In a video published Thursday by Business Insider, astrophysicist and Cosmos host Neil deGrasse Tyson explained that the human propensity for burning carbon fuels was warming the Earth, but not to worry about Earth since it will be here “long after we are extinct.”
Saying that "science is true whether or not you believe in it," Tyson addresses the politicization of the science of climate change saying, "It's odd because I don't see people choosing up sides over E=mc2, or other fundamental facts of science."
He explains how humans, by taking carbon that was previously underground and burning it, put that carbon into the atmosphere, creating greenhouse gases which are warming the Earth.
"We are warming, and that comes with consequences," Tyson explains. "By the way, Earth will survive this. People say 'save the Earth.' No, don't worry about Earth. Earth will be here long after we have rendered ourselves extinct."
Tyson explains that climate change is melting the ice caps, raising water levels, "Not inches, not feet, but tens of feet," threatening the coastlines which, historically, have "been the very foundation of our civilization."
Tyson goes on to use Venus as an example of a "runaway greenhouse effect."
"It's 900 degrees on Venus, not simply because it's closer to the sun than us - it's not that much closer, a little bit closer - it's got nearly 100% CO2 in its atmosphere, and that atmosphere is one hundred times as dense as ours," he says, adding, "So heat comes in, it does not come out."
Watch the video below:
