Fresh off his high-profile public evolution debate with creationist Ken Ham, Bill Nye "The Science Guy" sparred with Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn over the weekend about climate change.
Nye and Blackburn went toe-to-toe Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press" to discuss their differing views on what's driving the extreme winter weather in the U.S. and the recent flooding the U.K.
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Blackburn, who also serves as the vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, argued that there is no consensus among the scientific community about global warming or climate change.
"Neither [Bill Nye] nor I are a climate scientist. He is an engineer and actor; I am a member of Congress. And what we have to do is look at the information that we get from climate scientists," she told NBC's David Gregory. "There is not agreement around the fact of exactly what is causing this."
Nye quickly jabbed back.
"You don't need a PhD in climate science to understand what's going on. We have overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing. That you cannot tie any one event to that is not the same as doubt about the whole thing," he said. "There is no debate in the scientific community. I encourage the Congresswoman to really look at the facts. You are our leader. We need you to change things, not deny what’s happening."
Blackburn then pointed out that she thinks the federal government should be conducting cost-benefit analyses to find out whether emissions are really harmful.
"One of the things that we have to remember is cost-benefit analysis has to take place," she said. "And it is unfortunate that some of the federal agencies are not conducting that cost-benefit analysis. ... When you look at the social cost of carbon, there's a lot of ambiguity around that. What you also need to be doing is looking at the benefits of carbon and what that has on increased agriculture production."
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