Hi, folks. I'm Bill Nye.
You may remember me from The Science Guy show.
Oh, I'm back, talking science again with a new show and a new lab.
I'm loving me some Netflix
on the electric Internet machines that all the kids are using.
I've got some new friends.
A handpicked team of brilliant correspondents
who've traveled the globe to bring us some astonishing stories.
As you probably guessed,
we're not really making a kids' show.
It's for you grown-up kids all over the world.
We're gonna be talking about important, perhaps, even controversial issues
from scientific points of view.
And we're gonna make it a lot of fun along the way. I know, I know.
A lot has changed.
But one thing hasn't:
the process of science,
how we know what we know.
And there's still so much we don't know.
See, for me,
curiosity is part of what makes us human.
It's what drives us.
The joy of discovery.
It's the essence of science.
- Are you with me? - Yeah.
- Are you excited? - Yeah.
Let's get going.
See, you, me, we're in this together.
If we think together and work together, good things are gonna happen.
Let's get started.
Bill, Bill, Bill!
Ooh...
Ahh...
Ohh...
So...
as I hold the bulb of this thermometer...
the liquid metal inside is expanding.
That's what things do when they get warm.
And so as it expands,
the liquid works its way up the thermometer, too,
in exactly the same way
that when heat is applied to this liquid,
it works its way up the much bigger tube.
Let me tell you something.
The ocean on the Earth is like a planet-sized thermometer.
And when it gets just a little bit warmer,
it's expanding and getting just a little bit bigger.
And the little bit bigger means floods
in Miami, Pensacola, Galveston. These are all U.S. cities.
Portsmouth.
All these exotic places like Norfolk, Virginia,
are gonna have this much water on the floor all the time.
So, people are gonna leave.
Where are they gonna go?
What are they gonna do?
We got to address this problem, people.
It's not magic.
It's science.
How was that?
Why do we keep hurting the Earth's environment
and causing climate change?
Maybe we don't value the amazing things we are already losing.
But as the rapper Desiigner found out,
with a little help from our correspondent Karlie Kloss, we're about to.
Just that.
What the...? Karlie.
It's climate change, D.
Soon the regions where most cacao is grown are gonna be too hot,
making chocolate scarce.
Suck, man, my chocolate.
Tell me about it. I need my chocolate chocolate chip.
But, you know, there's no shortage of black jelly beans.
What? No, man.
I know, right? Here's the deal. Warming waters, overfishing,
and ocean acidification are destroying all the fish supplies.
- All the fish? - Like, all the fish.
- That's terrible, man. - Black jelly bean?
Desiigner?
Higher temperatures, long droughts punctuated by intense rainfall,
more resilient pests and plant diseases,
have significantly reduced the coffee supplies in recent years.
It's all right.
Sorry, panda, we got no coffee, but at least we got friendship, man.
I'm sorry about your friend.
Climate change threatens China's bamboo supply,
which is basically the only thing pandas eat.
- I know. - Thanks.
Sorry.
Listen, people. The world is getting warmer...
because of us.
What, you thought...?
You thought I was gonna get a new TV show and not talk about climate change?
Come on, for crying out loud.
We've had world wars, pandemics,
we've even had reality television.
But global warming and climate change are way worse.
Paraphrasing my colleague Jay Z...
it's not one problem, we've got 99 problems.
And they're all...
difficult.
Our factories, cars, trains and planes, and electric power plants,
almost all run on fuel made of ancient living things.
Coal, oil, and natural gas. And they contain carbon.
And when they burn, they produce carbon dioxide,
which chemists like you call CO2.
And carbon dioxide has a remarkable property.
As light from the sun goes through the Earth's atmosphere,
it passes right by CO2 molecules.
When sunlight reaches the surface,
it warms the soil, the seas, and the plants.
And some of that warmth
returns right up into outer space as heat energy.
Well, you've probably heard that we call CO2 a greenhouse gas.
It's not a perfect nickname,
but here is where the expression comes from.
When I point this small and happy infrared camera
at my hand,
my hand glows with infrared light.
But then watch what happens as I dip it
into this glass aquarium.
Like, dude,
my fingers are, like, totally cut off.
It turns out that glass blocks infrared light.
It's one of the ways that greenhouses work.
