Independents Rerun Open Thread for "Environmentally Challenged" Episode Featuring Bill Nye the (Off-Puttingly Argumentative) Science Guy & More!

Several Hit & Run commenters worried that the Friday theme episode of The Independents (re-airing tonight at 7 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. PT), organized as it was around environmental challenges such as climate change, would be one big cosmotarian sellout session. Well, as a perusal of the 600+ comments will show, those who watched the whole hour came away with a different impression altogether.

Starting with famous debater Bill Nye the Science Guy, the show was a telling, asymmetrical demonstration of global-warming worriers literally refusing to engage in practical follow-up questions, like how much economic growth are you willing to trade for climate-change remediation, and why have the forecasting models been so wrong these past 17 years? Instead, there were repeated attempts to put the show's co-hosts on "the other side," which is self-evidently composed of people beyond the reach of reason. Seriously, it was that weird.

Anyway, here's your open thread for a show that also included Climate Depot skeptic Marc Morano, Center for American Progress Director of Climate Strategy Daniel J. Weiss, New York Times science writer John Tierney,  "skeptical environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg, energy economist Jerry Taylor of Cato, and beloved Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey.