DeGrasse Tyson and Cosmos Will Cap Series with Climate Denial Debunk
May 29, 2014
For 11 episodes now, the groundbreaking Fox and National Geographic Channel seriesCosmos has been exploring the universe, outraging creationists, and giving science teachers across the nation something to show in class every Monday. In the process, the show has been drawing more than 3 million viewers every Sunday night, a respectable number for a science-focused show that is, after all, a major departure from what primetime audiences are used to.
Cosmos certainly hasn’t shied from controversy; it has taken on evolution and industry-funded science denial, and it has been devoting an increasing amount of attention to the subject of climate change. And apparently that was just the beginning. This coming Sunday,Cosmos will devote an entire episode to the topic. Here’s the episode description from National Geographic:
Our journey begins with a trip to another world and time, an idyllic beach during the last perfect day on the planet Venus, right before a runaway greenhouse effect wreaks havoc on the planet, boiling the oceans and turning the skies a sickening yellow. We then trace the surprisingly lengthy history of our awareness of global warming and alternative energy sources, taking the Ship of the Imagination to intervene at some critical points in time.
Courtesy of National Geographic, above is a clip from the new episode, which should have climate deniers fulminating. In it, host Neil deGrasse Tyson uses the analogy of walking a dog on the beach to helpfully explain the difference between climate and weather (pay attention, Donald Trump) and to outline why, no matter how cold you were in January, that’s no argument against global warming.
We’ve seen the rest of the episode already, and won’t spill the beans. But suffice it to say that it contains some powerful refutations of a number of other global warming denier talking points, as well as some ingenious sequences that explain the planetary-scale significance of climate change. It also contains some in situ reporting on the impacts of climate change, straight from the imperiled Arctic.
To make the point above, DeGrasse Tyson uses a version of the “Trend and Variation” argument made in the viral video below – testimony to the power of a good meme.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
May 29, 2014 at 9:25 am
They’re getting a lot better at explaining natural phenomena without dumbing it down. That was key. Concept modeling that matches up with what people actually understand is crucial to this process in science.
May 29, 2014 at 11:00 am
But did Neil DeGrasse Tyson take as many science courses as James Taylor?
June 1, 2014 at 9:23 am
You are joking of course. Tyson has several degrees in physics and astrophysics. Taylor has an undergraduate degree in government and is a lawyer who shills for the Heartland Institute. If he took any science at all, it likely came under the heading of “cultural elective”, and serves only to make him a “well-rounded” charlatan.
May 29, 2014 at 11:10 am
Thus demonstrating the futility of James Cameron’s hollywood buddies as purveryors of information
May 29, 2014 at 11:46 am
And it’s on Fox, no less – just where it needs to be to reach the right audience.
‘Archer’ is one of my guilty pleasures. Here’s a clip in tribute:
May 29, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Something I’ve always appreciated is that the Fox Network is/was the home of “The Simpsons”, “South Park” and “King of the Hill”. All three apparently designed as innocuous and forgettable youthful rebellions against the belief system of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes.
In the mad, mad world we inhabit, it is Matt Groening, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels who are presenting reality while Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and their ilk are creating the cartoon version of reality for their septuagenarian audience. Thus, George Orwell and Joseph Heller live on as packaged and networked cultural memes.
May 29, 2014 at 2:07 pm
For those who haven’t yet experienced deGRASS Tyson in ‘Cosmos on Weed’ (3min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uAmJwYenIs
May 29, 2014 at 4:38 pm
“Great climate change comedy moments in video clips” from today’s Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/may/29/great-climate-change-comedy-moments-in-video-clips
May 29, 2014 at 5:39 pm
Good stuff. Led me to this article, too:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/29/obama-unveil-historic-climate-plan-carbon-pollution
The Chamber of Commerce has a leap on it:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/chamber-study-predicts-obama-climate-rule-will-kill-jobs.html
But Obama’s Monday announcement isn’t being widely reported in the U.S. yet. It appears the plan mostly involves shuttering coal plants. These would be replaced by natural gas, nuclear, and renewables.
May 29, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Jim,
The Chamber hired IHS to do their study on jobs. This is a group that has Daniel Yergin as a vice-chairman. I don’t know if he’s still with CERA, but he’s a hack for the oil industry as well as a great self-promoter.
The latest insanity Yergin proposes is that opening the U.S. crude oil market to export will somehow lower American prices at the gas pump. This is Orwellian doublethink at its best.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/29/us-usa-energy-exports-idUSKBN0E909U20140529
I couldn’t get through this article without guffawing. But this is what the Chamber will be pushing next. “America as a third world rape-and-pillage resource for the globalized corporations”. What a great idea! [sarcasm]
May 29, 2014 at 7:24 pm
“Our journey begins with a trip to another world and time, an idyllic beach during the last perfect day on the planet Venus, right before a runaway greenhouse effect wreaks havoc on the planet, boiling the oceans and turning the skies a sickening yellow.”
Well, at least we know which political party won the last election on Venus.
May 29, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Top rate climate science on Fox. Who’d have thunk it? They even go into the issue of Canfield Oceans. Pretty impressive territory for mainstream media. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop…
May 30, 2014 at 12:08 am
Speaking of Canfield Oceans, we don’t need to go full anoxic and sulfidic to start to have dramatic impacts on species diversity and abundance of our coastal waters. Mere temperature changes can do the trick at de-populating our richest ocean regions. Consider the fate of the Gulf of Maine puffin and the butterfish:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/04/gulf-maine-puffin-climate-change
May 30, 2014 at 8:42 am
Almost zero MSM coverage on this. Ocean biologists are practically mum as well.
May 30, 2014 at 4:06 am
This programme is so dumbed down for the American audience it’s painfull to watch.
Good for 10 to 12 year olds in Britain and Europe but is this really the standard of science documentaries in the US?!
If so it explains a lot.
May 31, 2014 at 8:42 am
Leslie,
I think it is aimed at 10 to 12 year olds here in the U.S. as well. It certainly bored me, unlike the old Carl Sagan Cosmos which I marveled at as an adult.
June 3, 2014 at 9:07 am
Yeah – I took the trouble to download the old series and watch them too. Far superior.
I never heard of him growing up in the UK. I started to see his name appear here and there when I became one of the first 20 million people in the world to access the internet.
June 3, 2014 at 9:47 am
Uh, guys? This is not a TV critic site analyzing “Old Cosmos” versus “New Cosmos”. The new Cosmos was directed at an audience that contains far too many adults whose understanding of the science and attitudes towards AGW ARE on the junior high level. IMO, although it may have been a bit “boring” in spots for certain jaded intellectuals, it did a good job overall.
PS to LG1 Did you help Al Gore invent the internet?