The glass lets light through,
but prevents a lot of the heat, the infrared, from escaping.
The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does the same thing.
"But, Bill, there is no big glass dome over the Earth."
I know, I know. Okay.
But there is a big gas dome.
A big gas dome, get it?
Glass dome, gas dome. Are you with me, huh?
So, because CO2 acts like the glass,
the nickname "greenhouse gas" has stuck.
And the heat is held in the atmosphere.
Our world has always been kept warm by what we call the greenhouse effect.
But as far back as we can measure,
it's never gotten this warm this fast.
It's the rate. That's the problem.
And it's making our Earth...
a hot mess.
Ice at the poles is melting,
CO2 mixing into the ocean is making the ocean acidic.
Ocean life is dying.
And the warming ocean is expanding,
so sea levels are rising.
More heat in the air means more energy,
more storms, more droughts, more fires, and more floods.
This sucks.
I guarantee you people that 2010-2020...
will be the hottest decade on record...
and not just because I'm on TV again.
Places all over the world are already being affected.
I'm serious.
So...
we sent Karlie Kloss to Venice, Italy,
where engineers are on the frontlines of a battle against the rising waters.
For over a thousand years,
Venice has been known throughout the world as the City of Water.
But now, in an age of global warming,
that water has become a big problem.
Every year comes flooding.
Fifty centimeters, 60 centimeters, even more.
- There is a bath there. - Oh, wow.
- Because of the high water. - This is how you protect your books?
Yes. And we have about ten bath.
- Ten bathtubs? - Yeah.
The water don't stop. It come, come, come.
Look, look, look.
- You see? - Wow.
We repair for the damage for the salt.
Venice was built on the water.
Unfortunately, this is one of the major problem that Venice has.
The tide here actually rises two times a day.
It's part of the natural flow of water
from the ocean to the lagoon that the city is built on.
As our planet has gotten warmer, those tides have risen higher,
increasing the threat of floods when a storm moves in.
Enter Project MOSE,
the Venetians' answer to rising tides, and the city's main defense
against future flooding and destruction.
The idea is rather simple.
- It's, uh, buoyancy, you know? - Yes.
We have these gates standing on the bottom
and in case of need, we inflate air inside.
And that cause the tilting up till the surface
- and they will protect the lagoon... - Yes.
From the high tide.
The system is designed
to hold back a high tide of up to three meters.
We got to see some of these massive gates up close
as they were arriving at the dock for installation.
This is a rather delicate situation
- as you may understand. - Yes.
After three decades of planning,
the construction of MOSE is now in its final stages.
The system will be fully implemented in 2018.
- Be careful, Karlie. - Okay.
Once installed, this is full of water, and the air is entering into the red pipe...
- Through these red pipes. - Yeah, this pipe.
...In order to bring it to the surface.
So, it's a very simple concept,
but in actuality, it's...
quite impressive.
To combat the human-made problem of global warming,
the people of Venice have conceived a unique human-made solution.
Our future depends on this.
This is no small feat.
Now, all eyes are on this city and the MOSE project...
hoping that science can protect its people,
preserve its historic beauty,
and set an example for coastal cities all over the world.
- Nicely done. - Thank you.
- Nicely done. - Yeah.
- So, how much this thing cost? - Yeah.
This project is costing 5.5 billion euros.
What's that in dollars?
- It's like bazillion. It's huge. - You do the conversion.
They're like steel boat hulls and they blow all the water out.
It's a complicated system of locks that they've built, so that...
boats can still come in and out during a high tide.
And when I'm saying "tide," it's not an inch that it's rising.
I mean, these weather patterns are changing
and the water gets displaced, and, you know,
a surge of three meters of water.
- It rises... It comes in... - Three meters is the top of the...
reversed projection, fabulous glass door of the lab.
And it's the first floor of businesses, and houses, and restaurants in Venice...
- That had been there for 500 years. - Been there for 1,000 years.
- A thousand years? - Yeah.
And each of those things... Each of those float mobiles
is, like, 50, 60, 20 meters, something like that?
Each piece is about 20 meters.
And there's about 15 to 20 pieces in each gate.
- And there's three gates. - Three gates.
So, they know when the tide is gonna be high?
They know when they're gonna be high.
Everybody, actually, in Venice has an app that they check every day.
You check, like, "What's the weather gonna be?"
