme song playing]

Hey, Bill Nye the Science Guy
here.

What I've got is a set-up
for making hydrogen gas.

I have a special chemical in
here that...

If you need any proof that there
was more than just Bill Nye
behind the success

of the Bill Nye the Science Guy
show, all you have to do is look
at the version

of the show that was produced
down in Portland, and it was
ridiculous.

It was like some form of crazy,
manic Captain Kangaroo.

Bill really wasn't at his best,
it didn't make a lot of sense.

It didn't get picked up.
It kind of went nowhere.

[loud explosion]

Would you look at that?

He's gonna blow up the whole
neighborhood if somebody doesn't
do something.

[glass breaking]

Whoa! [laughs]

[McKenna] We lost him
for a year, contractually.

We were threatened with lawsuits
if we even talked to him,

and I felt pretty raw from that.

[TV static]

So, overall, the page and a half
scene is all different
locations,

but we'd like to cut up
sentences.

[laughing] Oh, yeah. Let's go
shoot.

We have to go shoot some stuff.
I forgot about that.

-And go to the doctor.
-Yeah, go to the doctor.

I think fame changed Bill, and I
think probably the biggest way
is, um,

his trust issues, and I think
also his vulnerability.

He's very protective of it,

and then now you're not seeing a
Bill

that we grew up with, you know,
20 years ago.

[Heather Berlin] When you
started getting more popular

and your brand of science humor
caught on, and you started
getting recognized,

how did that make you feel?
I mean, were you, you know...

[Nye] It makes you feel cool.
It makes you feel appreciated.

Yeah. But now you have
millions and millions of people

who know you or your persona.

What does that do to your psyche
and what does it do to your
brain, ultimately?

I'm studying the effect of
celebrity and fame on the brain
and the psyche,

and Bill is a great test case,
where I can explore my thesis.

I won't be surprised if your
brain, my brain, is meh from all
this.

[Berlin] Yeah. I mean,
and that's my theory,

is that being in the limelight
for a given period of time

can affect even the way
your brain is wired up.

So, in terms of engaging with
the public, getting approached
by people,

is there this constant having to
shield yourself and close your
real self off?

Well, I close off a lot.
I don't know if it's constant.

Do you think that has affected
you in your personal life as
well?

Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Yes!

Do you think you've
sacrificed having a family...

I think about that all the time.
And I just... I never did that.

Do you think that you sacrificed
that to pursue this career?

Well, how about this. I chose to
pursue this instead of doing
that.

I mean, there were
opportunities...

-Right. -To get married and have
babies, for sure.

But I know people can do both.

Well, this it. Dude! Dude.
[laughs]

I think women that I've known
are frustrated with me, because
I don't...

I won't commit-commit,
because...

[stammers] But I think that's
not to do with fame so much.

My parents stopped getting along
in a very important time in my
development.

How old were you?

I don't know. I was 12.

-Hmm.
-My mom was very, very unhappy,

and my father was extremely
stubborn. And he was...

Bitterly sarcastic.

And I think a lot of that
rubbed off on me,

and that's not good all of the
time. I have angered some
people.

So you have a fear of intimacy,

perhaps related to the fact that
your parents' relationship
failed?

Yeah.

So if you just keep a little bit
of distance, you're always safe.

But at the same time, it never
allows you to have a real
full...

[McKenna] I think about this
often. I had trust issues with
Bill.

But he's got this mission.

I see Bill go on and do great
things,

and I am happy and proud
that he has done this.

And I think it's brave.

My dad's big thing was, "Every
man's responsible for his own
actions,"

and "Leave the world
better than you found it."

These are Ned Nye's rules of
life right there. Guiding
principles.

My parents participated in this
world war.

They contributed to winning it.

So, my parents made me who I am.

I mean, for better or for worse.

Uh...

You feel great about it, but I
also feel, like, "Man, I could
do more."

Would they be proud of me,

the mistakes I've made?
Would they go along with it?

