John Oliver thinks we’ve finally broken Bill Nye.
‘What I’m saying is the planet’s on fucking fire. There are a lot of things we could do to put it out — are any of them free? No, of course not. Nothing’s free, you idiots. Grow the fuck up. You’re not children anymore. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12. But you’re adults now, and this is an actual crisis, got it?’
You’d hardly, with that NSFW rant, recognize the “Science Guy” who taught our kids to always be curious.
The Nye diatribe capped Sunday’s episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” in which host Oliver focused on debunking some of the criticisms of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s Green New Deal.
The New York freshman Democrat’s plan remains a hot, and divisive, topic even after Republicans sought to defuse it with a March show vote in the Senate.
To Oliver, much of the negative coverage of the package of environmental and economic proposals simply isn’t accurate. Contrary to critics’ well-worn talking points, said Oliver, the proposal “doesn’t even mention the word ‘cows’ or ‘airplanes.’ ” That the proposal would ground planes and rob Americans of their hamburgers are just two of the claims detractors have pushed.
Rather than laying out specific programs to fight global warming, Oliver said the Green New Deal “is a nonbinding resolution that very briefly sets out some extremely aggressive goals, including achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions, meeting 100% of the country’s power demand through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources and creating millions of good, high-wage jobs.”
Ocasio-Cortez, per Oliver, in drafting the proposal meant “to kick-start a conversation, set some aggressive targets so that we could then figure out how to hit them.”
That conversation has not gotten far, said Oliver. “Unless you like bad-faith conversations about farting cows.”
The whole bovine-flatulence thing emerged after Ocasio-Cortez’s office sent out an early draft that included the line: “We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years … because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.”
Oliver, with Nye’s help, spent much of the 20-minute show focusing on carbon pricing, which has the potential, he said, to make a difference in the fight against climate changes. Put simply, companies pay fines for releasing carbon dioxide. “We’ve universally agreed that polluting is bad, and yet it’s free to do it,” Oliver said. “When you litter, you pay a fine. When you drive above the speed limit, you pay a fine.”
More than 40 governments around the world already take that approach, and there are “encouraging” signs the U.S. may yet get on board, according to Oliver. He pointed to a recent study that found the number of Republicans who say they are “very or somewhat worried” about global warming has doubled.
“However bumpy its rollout was, to its eternal credit, the Green New Deal has succeeded in getting people talking,” Oliver said. “That won’t mean anything unless that talk now turns to actions. And putting a price on carbon could potentially be one of them, although let me reiterate: It will not be enough on its own by a long shot. We’re going to need a lot of different policies working in tandem, and we have to take action right now.”
Watch the “Last Week Tonight” episode:
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