"How high is the tide gonna rise?"
If the tide's gonna be over a certain level, you have to protect your doors.
Otherwise, water is gonna seep in. You saw the store owners.
Their products get damaged. It's really...
They have sandbags standing by? How's it go?
They have sandbags standing by. They have metal,
pieces of metal that actually slide in their door front and protect the water.
So, just one last thing, I'm sure it's Italian,
but what does MOSE, M-O-S-E, stand for?
So, it's an acronym.
But the reference is to Moses parting the Red Seas.
'Cause it's the most Catholic place going,
- so we got a Biblical reference. - It's Catholic. There you go.
- That is just cool. - Yeah. I hope it works. I really do.
- Yeah, we all do. - Yup. Fingers crossed.
Hey, Karlie Kloss, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
You know what?
I need a minute, okay?
Tell them how you really feel, Bill.
I am from the United States.
I went to engineering school in the U.S.,
I got a license in engineering in the U.S.,
I worked for real companies in the U.S.,
not just in television, as an engineer, okay?
And I expect the United States to be the world leader
in addressing a problem like climate change.
But is the United States the world leader? No.
Why? Why?
Because the deniers,
the climate change deniers have been so successful.
These people have managed to get across the idea that somehow
scientific uncertainty,
plus or minus two or three percent,
is the same as plus or minus a hundred percent.
Doubt about the whole thing.
That's... It's just wrong.
And it's holding everybody back.
The one thing the United States exports for better or for worse is its culture.
If we were exporting the culture of "climate change: serious business."
We're gonna get to work on this, we're gonna have renewable energy,
have clean water for everyone,
"and access to electronic information for everyone in the world,"
then we'd be getting it done.
Now, listen.
Don't tell me... Don't come running to me about how we can't do it.
My parents, both of them, were in World War II.
They did not choose to be... "You know what I wanna do when I'm in my mid-20s?"
I'm gonna be part of the greatest gener..." No! They just showed up,
had a worldwide problem, they solved it in, pick a number, five years.
So, we can do this, people.
Let's get to work.
I'm sorry, I'm okay now.
I just... I just needed a minute.
No matter where we live,
the first step to fighting climate change
is limiting our use of fossil fuels.
So, please join me with my distinguished panel.
It's great to see you all.
Dr. Mark Jacobson, civil engineer. Richard Martin, journalist and author
The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet.
And you've also written about thorium.
And Taryn O'Neill, you're a writer and co-founder of a science advocacy group
- called Scirens. Right? - Yes.
- Would I say "Scirens"? - Some do, but it's Scirens.
- It's like science. - Yes, screen sirens for Scirens.
Yes, people.
So, Dr. Jacobson, we have met.
- Yes. - Mark.
- Yes. - I call him Mark.
You have a vision, a cool vision.
- Right? - Yes.
Tell us about that.
So, the idea is to transform the energy infrastructures
of states and countries to 100 percent clean, renewable energy for all purposes.
That's impossible.
Some would say. Many people would say it's impossible.
But actually it's technologically and economically possible.
The main barriers are social and political.
You're saying we have the technology right now to run the whole place renewably?
Yes, we have the technology and the costs are reasonable enough
that you can power the entire world for all purposes with clean, renewable energy
and have stable electricity, create jobs,
and stabilize energy prices.
Richard, before you throttle him...
- uh, heh... - Ha, ha.
Do you agree with him?
I agree that it's a beautiful vision, but it's a utopian vision
and we have to live in the real world.
And in the real world, getting to 100 percent...
wind and solar and other forms of renewable energy
- is gonna be very difficult. - Geothermal. This is sprinkled in.
And we don't have the time to work through the social and political...
barriers that Mark talks about.
What's your alternative, if there is one?
The alternative is nuclear power. We already have a safe, clean...
source of zero-carbon energy
and it already provides one-fifth of the electricity in this country
- but we're closing down nuclear plants. - So, here's the problem for me,
civilian, normal guy.
Why do we...? Normal-ish.
Why do we wanna go making more nuclear power plants when...
B, nobody wants them,
and A,
we probably don't need them. Is that a true fact or a false fact?
That's a joke. False fact's a joke.
No, it's true. We don't need them.
And B, my B,
is that it's impossible to solve the global-warming problem with nuclear,
and I'll just give you an example why.
