Last weekend, on John Oliver’s new HBO show, Last Week Tonight, the former Daily Show correspondent hosted a “mathematically representative climate change debate” with Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Here is a description of the segment from the Huffington Post:
Twenty-five percent of Americans don’t believe in climate change, according to a recent poll, but in the words of John Oliver, “who gives a sh-t?”
A new government report issued last week warned that climate change is already here. The host stressed on Sunday night that regardless of the remaining skeptics out there, climate change is just not up for debate anymore.
“You don’t need people’s opinion on a fact,” Oliver said. “You might as well have a poll asking: ‘Which number is bigger, 15 or 5?’ or ‘Do owls exist?’ or ‘Are there hats?'”
“The debate on climate change ought not to be whether or not it exists,” he added. “It’s what we should do about. There is a mountain of research on this topic.”
Oliver then brought on Bill Nye the Science Guy to show what climate change debates on television should actually look like.
Syracuse Law and Civic Engagement 