I try to be worthy of them.

I try to leave a legacy.

My drive to do all of this
is from my parents.

[people chattering]

[woman] I got it.

The actual reason why I'm
actually here is going well.

[cheering]

Hi, you guys!

[all cheering]

Don't you people have school to
work on?

[all laughing]

Carry on, carry on!

Oh, my God!

There's the spacecraft over
there, and you say, "That's it?"

Yeah, that's it. It's that big.

It's literally smaller
than a loaf of bread.

It really is gorgeous. It's just
gorgeous.

When I was in class, 40 years
ago,

Carl Sagan talked about
a solar sail mission.

But it never happened.

So this is realizing a
40-year-old dream,

building a spacecraft
that would fly in space,

propelled just by light.

So, Professor Sagan, this one's
for you.

[indistinct chatter]

[Nye] We're all very hopeful.
This is an important day in
testing the spacecraft,

to turn it on and see if it does
everything it's supposed to do.

The LightSail spacecraft
will go there in the middle.

The antenna will spring out,

and the sails will deploy,

if nothing goes wrong.

[indistinct conversation]

-[man] All right. Are you ready?
-[man 2] Ready.

Countdown.

[all] Five, four, three, two,
one, zero...

[Nye] Oh, man. Right there.

Hey, you guys.

I'm really glad it works.
Woo-hoo!

Oh, that's great.
That's really great, you guys.

It's really nice. It's working
perfectly.

[people cheering]

[Nye] So the reason we're doing
this is to advance space
science.

There's just a few missions
that a solar sail is ideal for.

You could monitor the Earth's
climate, sort of, indefinitely,

and that would be a worthy
use of these inexpensive,

lightweight spacecraft.

So, next year we're launching
a solar sail into space...

And I'm quite anxious about it.

The Planetary Society launched
a solar sail in 2005,

and the result was catastrophic.

[Ann] After Carl's death, I was
the program director of Cosmos
I,

which would be the very first
attempt to launch a solar sail
into space.

[Nye] We launched it on a
Russian Cold War ballistic
missile

in the Arctic Ocean.

Everybody was, sort of, gathered
around listening for
information, updates.

"Well, we're waiting for a
signal." No. There was no
signal.

[Ann] And word came that our
tracking seemed to indicate that
it was off-course.

[Nye] And it crashed.

[explosion]

And it's in the bottom of the
ocean.

[Ann] And so our attempts to
launch humanity's first solar
sail were thwarted.

[Nye] While we're sitting here,

the spacecraft is sitting
on this laboratory bench,

the antenna deployed.

But then you've got... There's
nothing to do for 40 minutes.

So, in this meantime, Joe
Bastardi,

the meteorologist-weightlifter,

sent me a direct message on
Twitter.

"Hey, Bill. Sorry I blocked you
last week.

That really is not me,
as I am a libertarian."

Please welcome, for
meteorologists, the chief
forecaster for Accuweather,

NABBA American Bodybuilding Tall
Class Champion, Joe Bastardi.

Joe, thanks so much for coming
on.

[audience cheering]

Do you believe that global
warming is man-made?

Global warming is basically
natural.

It's a fraud. I don't know if
that's true, and I don't care.

What do you say about that,
Brenda?

Well, meteorologists are
focusing on the short-term,

and climate scientists
look at the long-term.

These are, like, natural cycles.

[Stephen Colbert] What's the
long-term?

It just seems so unlikely that a
guy with a degree in meteorology

does not have a grasp
of the greenhouse effect.

And it wouldn't matter,

except the deniers have been so
successful in keeping the United
States

from becoming a world leader
in addressing climate change.

I agree that there's climate
change, all right?

Do humans have something to do
with it?

They probably have something to
do with it. I don't know what.

Is it worth crashing the
American economy? No. I don't
believe that.

[announcer] Please welcome Joe
Bastardi!

