• In the aftermath of increasingly destructive natural disasters like Hurricanes Helene and Milton, politicians on both sides of the aisle have politicized the recovery effort. What fewer people are making political is the reason those storms were so destructive: warmer oceans caused by climate change. Bill Nye, the Science Guy, joins us to talk about why people should vote with the environment in mind this November.
• And in headlines: Former President Donald Trump blames Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Ukraine’s war with Russia, A Texas state court temporarily delays an execution, Israeli officials killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and Google says it will block all political ads as soon as the polls close on November 5th.

• Check out Bill’s initiative – https://tinyurl.com/mr3dn6np
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• What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast

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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Friday, October 18th. I’m Jane Coaston and this is What a Day, the show where we’re congratulating 81 year old lifelong Georgia resident Betty Cartledge who voted for the first time ever this election because her late husband had discouraged her from doing so before. Well, he’s dead now. So three cheers for democracy. [music break] On today’s show, Trump gets weird about Ukraine again. Plus, Bill Nye the Science Guy finally settles a decades old mystery for me. But first, at an Univision town hall on Wednesday night, an audience member asked former President Donald Trump if he still believes climate change is a hoax. And Trump responded with this completely incomprehensible answer. 

[clip of Donald Trump] What I do think is this uh we can’t destroy our country over uh over being forced to do things they want to do the I call it the Green New Deal. They call it the Green New Deal. Some people call it the Green New hoax. They want to spend $93 trillion on the climate. Now, I happen to think that there are very important elements of climate, water and air. In my administration, I had the cleanest air on record, and yet I didn’t destroy jobs. I had the most jobs of any administration ever. I also had the cleanest water, crystal clean. We had the cleanest water, the cleanest. To me, those are the primary factors. 

Jane Coaston: Wow, what a time. Anyway, Trump loves to talk about clean air and water, but the reality is that during his time as president, he rolled back almost 30 rules that regulated air pollution and eight rules that regulated water. That’s according to an analysis from the New York Times. On the other hand, Vice President Kamala Harris does think climate change is real and she cast the tie breaking vote in the Inflation Reduction Act, which put nearly $150 billion towards tackling global warming. And while climate change might not be at the center of this election for most voters, a new campaign is trying to change that. Too Hot Not to Vote is a voter outreach effort from the communications group Climate Power. And its goal is to remind voters that climate change is absolutely on the ballot this election. One of its co-chairs is someone who knows a thing or two about science, and is also the subject of my childhood fandom. Bill Nye, the Science Guy. I got to sit down with him to learn more about why people should be voting with the environment in mind this November. Bill Nye, thanks for coming on What a Day. 

Bill Nye: Thank you, Jane. Yes.

Jane Coaston: There are no shortage of reasons, but why would you say that climate change is such an important issue in this election? 

Bill Nye: Well, this is it, everybody. As I used to say, the election of 2000, I always considered the most important election of my lifetime because Al Gore, if he had become president, he won the popular vote and so on. But if he had become president, we would have done something, something about climate change. But we keep kicking the can down the road, as the saying goes. And so the stakes each election, the stakes have gotten higher and higher. But here in 2024, the stakes are about as high as they could be. If we don’t address climate change now. It’s going to be not irreversible, but just it’ll just lower the quality of life of everybody in the world. So everybody, please vote with the climate in mind. 

Jane Coaston: A report this summer from the Yale Program on Climate Communication found that voters they surveyed ranked climate change as the 19th most important issue. 

Bill Nye: Yeah, this is a thing. 

Jane Coaston: Out of 28 options. 

Bill Nye: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: Obviously, Democrats rate it much higher than Republicans but how–

Bill Nye: When you say obviously why is that, everybody? Why is that? Why would anybody not consider climate change to be extremely high priority? 

Jane Coaston: I agree with you. But how do you convince voters who aren’t voting based on the environment that it should be a top issue? 

