If you’re a child of the 1990s, then odds are you know Bill Nye as “the Science Guy.” But he hasn’t slowed down since his wildly popular children’s television program — he’s continued to advocate for the importance of science in all of our lives, most recently as CEO of the Planetary Society.
His work has also centered on addressing one of the most pressing issues today: climate change. For Earth Day, Nye shares his memory of attending the very first Earth Day in Washington DC in 1970, the tools we really need in the climate-change fight, and why we should always remain optimistic.
Earth Day was organized in Washington. I rode my Schwinn bicycle — at that point, I believe I had a Schwinn Continental that was green — and I rode it down and I locked it to a flag pole at the Washington Monument. I think if you tried that now, they’d probably arrest you. Anyways, they had a big stage, and they had a lot of speakers, and at that time, people were concerned about pollution. That was the thrust of Earth Day; there was a big campaign about not littering. So that idea of individual action being very important dates back to that time, at least for me.
But I’ll say as I’ve said quite a bit in the last year: individual action isn’t going to do it. When it comes to climate change, it’s going to take much bigger ideas, much more focused efforts. So I just like to remind people — I like to disabuse them of the idea that if we just recycle our water bottles, then everything will be fine. That’s not true. We need renewable energy, clean water, access to the internet for everyone.
What little things can you do to address climate change? Everything.
Because of the atmosphere, we all share the same air. So if each of us adds more methane, more natural gas, more carbon dioxide to the air, it’s going to affect everyone else in the world. A strange and surprising but irrefutable truth. So what little things can you do to address climate change? Everything. Carpool, don’t…
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