Bill Nye the Science Guy calls for fossil fuel ban as death toll from Texas flood continues to rise

TV host and science-education advocate Bill Nye on a Thursday CNN appearance warned that extreme weather events, including last weekend’s deadly Texas floods, could become the norm if the U.S. Congress doesn’t take immediate action to combat climate change.

“It’ll happen again,” Nye, host the the Emmy-winning Bill Nye the Science Guy told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Everybody’s talked about this for years.”

Other than installing early flood warning systems in flood-prone areas, Nye said the only way prevent similar tragedies in the future is for Congress to enact a total fossil fuel ban to curb the effects of climate change. He added that humans’ alterations to the climate have been scientifically proven to exacerbate flooding events.

“What are we going to do about it is the ancient question, and it would be to stop burning fossil fuels,” Nye said. “When you’re in a hole, stop digging and so on. But the fossil fuel industry has been very successful in getting organizations, like the U.S. Congress, to think that it’s really not happening.”

Nye’s comments echoe remarks by climate experts such as University of South Carolina professor Claudia Benitez-Nelson, who this week told Inside Climate News the Hill Country tragedy “is not a one-off anymore.”

Indeed, a 2021 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stated that a warming climate is causing “the intensification of heavy precipitation,” since warming air allows for more moisture to be held in the atmosphere.

As of press time, the Central Texas floods have claimed at least 121 lives. Roughly 150 people are still missing.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Kerr County to view the devastation Friday afternoon, exactly one week after the flood waters washed over the banks of the Guadalupe River.

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This article appears in Jul 10-23, 2025.