[audience cheering]

[Joe Bastardi] I just think that
C02 is very, very small,

relative to everything else
that's going on.

If the environment was a
workout, to me, the sun would be
squats.

The oceans would be pull-ups.

Power cleans would be stochastic
events, like volcanoes.

All those things are
the climate control knobs.

All right. So set it slow, set
it fast.

C02 would probably be, you know,

band curls on a Thursday morning
circuit or something.

Relative to those big-ticket
exercises,

I don't think it's a control
knob.

When they argue the warmer
water that runs into

the Arctic thingamajig that's
cold,

they say that that is all global
warming,

climate change, whatever. So
what is creating this
phenomenon?

Well, what's creating it is the
natural,

cyclical processes that we've
seen for years and years.

In this particular year, because
of our forecast in WeatherBELL,

we thought that it's going
to be an in-close year,

high-impact year for the United
States.

[Michael Mann] Climate-change
deniers

have this huge megaphone
that has been provided to them

by fossil fuel interests,
by conservative media outlets

that are part of this larger
climate-change denial machine.

And so what you've gotta be
concerned about...

[Mann] Much of the denial comes
from an ideological viewpoint.

You know, regulating greenhouse
gases must be bad because all
regulation is bad.

Well, you do the math and add it
up,

and if you go back and look and
study what happened before,

you come up with your answer.

Well, I go to you for those
answers because you're that
good.

Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it.

-Get home safe.
-I appreciate it.

Joe Bastardi. All right.
In the meantime, what the frack?

The White House today piling on
more rules when it comes to
fracking on public lands.

That's extracting oil and all
that stuff we need in this
country.

Critics say it's just gonna
drive up energy costs for all of
it,

Jay Lehr says, "Enough is
enough."

Joe Bastardi has challenged me

to "Some questions for Bill Nye,
six years after our O'Reilly
Factor debate."

They think climate deniers are
doing us a disservice these
days, and Bastardi,

at least currently, Joe
Bastardi, is a climate denier.

Joe Bastardi, who is our go-to
guy,

he points to a lot of
interesting facts in history.

You know, the Dust Bowl in
Oklahoma, the dinosaurs'
extinction.

I like bringing those things up
so people don't believe this is
global warming.

And the snow...

[Nye] Joe Bastardi is the
meteorologist of record for
conservative media.

Maybe I can nudge him.

Show him the importance of
carbon dioxide.

We'll give it a run.

Take you on, Joe.

[Garrett Bastardi] That's right
here. Right there. That looks
like that.

[Joe] Yeah, it does, a little
bit like it.

What's going on is you're
cooling the Indian Ocean.

That's what the implications are
here.

Ever since I was a very young
child, I was fascinated by the
weather,

and I see it in my son, who is
very interested in the weather.

You know, we've just been in the
warm cycle over the last, uh...

-What, 30 years?
-[Joe] Thirty years. So...

And the temperature has been a
little warmer the last 30 years.

There seems to be a correlation
there.

Yeah. Well, I see the...

When I found out my dad was
gonna be debating Bill Nye on
The O'Reilly Factor

on Fox News, I was in sixth or
seventh grade, and we had just
finished watching,

you know, for the past few
years,

watching Bill Nye the Science
Guy, those videos.

So he was a celebrity to me, and
a lot of people my age were,
like,

"Please be nice to him."

Do you agree, Joe, that in 1750

the world's carbon dioxide
was about 280 parts per million?

Do you agree with that?

Bill, you don't want to go here.
You know why? Because I'm
going...

[Garrett] And it got kind of
testy, a little bit.

We were, like, "My dad's not
listening to anything we're
saying,

and they're just kind of going
at it."

So if you want to believe that,
you can go ahead and believe
that.

-Let Bill reply. Go ahead, Bill.
-Seems kind of hard to.

[Joe] Before the O'Reilly
debate, Garrett says to me,
"Dad,

he's like the Easter Bunny and
Santa Claus rolled up into one.

