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TV personality Bill Nye criticized CNN on New Day Saturday for letting a skeptic of man-made climate change participate in a panel discussion. “I will say, much as I love CNN, you’re doing a disservice by having one climate change skeptic, and not 97 or 98 scientists or engineers concerned about climate change,” Nye contended. Nye appeared with May Boeve of the green action group 350.org and Princeton University physics professor William Happer, who has downplayed the impact of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. So despite the two-to-one slant in favor of the environmentalists, the former PBS host wasn’t satisfied.
Anchor Victor Blackwell turned to Happer first during the segment, and asked him about his meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in 2017. The professor emphasized that Trump was “very supportive of science. His uncle, John Trump, was a physicist at M.I.T., and we talked a little bit about him. I knew about his work. So I don’t think science has anything to fear from Mr. Trump.” Blackwell followed up by noting that Happer once said “the world is getting greener, and people should stop hyperventilating.” Happer replied by explaining his take on carbon dioxide.
There’s this myth that’s developed around carbon dioxide that it’s a pollutant. But you and I both exhale carbon dioxide with every breath. Each of us emits about two pounds of carbon dioxide a day; so are we polluting the planet? Carbon dioxide is a perfectly natural gas. It’s just like water vapor. It’s something that plants love. They grow better with more carbon dioxide, and you can see the greening of the Earth already from the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. -- Nye then retorted with his hint that CNN shouldn’t even bring on climate change skeptics. He later emphasized that “if you suppress science; if you pretend that climate change isn’t a real problem; you will fall behind other countries that do invest in science, that do invest in basic research.”