Bill Nye: You Don’t Need to Be a Scientist to Shut Down Climate Change Deniers

Emily Jeong
Author: Lindsay Haskell
Published: October 22, 2014 (on Facebook page, "Our Time")
Link: http://www.attn.com/stories/228/bill-nye-you-don%E2%80%99t-need-be-scientist-shut-down-climate-change-deniers?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=billnyecc

Summary: Lindsay Haskell, the author of the article, refers to Bill Nye the Science Guy's video about climate change and Ben Schneider, an expert on climate change. In the video, Bill explains how no one has an excuse to not be aware of climate change in the atmosphere. He uses himself as an example, saying that he's a mechanical engineer but he still understands what climate change is and knows what is causing it. He addresses how ignorant people are to this fast paced climate change and explains how important it is that one realizes how serious this problem is. After the video, the author has a section in which Ben Schneider, Communications Director of Defend Our Future, answers clarifying questions about climate change, like what it is, why the current climate change is different from others, why it's happening, what the effects of climate change are, why it affects people personally, how to fight climate change, and more. Ben Schneider explains climate change as the change in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activity. He emphasizes that the past natural changes in climate is different from the current one because humans (and not natural sources) are releasing carbon dioxide rapidly, at a pace that is much faster than any other time in Earth's history.

Connection: Although we only had a short activity in which we learned about climate change, I thought this article was appropriate. It answers many questions one might have about climate change very succinctly. It describes how carbon dioxide is affecting the atmosphere more severely than in the past, calling this climate change an "environmental emergency," just like we learned in class through the activity. This article not only addresses the climate change, but also addresses the pseudoscience that some believe in, like the ones we learned, presented, and took notes on in class. Bill in the video explains how the climate change caused by humans is a scientific fact, just like how the Earth is round. He goes on to explain how some believe that the climate change is not real, like how some believe that the Earth is flat. These beliefs are pseudoscience that we learned about through the pseudoscience activity. Bill tries to break these unrealistic beliefs and truly reinforce the importance of being aware of the facts.