You can't get mad at him."

In an unusual publication called
The Patriot Post,

a bodybuilder and meteorologist
named Joe Bastardi challenged
me.

He challenged me to show a
connection

between carbon dioxide
and the world's temperature.

I predict that 2016 will be
among the top ten hottest years
ever recorded.

Mr. Bastardi, I cannot help but
note

that you've spoken
at the Coal Training Conference,

Nebraska Propane and the Gas
Forum.

Where you speak is your
business,

but it also seems to be your
business.

Have you ever seen a check
arrive from the Koch brothers
out there?

[Garrett] No.

-No? -I've never seen a Koch
brothers check.

Have I made speeches directly
related to climate change? Yes.

Have I been paid for them? Yes.

Will I do that again? Yes.

But the idea that the oil
companies are paying me,

and that's why I believe what I
believe, is total nonsense.

And if Bill's making money
because he's talking about
climate change, great.

More power to you.

He says it here.

"Bill Nye is wrong. He's not a
real scientist," right?

That's a big thing with Mr.
Bastardi.

"Bill Nye's an actor." Wait, I'm
both.

Or, at least I'm an engineer who
took a lot of physics. How about
that?

[airplane whirring]

[Nye] I don't have a PhD.

So, I talk to the experts,

to people in the field who know
all about climate science.

And if I can, I really want to
see the process,

and hold the evidence in my
hands.

[wind whistling]

[James White] Wow.
This is where the magic happens.

This is where the ice core is
drilled.

Ice cores are the best archive
of the past.

They tell us about
what happened on our planet

tens to hundreds
of thousands of years ago.

So we just go down at ten-foot
chunks, all the way through the
bottom.

-Two miles?
-Yeah.

Once this becomes solid ice,
it's still 10% air.

So we can take that ice core
back to the lab,

shave it down in a controlled
environment, collect the air

and measure what was in the
atmosphere

10,000 years ago, or 20,000,
or 100 or 200,000 years ago.

And you melt it too, right?

[White] In the 1960s, we
discovered that humans were
indeed causing climate change.

That was a surprise,

and we didn't know that our
climate system was capable of
such an angry response.

Snow falls every year and you
get layers and layers of ice,

which are like pages in a book.

And as we read this book, we
learn more and more about the
story of our planet.

One of the most important
findings that ever came out of
ice cores is that,

when it's warmer, C02 is higher.
When it's colder, C02 is lower.

Our planet, over the last
million years, naturally varied
between

really cold times, glacial
periods, and warm times.

And the difference was 100 parts
per million of C02 in the
atmosphere.

But as we get closer to the
surface,

we start to see traces of human
activity.

Since the Industrial Revolution,
we have increased C02 from 280
parts per million

to 400 parts per million, and
the pace of change is going
faster and faster.

With the amount of C02 in the
atmosphere we have today,

the planet is gonna continue to
warm.

An interesting question I get
asked a lot is, "Do you believe
in climate change?"

And, um, the question
is interesting to me,

because the word "belief"
implies that there's some choice
involved.

Whether I choose to believe in
God or not, belief in God is a
choice.

I believe in God, um, but the...
Whether you believe in climate
change,

it's physics.

Um...

Greenhouse gases trap
the Earth's outgoing energy.

That's all they do. That's what
they do. They can't do anything
else.

You can see in this one. See
those--

-[Nye] Oh, man.
-[James] Those are all years.

You can actually see here,
years where you had more snow,

-years where you had less snow.
-[Nye] Absolutely.

So look at this. There's a layer
of, what is that, a volcano?
What is it?

[White] That's a volcano
about 27,000 years ago.

[Nye] God. See, it's 15, it
might be 17 years of eruptions.
Is that possible?

[White] It's very, very
possible.

[saw whirring]

[Nye] This is where we see
the smoking gun

for human-caused climate change.

