Can Sarah Palin see polar bears from her house? The controversial former governor of Alaska blasted climate change as a “political” strategy and dissed Bill Nye the Science Guy during a Congressional event on Thursday, April 14.
Palin, 52, made her comments during a screening of the anti–climate change film Climate Hustle and, according to The Hill, the former vice presidential candidate pointed to Nye, 60, as an “alarmist.”
“Bill Nye is as much a scientist as I am,” she said at the Capitol Hill event. “He’s a kids’ show actor; he’s not a scientist.” (Nye hosted the educational TV program Bill Nye the Science Guy from 1993 to 1998.)
“It’s something our candidates should be talking about and giving us their view on and hopefully acknowledging that it needs to become, in the science community, less political,” she opined on climate change. “Otherwise, it leads us to believe that so many things coming from perhaps the scientists could be bogus. If this is bogus, you know, what else are they trying to tell us and trying to control us around if they can’t get this one right?”
Palin further added that public figures such as Nye are “controlling the narrative” about the planet’s health, and are deterring parents from teaching their kids to question climate change.
“[They need to] ask those questions and not just believe what Bill Nye the Science Guy is trying to tell them,” she said.
Nye was previously a visiting professor at Cornell, and is an executive at the Planetary Society.
