Celebrity scientist Bill Nye said in a recent interview that advocates for fighting climate change will have to wait for the "deniers" to "die."
Asked about the declining levels of trust by Republicans in colleges and universities, Nye said in an interview published by the Los Angeles Times that one's "intuition about climate change" is not a match for facts about it.
"Climate change deniers," he added, are older and would just have to "age out,"according to the Washington Examiner.
"It just sounds like people are afraid," he said. "And the people who are afraid in general — with due respect, and I am now one of them — are older. Climate change deniers, by way of example, are older. It's generational. So we're just going to have to wait for those people to 'age out,' as they say. 'Age out' is a euphemism for 'die.' But it'll happen, I guarantee you — that'll happen."
Full exchange:
QUESTION: You probably saw the recent Pew poll that found that, two years ago, 54% of Republicans said colleges and universities have a positive impact. Now 58% say it’s negative. Even a number of Democrats —
NYE: Universities have a negative impact? Well, that’s not good news. So, OK — why are universities bad?
QUESTION: This poll finds that some people say they have a negative impact on "the way things are going." And it seems to me that we are in retreat in some ways from having any regard for knowledge.
NYE: This is it — the so-called experts: What do they know? They're experts, for crying out loud! One's intuition about climate change is not as good as facts about climate change.
It just sounds like people are scared. It just sounds like people are afraid. And the people who are afraid in general — with due respect, and I am now one of them — are older. Climate change deniers, by way of example, are older. It's generational. So we're just going to have to wait for those people to "age out," as they say. "Age out" is a euphemism for "die." But it'll happen, I guarantee you — that'll happen.
Nye became famous as host of Bill Nye The Science Guy in the 1990s. He has risen back to progressive prominence in recent years as an advocate for fighting climate change.
Nye has made controversial remarks in the past against climate change skeptics, at one point pondering on his new Netflix program if developed countries should "penalize" people who have too many children.
He also has mulled over the idea of jailing climate change skeptics, comparing them to corrupt Enron executives.