Bill Nye: Well, this is the failure of my life. What is obvious to me is not obvious to everybody. But fundamentally, the fossil fuel industry has been very successful in introducing this idea that scientific uncertainty, plus or -2% about human affect on the climate is the same as plus or minus 100% as though it’s doubt about the whole thing. And this influence has been very, very strong. I’m not blaming oil companies for everything. We all love driving cars. I love flying around on airplanes. But collectively, we have to stop all that or curtail it as fast as we can. 

Jane Coaston: On the flip side, what do you say to voters who do have climate change as their number one issue, but are concerned that the Biden-Harris administration hasn’t gone far enough with their policies? 

Bill Nye: Oh people, this is politics. Now look, nobody’s gone far enough, all right? No, just okay vote for Harris and Walz, and they will take a meeting about doing it faster, for crying out loud. And if anybody’s out there is having it even occurred to a flicker of a tiny flame of an idea in your happy mind about voting for a third party. No, no, don’t. Speaking of the election 2000, a very well intending guy. 

Jane Coaston: Ralph Nader. 

Bill Nye: Ralph Nader ran Consumer Reports, a very well-respected guy, had this idea that he could help out by having the Green Party and we’re going to do this new– No. If he hadn’t created that party and if it hadn’t been so influential, especially in the state of Florida, the course of human history would be somewhat different. So you guys do not vote for a third party candidate this time. If you want to start your own third party, start it on November 6th. Okay. Just not right now. Just get her done. This is the most critical election ever. And I remind you, whether you’re in the United States or not, the United States is the world’s most influential culture. And so when it comes to global climate change being addressed globally, the United States has to lead. That’s it. And for that, you’ve got to vote for progressives in this election. 

Jane Coaston: If Kamala Harris is elected, what are the policies you think she needs to prioritize to address climate change? 

Bill Nye: For me, it’s we need renewable electricity, renewably produced electricity that is reliable. And so we want to have as much wind and solar as we can manage. And by manage, I mean manage to build and manage to connect to the grid and make it useful. And if people want to take a meeting about building nuclear power plants, which comes up, the Department of Energy, those guys are all hot for it. Okay. But I think we need to build a test nuclear power plant where people are reassured it won’t have these fundamental screw ups. So we don’t want to shut down any existing nuclear plants, but we want to reassure people that they’re workable. But in the meantime, there’s so much wind and solar available. Let us pursue all that we can. So let’s go people. Fund all the research we can. Let’s go. 

Jane Coaston: What gives you hope on the climate? 

Bill Nye: So everybody, hope is not a plan. Hoping for things is not a plan. 

Jane Coaston: It is not. 

Bill Nye: But hope does help you plan because you can see that something’s doable. And I remind you all, you have to be optimistic when you go to play a game of what? Risk. What else do you play? What do the kids play? Uh–

Jane Coaston: Settlers of Catan, I believe it’s now just– 

Bill Nye: Yes. Catan. 

–called Catan. 

Bill Nye: You don’t go into the game thinking you’re going to lose. You’re going to win. That’s why you play or a part of why you play of course, to enjoy the game. [?] [laughter] So you have to be optimistic. And I just go on and on about both of my parents. I am of a certain age and both of my parents were in World War Two. My dad was a prisoner of war for almost four years, captured from [?]. And my mother was a lieutenant in the Navy breaking codes or that’s what she didn’t say she was doing. Everybody at that time, everybody in every walk of life was doing this one thing. We’re going to win this war. That’s all we’re doing. It’s all anybody is writing songs about. That’s all the art. That’s all the rationing, whatever. Everything was about focusing people on winning the war. And they did. Five years, they resolved this global conflict. We can do this, people. Let’s go. Let’s get her done. 

Jane Coaston: Bill, thank you so much for coming and congratulations on voting today. 

Bill Nye: Thank you. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Bill Nye, the Science Guy and co-chair of the Too Hot Not to Vote Campaign. We’ll get to the news in a moment. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: And now the news. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of Donald Trump] I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him $100 million. Who else got that kind of money in history? 