I just don't see how
anybody like Joe Bastardi

could come here, look at the way

the ancient ice is extracted
from the Greenland ice sheet,

and not agree that humans have
put enough greenhouse gas in the
atmosphere

to cause global climate change.

[White] This is raising sea
level.

This is drowning Miami
eventually.

This is 50,000-year-old water?

On average. It's about probably
40, 50,000 years.

[White] I was here in 1989,
and it did not look like this.

[Nye] What did it look like?

[White] It was a much smaller
stream in 1989.

Oh, you mean the river. Was
the--

The river. Yeah, no. We would
come and walk down here.

It was just water there, but it
wasn't...

-It was a creek, rather than a
river. -Yeah.

Rather than a river.

So this is the Russell Glacier,
and it's melting like crazy.

The white ice reflects a lot of
sunlight, but as the ice goes
away...

[loud crash]

[sighs]

As the glacier does stuff like
that,

uh, it's exposing bare rock
and is warming even faster.

It's very troubling.
It's, uh, heartbreaking.

Humankind has hardly done
anything about this,

and we've known about the
problem since the 1980s.

[Nye] Here comes the jet stream.

-[Michael] Yep, and they form--
-So where's the warming? Right
here?

The warming is right there.

It's right there, and it isn't
just any old warming.

These are the warmest sea
surface temperatures we've ever
measured there.

Three degrees Celsius.
We've never seen that before.

[Nye] That's huge!

[Mann] Bill is going to do this
event

in my seminar series tomorrow
with Joe Bastardi.

Bill representing the scientific
case for human-caused climate
change,

and Joe Bastardi, a
climate-change contrarian,
against the science.

...where it normally isn't,
because you have the upwelling
cold water...

[Nye] The ultimate thing

would be to get Joe Bastardi to
change his mind about climate
change.

If I'm on Fox News, they dismiss
me. They don't listen to what I
have to say.

But if Joe were on there, saying
that he's changed his mind,

that could be very influential.

And so it's worth a shot.

[Joe]
It's nice to have you over here.

-Nice seeing you.
-This looks fabulous.

Now... If you took all the
carbon dioxide out of the air
today,

what would happen
to the Earth's temperature?

It would get very cold.

No, it wouldn't get that cold at
all.

Are you trying to tell me that
0.04% of the atmosphere,

and that increase is only 0.01%
since you've been a kid, you
think that's--

It's a 30% increase.

-A 30% increase against--
-In just three decades.

That's enormous.

Against the entire
ocean atmospheric system?

It's minuscule, Bill. It's
minuscule.

What if you're wrong? What about
Garrett?

Garrett, do you get mad
sometimes when I actually
concede that it's warmer?

Yeah. How are we measuring,
you know, accurately,

4,000 years ago or 6,000 years
ago?

[Nye] Well, 4,000 years we can
do very accurately.

-[Joe] Okay.
-[Garrett] Okay, so--

[Joe] We can't do it the way
we're doing it today. Come on.

[Nye] So that's where we
disagree, you guys.

-[Joe] But you cannot use a tree
ring-- -Dad, Dad...

I know I'm not in this debate. I
just wanted to say something
real quick.

[Nye] No, you're not in the
debate. No. No, you're over
there.

I know, I understand.

I'm arguing with my fifth-grade
childhood hero, so it's pretty
cool.

The point is, 2016 is warm,
but 2017 is going to be cooler.

All right, now, if it's not
cooler, I'm obviously in
trouble, right?

Yeah. Do you guys, do you
understand the significance of
the ice?

There's nobody running around
with a hypodermic needle
squirting bubbles

of atmosphere in 4,000-year-old
ice.

I understand that.
I read everything you look at.

The fact of the matter is that
being on the other side of the
issue

is probably hurting me
economically.

Here's my claim though, Joe.
You're hurting everybody.

I want you to come around.

"Hurting"? Who am I hurting?

Garrett. The future.

I'm not hurting Garrett.

-That's my claim.
-You don't understand.

You don't fight. Have you ever
wrestled?