To avoid one-and-a-half degree Celsius warming,
which is what most people are seeking,
- or even two degrees Celsius... - Of the whole world.
...Of the whole world, on average.
But in order to do that, we need to eliminate
80 percent of all fossil fuel and...
- bio-fuel emissions... - But the goal really is 100 percent?
Yeah, but by 2030, we need to eliminate 80 percent...
2030? That's next week!
Yeah, in 14 years,
and a hundred percent by 2050.
If you can eliminate 80 percent by 2030 and a hundred percent by 2050,
then you can avoid or barely... Maybe, barely avoid 1.5 degree warming.
However, just to get one nuclear power plant
sited, site-permit, construction permit,
construction permit and issue, and constructed,
it takes ten to 19 years for one.
We would need 15,000 of these worldwide to power the whole world with nuclear.
And the other problem...
Just hang on. The other problem for me, civilian man...
No, hang on. ...Is nobody wants them.
Nobody really wants nuclear power plants.
I mean, I've been to Johannesburg,
and Olympia, Washington, in the United States
and there are cooling towers in the middle of town.
And they just got shut down before they got built 'cause people don't want it.
So, Mark, here's my question for you:
the big thing, everybody, this is not too technical, is the base load.
Sun's out, I have solar panels in Studio City, California,
which, if you don't know, watching around the world, it's totally in the Valley.
And I have, like, solar panels,
and my electric bill is $10 every 60 days.
It's cool.
But the sun doesn't shine at night, November, December, early January,
I don't make as much electricity as I use.
So, what about storage?
What about providing electricity when the sun's not shining
and the wind's not full blowing?
Right.
So, first of all, you can store solar electricity.
There's... Let's call it concentrated solar power,
where you have focused light onto a mirror.
Well, many plants do. Concentrated solar plants do have storage.
You store heat.
You store the heat, and then whenever you need the electricity,
you run the heat by water to heat the water...
A conventional steam turbine.
So does a fission nuclear power plant...
- Uses heat to run a turbine. - Correct.
But also existing hydro-electric power is like a big battery,
you can turn it on and off like a spigot to create electricity.
- A big spigot? - Big spigot.
To create electricity when you need it.
You have what's called pumped-hydroelectric storage,
when you have extra electricity, like too much wind, for example, at night,
you can pump water up a hill, then when you need the electricity,
you let the water drain down the hill to run a turbine.
But let me just say I've spent some time with Dr. Jacobson,
and the key to this, if I understand it, Doctor,
is you've done an analysis. You're not just...
Bill throwing out ideas.
You've done careful analysis, a utility district?
Yeah, well, we did plans... We did energy plans for each of the 50 United States
and we've now finished 139 countries in the world,
and then we took for the 48 contiguous states,
we did a study looking at can we keep the grid stable in 2050.
All the renewable supply that varies,
every 30 seconds for six years
across the U.S.
and compared it to the demand, which also varies,
and then used low-cost storage, not only in electricity, but also in heat.
In water, in ice, in rocks, you can store heat in rocks,
you can store heat in water, you can store cold in ice, you can...
- Beautiful, gigantic engineering problems. - These are existing, low-cost technologies
and we were able to keep the grid stable every 30 seconds for six years
across the U.S. with 100 percent clean, renewable energy.
That's your claim. Now, Taryn.
- So... - Taryn.
Thank you.
Taryn.
You know, we as non-scientists, we're, like:
"We wanna make a change. We wanna take action."
What are the first simple steps that we can do to get to this future?
Are we talking to our congressman? Are we making changes at home?
What can we, as non-scientists, as non-brilliant engineers, do?
Because we do want this future,
but we don't know how to go there and we don't wanna get rid of our car.
- I'm trying to be a realist. - Vote.
- Yes. - Yes.
If you... If you don't wanna vote,
you don't wanna vote, would you just shut up...
and let the rest of us who are interested participate.
- In our future. - Go ahead.
The first step, to answer Taryn's question, as well.
The first step is to become aware.
So, for so long, we've flipped the switch, the lights come on,
we don't think about where it comes from.
What's happened with food,
the local food movement, people becoming aware of where their food comes from,
the same thing is happening with electricity.
"Oh, I'm getting this electricity from a coal plant.
