Bill Nye: ‘Science Guy’ remains hopeful
COMMENTARY
“Science Guy” star Bill Nye says he’s astonished by the greetings he receives from Australia to Great Britain and Canada.
“It is absolutely amazing,” said Nye, 62. “I don’t think I get it. I don’t think I quite understand the significance of the ‘Science Guy’ show.”
He should be prepared for a love-in when he speaks Saturday at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.
The documentary “Bill Nye: Science Guy,” which premiered last month on PBS, recorded the adulation for him. “I try to understand it. The film shows the magnitude of it,” he said.
He notes that the team behind “Bill Nye, the Science Guy,” which ran from 1993 to 1998, produced the series “in a little brick building in Seattle.” His wacky style wowed and inspired young viewers.
Nye had no creative control over the documentary, but he was happy with it. “My passion for science education is authentic, and when it comes to Bill, what you see is what you get,” he said. “I really am that guy that’s so excited about science all the time.”
Yet he acknowledges that he is more serious these days in his public and TV appearances. “I’m not doing a kid show. When you’re doing a show for children it’s a different performance from debating a creationist,” he said.
The stakes are higher, too, in taking on the anti-science movement.
“The United States has hardly done anything to address climate change,” he said. “The anti-science movement that we are dealing with seems stronger than ever despite phenomenal technological progress we’ve made.”
He cites advances in mobile phones, aviation and feeding the world. Yet antiscience forces gained force, he says, through the fossil fuel industry, which worked hard to preserve its energy production technologies. The industry successfully introduced the idea that scientific uncertainty is the same as doubt about all of climate change, Nye said.
“That’s patently wrong and troublesome,” he said. “People have embraced the idea that your opinion is the same as established scientific facts. It’s very troubling.”
Even so, he predicts the political pendulum will swing back and cites the activism of Parkland students.
“When those kids come of voting age, things are going to change in two election cycles,” he said. “They will address climate change, gun violence. … You can’t go on denying science and stay in business.”
His optimism carries over to his Netflix series “Bill Nye Saves the World,” which makes six episodes available today.
“We’re trying to save the world — it’s an exaggerated expression to catch your attention,” he said. “I want people to watch it and have their lives redirected forever. That could be a lofty goal, but let’s start with that,” he said with a chuckle.
Nye says the Planetary Society is his main focus. He is CEO of the nonprofit foundation, founded by Carl Sagan, that promotes space exploration.
He has a busy writing career. The third book in the “Jack and the Geniuses” series, written with Greg Mone, came out last month. They are working “The Big Book of Science,” due in 2020.
“We’re talking about the many areas of scientific inquiry,” he said. “We want everybody to have an awareness for the future. The stuff you learn as a kid you carry with you your whole life.”
Nye estimated that he makes just a dozen speeches a year, and he urged everyone to vote.
“Change happens because people participate in the political process, so participate,” he said. “You can be disheartened, but you’ve got to be optimistic, too. If you don’t think you’re going to accomplish something, you won’t. You’ve got to be optimistic to get things done.”