You wrestle the match
when you're wrestling it.

You don't sit there and worry
about what the guy's doing in
another bracket

that you might have to wrestle
down the road, and that's the
problem.

The problem... I'm not trying to
save the world.

What you're saying is, "Joe,
you've gotta do what I say."

I say, "Bill, do whatever you
want." So what happens is, you
get this control.

[Joe] Hey, where's the wine? Do
you want some more wine, Bill?

[Nye] I'm okay.

So are you gonna come
to Mike Mann's class tomorrow?

You know what? I don't know
that I should do that. If I do--

[Nye] Well, what's there to
lose?

-What's there to lose?
-I don't know.

[indistinct chatter]

[Nye] These are first-year
students at Penn State.

So I want to get them inspired
about the problem of climate
change,

and the opportunities.

And Garrett showed up.

I think it just shows an
open-mindedness. That's really
good.

...NASA. The records of global
temperature

based on averages of all the
thermometer information go back
to...

[Nye] Joe Bastardi sent an email
that said he would not come.

He's got a chip on his shoulder.

He wants to compete, and here he
would have been outgunned.

Do I look like someone that's
afraid?

[scoffs]

The Cornell engineer is tougher
than the Penn State wrestler.

Whatever. Okay?

I mean, come on.

Does Bill understand that I
work?

I have X amount of hours
to do X amount of things.

Obviously this is more important
to Bill Nye than it is to me.

If we just got to work, we could
address climate change [snaps
fingers] like that.

I'm very hopeful about the
future.

Technology has matured.

There is enough wind and solar
that we could run the US, we
could run the world,

renewably, right now,
if we just decided to do it.

Maybe I'm wrong.

[laughs]

What I've told Garrett is this.

I may have to see that my son

is writing things and
researching things

that say, "Dad, you're wrong
about this, okay?"

"I want you to make sure that
you know everybody, all the
facts,

then you can come to your own
conclusion." We've always taught
that in our house.

Boy, I'll tell you what,
I think of that all the time.

What if I'm digging that kid a
hole?

What if he has to pay
for the sins of his father,

whether his father
is right or wrong, or not?

[Nye] Do we have any questions?

Yeah. There was a question here
earlier.

I was wondering if you could
maybe comment on constructive
ways we as scientists

could reach out and try and
communicate with non-scientists,

because I feel like climate
deniers have been very good at
capitalizing on, like,

"It's only a theory,"

or this idea that there's always
gonna be some margin of doubt.

So what I would say is,
just keep talking to people.

"Why do you believe that?

What makes you think that
climate change isn't happening?

What makes you disagree with all
the world's scientists? What is
it?"

And so, uh...

But I strongly believe that,

with you all being
the future of the world,

you will be able to use science
and our process of science.

And the arguments that we can
make,

based on the facts
that we discover in nature,

and processes in nature...

Since I was a kid, I'd look up
at the sky.

The stars are out there. This is
our star.

And there's 200 billion stars
in our galaxy,

and then there are in turn
that many galaxies.

Galaxies!

It just reminds me of the
importance of space exploration.

The reason we have these rockets
on the horizon

is to know our place in the
cosmos.

It's just an extraordinary idea,
and there might be a time

when we start doing
interplanetary regattas.

See, it's a whole new kind of
idea.

[Nye] Thirty-nine years after
Carl Sagan showed this thing on
The Tonight Show,

we're gonna launch a solar sail
as part of his legacy.

It gives me great pause.
It's quite a responsibility.

Even though we've been launching
for 50-plus years,

rockets are still a tricky
thing.

Every time there's a rocket
firing,

there could be a catastrophic
explosion right there on the
pad.

[loud explosion]

It could start up on this
journey,

and then some stage separation
not work correctly...

And that's actually what
happened to us when we flew in
2005.

[indistinct announcement over
PA]

[man over PA] Seventeen seconds
and counting, guidance internal,

fifteen, fourteen, thirteen,
twelve, eleven, ten, nine...