Jane Coaston: Former President Donald Trump made more crazy claims on Thursday, this time blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war in his country that he absolutely did not start. During an interview with conservative podcaster Patrick Bet-David. Trump said this while ranting about the Ukraine war. 

[clip of Donald Trump] And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. 

Jane Coaston: That’s not how I remember Russia’s invasion of Ukraine going. But, you know. Trump said this just one day, one day after Zelensky publicly unveiled his victory plan to end Russia’s years long invasion of Ukraine. Trump is one of many world leaders Zelensky met with to discuss the plan in private last month. The nation’s government wanted to meet with both presidential candidates ahead of the election. And to no one’s surprise, Trump’s comments on Thursday are very different than what he said about the war when he and Zelensky met in September. 

[clip of Donald Trump] It has to end at some point. It has to end, he’s gone through hell. And his country has gone through hell like few countries have never like it’s happened anywhere and nobody’s ever seen anything like it. It’s a terrible situation. And I will say I have had a great relationship. 

Jane Coaston: He also said this right after while standing next to Zelensky. 

[clip of Donald Trump] And I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think uh if we win I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly. 

Jane Coaston: Oh. Are you? With your good friend Vladimir Putin? Fun. A Texas state court temporarily delayed the execution of Robert Roberson on Thursday, just hours before it was set to take place. Roberson was set to be the first person ever executed for a murder conviction tied to a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. Attorneys and a broad coalition of supporters have argued that Roberson was convicted on faulty scientific evidence and that investigators jumped to conclusions after the autistic man appeared to lack emotion in response to his daughter’s death. Roberson received widespread support from scientists, doctors, faith leaders, federal judges and even author John Grisham. A Texas district judge has temporarily delayed the execution so that Roberson can testify next week in a hearing about his case. On Thursday, Israeli officials confirmed their military killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar is credited as the architect of the October 7th attacks in which Hamas militants killed nearly 1200 Israelis and took more than 200 hostage. Following Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July, Sinwar assumed complete control of the group. After the news broke of Sinwar’s killing. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a press conference. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] In the past year, American special operations and intelligence personnel have worked closely with their Israeli counterparts to locate and track Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. And I commend their work. And I will say to any terrorist who kills Americans, threatens the American people, or threatens our troops or our interests, know this. We will always bring you to justice. 

Jane Coaston: Harris also noted that Sinwar’s killing is an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza. But speaking on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the war is, quote, “not yet over.” Israel’s military has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the October 7th attacks. And finally, Google says it will block all political ads after the last polls close on Tuesday, November 5th. According to a memo sent to the company’s advertising partners obtained by Axios. Google also did this in the wake of the 2020 election as a way to try to combat misinformation online because, yeah, that’s easy to do. This temporary block will include election ads and ads that refer to the US election. Meta is also taking action, the company will block all new political, electoral and social issue ads during the final week before the election. Does this mean that big tech learned anything from 2020? I don’t know. But it seems better than nothing. We’ll find out November 5th. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing. So a thing about me is that I’m a huge nerd. And as a huge nerd, I watched Bill Nye the Science Guy all the time when I was a kid. And there is an episode focused on the science of flight. I’m sure you get told this a million times, but I watched you like my entire childhood. 

Bill Nye: I love you, man. 

Jane Coaston: And I still don’t understand what the angle of attack is or–

Bill Nye: Oh really?

Jane Coaston: I don’t understand terminal velocity. 

Bill Nye: Two different things.

Jane Coaston: I did not get it at all. In my defense, I was, you know, a child. What is terminal velocity anyway? And how does the angle of attack work?

Bill Nye: When the wing is curved on top, it doesn’t need to be tipped up as much to get lift. It doesn’t need as big of an angle of attack. Airplanes fly because their wings develop differences in air pressure when they’re curved on top or given an angle of attack. 