Why do I have to do that?"
People are starting to demand a choice in how they get their energy
and I think that's gonna be a huge change that will enable a lot of this.
The world is gonna be in serious trouble if we don't do something about it.
By that, I mean, everybody who lives on coastlines,
everybody who likes to eat,
or breathe.
Many of my friends are that way,
and so,
the alternative is, it reminds me very much of the second World War
because my parents were in it, and you hear...
As hard as I could, I'd listened to stories.
There was a problem. I mean...
they had a worldwide problem and they solved it because they had to.
Are we gonna get to a point? Yes.
Are we gonna get to a point where we're gonna solve it?
World War II is an example. That was so imminent.
That was in your face. That was destruction.
We're seeing that on a much longer time scale.
And we think of things in terms of
fiscal quarters and, you know, an annual year.
- We don't think on the large scale. - Earnings reports.
- Sorry? - Earnings reports.
Exactly. We don't think on the large scale that science teaches us to.
Of how it teaches us to.
So, I feel like we need to change this narrative
of this, you know, we have the dystopian sci-fi
where we know the bad things that can happen.
But what if we create a more positive
- image of this future of... - We ought to do a show about it.
We should do a show about it.
Let's put on a show.
Hey, thanks, you guys.
This has been great. A hand for the panel.
We can do this.
Come on. We can do this.
Thank you all.
- Can you help me with something? - Happily.
- Nice tie. Very styling. - Thank you. Thank you very much.
Where would you get something like that? I happen to have a lab coat for you.
Thank you. You know, I know a guy.
What are the chances? Pretty styling.
I really think this is gonna be all the rage in Paris.
Yeah.
Louis Pasteur et al.
Oui, oui.
No, he's a big deal.
We have a little demonstration
- regarding climate change. - Yes.
And because I will be...
respiringly engaged...
I seek your assistance.
- That's what I'm here for. - You know the drill.
The carbon-dioxide in Bill's breath will form carbonic acid in this flask of water.
A chemical in the water will change color.
As CO2 in the air mixes with the world's ocean,
our seas are becoming more acidic.
That's messing with the ocean's ecosystems
and killing things.
Nicely done, nicely done. Blow it up.
Nice tie.
- Carry on. - Thank you.
Now, this is the part of the show
where you probably expect me to deliver an inspiring speech
about how climate change is the defining issue of our time,
about how we need to use less fossil fuel,
and more renewable energy.
And how entire ecosystems are dying, and how rising ocean levels
are gonna present enormous challenges for humankind.
We spent decades warning you.
Climate change is a problem.
People like me appear on TV every day to talk about this issue.
We have visited businesses,
- we have... - You never shut up about it!
Who...? Who said that?
I did, Bill.
How can we get you to shut up about it?
- That's Zach Braff. - Yeah, it is.
- You know... - I hope so. I'm wearing his underwear.
That's good to know and that is a great question,
I would love to shut up about climate change.
Nobody likes talking about this topic.
Is there anything I can do? Perhaps come up on stage next to you
and help you shut up about it?
Yes, it's depressing. It's scary.
This is great, Zach. This is great.
Because I'm tired of telling people that our cities are in danger.
And I hate hearing about how much worse storms are gonna get.
Yeah, and you really think I wanna talk about coral reefs dying? I hate it.
I wanna talk about baseball or movies.
Or New York Times best-selling books that I wrote.
You know, I use the audiobook to fall asleep every night.
That's... That's so thoughtful.
- You shut up. - I want to, Bill.
That's the spirit.
I'll shut up about climate change once we all go to renewable energy sources.
And I'll shut up about climate change when we stop electing anti-science politicians.
Now, everyone...
Everyone in the audience, are you ready to shut up about climate change?
Yeah.
Repeat after us.
- We will shut up about climate change. - We will shut up about climate change.
We will shut up about climate change.
- If we do something about the problem. - If we do something about this problem.
If we finally do something about this problem.
So, let's get serious.
Let's stop just talking about climate change
and start doing something about climate change.
And then we'll shut up.
- Maybe. - Yeah, maybe. Probably not.
- Thanks, you guys. Thank you. - Thank you.
Zach Braff.
Blow it up. Blow it up, Zach.
Blow it up.
I love you, guys.
Come on, Zach.
Save the world, Bill.