Three, two, one...

[loud roaring]

[crowd cheering]

Now I feel the rush!

-[crowd cheering]
-Wow!

-[man over PA] ...past the hour.
-Whoa!

[Nye] We're going to space. Go,
I said!

There's chemical reactions
making water vapor. Yes!

[indistinct radio chatter]

[man] This is mission resistance
report.

Indications are that
a signal is being received.

That would indicate that the
antenna deployed successfully.

So that's it. We're...

[indistinct]

Mission Control, it's Bill Nye
in Florida.

Do you hear me?

[man] Go ahead, Bill Nye.
We receive, five by five.

I would just like
to say the following thing.

Woo-hoo!

[Ann] Under Bill Nye's
leadership,

the Planetary Society picked up
this great dream of solar
sailing.

I'm so proud of Bill.

[indistinct chatter]

[Tyson] Bill slowly but
successfully transitioned from
Bill Nye the Science Guy

for kids, to the science
statesman.

More power to him. The passing
of a torch.

We are advancing space science
and exploration.

We are, dare I say it...

[all cheering]

Changing the world!

[all cheering]

It does not always seem as if
science is in the room when it
needs to be.

And so, gifted teachers of
science, with a lot of
credibility,

a sense of humor and ability to
convey complex information,

are needed more than ever.

And so, Bill Nye, we need about
a thousand more of you.

Okay, pause. We have a ton of
evidence that Mars used to be
covered in oceans.

So here today to talk to me
about... Wait, you're not in it
yet.

-Oh.
-Okay.

I think a lot of people of my
generation

attribute their interest
and love of science to Bill Nye.

What words of inspiration can
you give...

Uh, science is the best idea
humans have ever had.

You and I drink freshwater.

There were people before him
like Carl Sagan, for example,
but I don't think

our generation necessarily saw
Cosmos,

because it was a little
before even our time.

So Bill Nye was, sort of, the
headline for science for kids,

and I think that definitely has
spawned this entire generation.

Although I've never had kids, I
am largely satisfied with my
legacy.

Yeah, I've made some mistakes.

But if we have inspired millions
of kids to at least appreciate
science,

then that's a heck
of a thing to leave behind.

So...

Playing the hand I was dealt,
people. Just trying to change
the world here.

Greetings.

[man] His show and just all
the fooling around, it made me

really excited that, you know,
to know that science is not just
this very dull

profession or career,

that you learn something new,
and that's exciting.

[Nye] I love you, man.

I'm also a mechanical engineer.

Oh, cool. Great.

I came here to see Bill Nye,

because he was my inspiration
for being a scientist.

Bill Nye is the voice for
science and technology,

and I think there's definitely
a need for that.

Science is about dinosaur bones,

and it studies dinosaur bones,
and I like dinosaur bones.

-[Nye] Oh, thank you.
-Our class made it.

Oh, that's really nice.

Thank you, thank you.

My favorite about Bill Nye...
When I watch him,

he makes me sometimes learn.

Not many women are in the path
of the scientist,

and he always says that you
should change the world.

I'm hoping to change the world
by becoming a geneticist

and stopping all of these
terrible genetic diseases.

[indistinct conversation]

When I met him in person, I was,
like, "I want to be Bill Nye
when I grow up."

-[Nye] What a nice shirt, may I
say. -Oh, thank you.

[Nye] Check it out.

Hi.

-Look at the lens over here.
Look! -My bad.

Sweet.

That is awesome.

[Joe] The total journey of Bill
Nye is a pretty remarkable
thing,

because he's involved in
something that I'm fascinated
with, too,

you know, this whole light sail
project. And, uh... Who knows,

100 years from now he's the
Thomas Edison of our time, or
something like that.

[crowd chanting] Bill, Bill,
Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill!

Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill,
Bill!

Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill,
Bill!

[Nye] We love that song! Yes!