Jane Coaston: So today, 30 years later, I finally got to ask Bill Nye, the Science Guy, to explain. 

Bill Nye: So if I had that show to do again, by the way, the lift show. I would have done a little different. I really would have done it a little differently. So first of all, you open a parachute. And you’re falling. But you reach a point where you’re not falling any faster. 

Jane Coaston: Okay. 

Bill Nye: Okay. So whatever the parachute is doing, that force is balanced by the force of gravity. 

Jane Coaston: Okay. 

Bill Nye: Gravity’s pulling you down. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Bill Nye: Or you’re attracted to the center of the earth because you both have mass, you and the earth, and it’s pulling the parachute down. But the air has so many molecules between you and the ground that it slows your rate of descent. But notice that while the forces are in balance. The forces, force of gravity, force of the parachute are in balance. Your altitude is not a constant. You are falling. And that’s the terminal velocity. 

Jane Coaston: Okay. 

Bill Nye: With the parachute open. But–

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Bill Nye: –a skydiver jumps out of the plane, he’s or she is belly flopping toward the earth. You also reach a point where the drag balances the gravity. You’re falling, but you don’t fall any faster. 

Jane Coaston: Okay. 

Bill Nye: Then you watch your guy, Tom Cruise. 

Jane Coaston: [laugh] Yeah. 

Bill Nye: Tuck and go into it like a diver. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Bill Nye: And he goes faster. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Bill Nye: Because–

Jane Coaston: Because of less drag.

Bill Nye: His shape. Yeah. That’s the terminal velocity. 

Jane Coaston: Yes. 

Bill Nye: You reach a place where the terminus of speed. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Bill Nye: Okay. Angle of attack. So you stick your hand out the window of the car. And you’re slicing through the air. It’s all good. You tip your hand. So that molecules are hitting the palm of your hand. It you feels like it–

Jane Coaston: Yaeh. 

Bill Nye: –gets pushed up. So you’re changing the momentum of the molecules. They come and hit your hand. They change direction. And they exert a force on your hand and push it up. So in an airplane, you’re going down the runway, and you’re not flying yet. Going down the runway. You’re not flying. Going faster and faster, you’re not flying. You tip the wing up, give it an angle of attack. And the molecules get pushed down. And the momentum of the molecules getting pushed down pushes the airplane or the bird and you up. 

Jane Coaston: Thank you. 

Bill Nye: It’s cool. 

Jane Coaston: It’s incredibly cool. 

Bill Nye: It’s so cool. 

Jane Coaston: Thank you. 

Bill Nye: Everything happens for a reason. And that reason is usually physics. 

Jane Coaston: Yes. Physics. 

Bill Nye: Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. 

Jane Coaston: Physics is [?]–

Bill Nye: The study of motion and energy. All science is either physics or just stamp collecting. That’s an old quotation. I added the just. All right, you guys. 

Jane Coaston: Thank you. 

Bill Nye: Thank you Jane. 

Jane Coaston: So much. Thank you. [music break] Before we go, if you care about the planet or even some of the people who live on it. The time for action is now. As part of Crooked Ideas anti doom intiative. We’re spotlighting the people who are fighting for our planet and working to solve the climate crisis every day. First up is Crooked correspondant Priyanka Aribindi’s conversation with the first member of Gen Z to be elected to congress, Maxwell Frost. Stick around to the end of this episode to listen to it.

Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review, block some political advertisements, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading and not just old transcripts of Bill Nye the Science Guy episodes like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston. And if you can go vote. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded by Jerik Centeno and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Ethan Oberman, Tyler Hill, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. [music break]

Priyanka Aribindi: Before you go, Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost is here to talk about what makes him hopeful about our future in the face of climate change. This is part of the Anti Doom Initiative by Crooked Ideas. I’m Priyanka Aribindi and here is my chat with Congressman Frost. Let’s start really simple. So much of what we see in our world and in the conversation around climate can be really intense. Sometimes it feels like we’re hopeless. What stands counter to that narrative for you? 

