Meet the Press sets up debate between Bill Nye and climate change denier Rep. Marsha Blackburn, giving more credence to the idea that there is no consensus on global warming.

Here was Time Magazine's take on the "debate.":

Blackburn maintained that there is no consensus in the scientific community about global warming, pointing to two vocal dissenters, Richard Lindzen of MIT and Judith Curry of Georgia Tech, who claim that humans are not causing 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,” said Blackburn. “There is not agreement around the fact of exactly what is causing this.” 

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, according to NASA. Experts say there is still some uncertainty in absolutely linking isolated extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy or bad droughts to global warming, but the vast majority of scientists ascribe climate change and the increase in extreme weather to human activity. 

Nye responded harshly to the Congresswoman. 

“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,” said Nye. “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.” 

THAT, that right there is where the conversation should have ended! But no....

Blackburn argued that responding to climate change will involve balancing the costs of not preventing climate change with the benefits of continuing at high rates of carbon emissions. 

“One of the things that we have to remember is cost-benefit analysis has to take place,” said the Congresswoman. “And it is unfortunate that some of the federal agencies are not conducting that cost-benefit analysis.” 

Nye said the U.S. could stand to gain economically by investing in new technologies, but warned against the cost of denial. 

“For me, as a guy who grew up in the U.S., I want the U.S. to lead the world in this,” he said. “These are huge opportunities, and the more we mess around with this denial, the less we’re going to get done.” 

To my mind the idea that there should be a cost-benefit analysis on preventing a change to the environment that is currently causing massive, dangerous weather events, and will undoubtedly kill thousands of human beings and millions of animals if left unchecked, is ridiculous.

Yes, there may be higher costs in the short term, but in the long term there will be....well there will actually BE a long term!

And Nye is right that there are great opportunities to turn America's famous inventive nature to coming up with new innovations that would quickly get us off of fossil fuels and onto renewable resources. and that we could then market to the rest of the world.

We are already doing much in that area, but with more federal money and more public support the sky would be the limit.

The very clean and very blue sky in fact.

However that simply will not happen as long as news programs continue to treat this as if the jury is still out as to its cause, and allow crazy people like Marsha Blackburn to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the American people.