April 3, 2018

Bill Nye took the stage to a sold-out Jesse Auditorium on Friday, March 16 at an event hosted by Stuff To Do to discuss his father’s love of sundials and sand dials. He opened with how this weird obsession trickled down into his work during his college years at Cornell University and then at Boeing.

Nye moved on from sundials to the main point of his talk: climate change. He stated that there is clear evidence for climate change. He mentioned seeing melting ice caps and rising sea levels during a recent trip to Greenland. The scientists there are currently comparing neutrons in ancient ice to modern ice to understand how ocean temperature has changed. Nye said if someone thinks global warming is an economic development created by the Chinese, there is only one reaction: “Dude. Dude. Dude, really?”

The solution to the problem, in his opinion, depends on humans. Since they have taken control of the Earth, they have to be the ones to change it for the better. Nye could see everyone with renewable energy as early as 2050 if humans come together to preserve nature. He described the three things the world needs people to do to make it healthier.

“The first one is clean water,” Nye said. “The second is renewable and reliable electricity, and the third is access to the internet.”

Most importantly, his final strategy is through education.

“The best way to change the world is to make the world better for women and girls,” Nye said. “And the way to make the world better for women and girls is through education.”

To finish up his talk, Nye discussed the success of SpaceX and the search for water in places such as Mars, Jupiter’s moon, Europa, and Saturn’s moon, Titan. According to Nye, space exploration may be more focused in the private sector, but the human fascination with space will never stop and will help expand society.

Nye captivated his audience with his intelligence and goofy jokes but cemented the idea that humans must always keep exploring or they’ll stop growing, thinking and discovering.

_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_

Comments

The Maneater has the right to remove comments that do not comply with policies surrounding hate speech.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content