Maxwell Frost: Yeah, well, I really appreciate the question. I mean, I believe that for one of the first times, the climate movement is just much stronger than big oil, much stronger than the polluters. And the climate movement is the largest that it’s ever been in our country’s history. I think it’s really good, but it’s kind of a double edged sword. Part of the reason I think it’s so big now is because so many people are being impacted directly by the climate crisis. And so it’s no longer just about like polar bears and ice caps in a faraway place that you’ll never go to. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Maxwell Frost: But it’s like here and it’s now and people are feeling it. And so I think there’s just so many people, especially young people on the streets at Capitol Hill, even in their city councils, pushing for really good climate policy. And that gives me a ton of hope for the future of this country. And in terms of the climate crisis, the future of humanity. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And we know that across party lines, you know the majority of the country is worried about the climate and they want something to happen, but they’re not really talking about it. I think people struggle with how to talk about it. When you are approaching constituents in your district, how do you frame the stakes and how do you frame this as an issue that everyone can kind of get behind? 

Maxwell Frost: Both fortunately, unfortunately, it’s becoming much easier to talk about the climate crisis, especially in the state of Florida. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Maxwell Frost: And I know some people listening might go, well, yeah, hurricanes are a fact of life. But what we’re seeing is we’re getting more hurricanes that are creating more devastation, killing more people and displacing more people than ever before. Why? Because our emissions are warming and destroying our atmosphere. Warming the planet. The coastal waters of Florida, the temperature of a hot tub and that warm water is literally fuel, gasoline to go straight into these hurricanes. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Maxwell Frost: That’s why they’re popping out of nowhere. They’re not weak hurricanes, they’re super strong and they’re creating so much devastation. And you know what I’ll tell you is I’ve had conservative people come up to me and say, we need to do something about this. Or like it’s hurting my business. It’s hurting this, it’s hurting that. So it’s really front and center for people now, which unfortunately, and fortunately makes it easier to talk about. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I want to talk about the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s, you know, the most significant action that Congress has ever taken on climate. But the word climate itself doesn’t show up in the title. So can you break this down for us? What does this legislation do regarding climate and how should we be thinking about it? 

Maxwell Frost: See, the Inflation Reduction Act is the most the resources that any country has dedicated towards combating the climate crisis, not in the history of our country, in the history of the world. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Maxwell Frost: In the history of humanity. This is the biggest piece of legislation ever passed, signed into law. First off, it put forth a ton of different tax credits and incentives to push us as consumers to make better decisions for the climate, to make sure people are stepping away from fossil fuels, stepping away from regular automobiles and really buying and specifically American electric vehicles. Not just that, but it’s also put so much money into renewable and green energy and energy that’s clean for our environment and clean for our atmosphere and our planet. It helps us preserve humanity, but it’s also creating good paying jobs and in many cases, good paying union jobs across this country. Something we always say is the Inflation Reduction Act is like the down payment on the Green New Deal, right? This is like the thing we really needed to get started and we have a lot more to do. But what a huge accomplishment because of the climate movement. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And what do you say to people who think it’s too late to do anything for the planet and kind of think of this as a lost cause? 

Maxwell Frost: The good thing here is the science tells us it’s not a lost cause yet. We can still move rapidly to cut back on our emissions, to get to green energy, build this new green economy for our country, be a leader for the world. From where I sit in Congress, we have a group of people who want to do something, and we have a group of people whose platform is it doesn’t exist or it does exist, but these things are too expensive. And what people need to realize is the cost of not doing anything is far greater than the costs of taking action right now. 

Priyanka Aribindi: For our Anti Doom initiative to work, we need more people to know that a better future is possible. Learn more at crookedideas.org and to make sure that your voice is heard on everything that you care about. Please, please vote. [music break]

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