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Nye: U.S. Risks Standing as Global Innovation Leader Unless it Improves Science Education

PBS

The man known as “The Science Guy” is coming to WKU Wednesday evening. Scientist, author, and former PBS show host Bill Nye will speak at E.A. Diddle Arena as part of the WKU Cultural Enhancement Series.

Nye is a passionate spokesman for science education in the U.S., and he often warns his audiences that the country faces the threat of losing its reputation as the leading global innovator unless it starts putting greater emphasis on teaching young people science and math.

In February, Nye made headlines when he came to northern Kentucky to debate Ken Ham, the president of the group “Answers in Genesis” that operates the Creation Museum in Petersburg.

See the entire debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham here.

Ahead of his appearance in Bowling Green, Nye spoke to WKU Public Radio about science and religion, and what he thinks is the biggest long-term impact of the U.S. underperforming in science and math education.

WKU Public Radio: What do you think will happen to the U.S. if we don’t put greater emphasis on science education?

Nye: The U.S. economy will flag. It will fail. What keeps the United States in the game economically is not our manufacturing, as such—it’s our innovation. It’s our new ideas. This is the reason the U.S. is still doing very well economically around the world, even though all the stuff we wear is made somewhere else, and the cars we drive are largely made elsewhere.

You debated issues regarding science and religion when you came to northern Kentucky to debate the leader of the group that operates the Creation Museum. Can religion and science co-exist in the U.S.? Do you personally think it’s possible for the U.S. to be both a more religious country than, say, Canada and most countries in Europe, while at the same time also excelling in science education?

Religion and science are separate things for me. However, the Earth’s not 6,000 years old. So, if you have a religion that compels you to insist to teach your children that the Earth is somehow 6,000 years old, and to eschew, or ignore, or deny, or set aside, or to pretend that the facts of science are not facts, then we—the United States—have a problem.

Section 1, paragraph eight, of the Constitution says ‘The Government shall promote the progress of science and the useful arts.’ So if you want to retard the progress of science or deny the facts of science, you are at odds with the U.S. Constitution. (Note from WKU Public Radio: The part of Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution referenced by Nye reads, "The Congress shall have Power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.)

Now, people are at odds with the U.S. Constitution all the time. But I just want to remind everybody about the serious nature of this. And I’ll tell you, I’m very much looking forward to getting back to the commonwealth of Kentucky. I had a great time there. You know, I was at Murray State the night before I was in Petersburg. So I’m looking forward to (being at WKU).

Speaking of the WKU event, that event had to be moved to a larger space, to E.A. Diddle Arena, after all the tickets were sold for the original, smaller venue. All tickets to the Diddle Arena event were taken up with a few days of being made available. Why do you think there is such an interest at this moment about the conversation over science that you are involved in?

Well, first of all, these are college kids who are coming of age having grown up watching The Science Guy show. I put my heart and soul into that thing, and I’m very gratified that students are so interested in hearing me speak, even now, 20 years later.

But in Kentucky, particularly, I understand that there is some controversy about what I would call a mainstream scientific point of view.

You’re very outspoken about climate change, and the need for the U.S. and the world to take the threat seriously and address the issue. Last month we saw a United Nations summit meeting on climate change take place, as well as a climate march that took place throughout the streets of Manhattan. Did anything come from that event that made you think U.S. attitudes about climate change are shifting?

By estimates, about 300,000 people—a third of a million people—marched in Manhattan to draw attention to climate change. And the connection here to the commonwealth of Kentucky is that the head of that creationist movement in Petersburg (Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis) stated rather matter of factly that he doesn’t believe in climate change and that he doesn’t believe climate change is a serious concern.

Climate change is the most important problem that humankind faces right now. And so to have a group of people denying it, I guess because—to paraphrase—it’s so inconvenient, and it’s so troubling, is very, very bad.

How would you assess the current technology that we have available to prevent and combat the effects of climate change? Does that technology currently exist and we’re just not using it?

Well, it depends on how you look at it, but the technology—what I hope, what I suspect, what I strongly believe—is that the United States will continue to innovate. There will be new ideas. Whoever invents the better battery is going to get crazy rich.

But as far as the technologies we have, yes—we have the ability to build sea walls, we have the ability to displace people in the developed world, to move them to a higher ground. And we have the ability to move our irrigation and farming systems, in North America generally, farther north.

And we have solar panels, and we have wind. We have ways to be more efficient. It’s estimated that, quite conservatively, that we could recover about 30 percent of our energy just by conventional conservation methods—technology that already exists.

Thirty percent is enormous. A third of the energy—that’s enormous. And so we could, with a concerted effort, address climate change very quickly. It’s my contention, and it’s been my contention for a long time—and, of course, I was born in the U.S. So I’m an engineer trained in the U.S., and my engineering license is in the U.S. I took a lot of physics in the U.S. And so I believe strongly that if the U.S. were to lead in these innovations and technologies, and in social commitment and regulations, the world would follow.

The United States is the world leader in so many things—innovation especially.

Bill Nye, the scientist and former PBS show host who will speak Wednesday evening at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green as part of WKU’s Cultural Enhancement Series.

The event was originally scheduled for Van Meter Auditorium, but the 1,000-plus free tickets that were made available for Nye’s appearance were gone within 30 minutes. So the school moved the event to E.A. Diddle Arena, where about 4,000 extra tickets were spoken for within a few days.

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio. He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition.
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