Bill Nye's Vision of America in 100 Years (2024)

Bill Nye has given an insight into what he thinks America will be like in 100 years, saying many people will have moved away from Florida and New Orleans, that electricity will come from nuclear fusion and solar power, and that we will have systems in place to avert natural disasters.

The engineer, television presenter and science communicator spoke to Newsweek ahead of the release of his new show The End is Nye—a six-part series exploring some of the globe's most catastrophic disasters and how to avoid them.

The series explores many potential natural and unnatural disasters, from volcano eruptions to hurricanes caused by manmade climate change.

Nye told Newsweek that he, personally, is "very concerned" about Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)—something that the show explores in its third episode. While people may be scared of natural disasters such as asteroids or volcano eruptions, Nye said the "real deal" is what could destroy humankind.

"Earth is going to be here no matter what we do. We want to preserve the quality of life for the environment for us, for us people," he said. "So along this line, an asteroid would be a real planet killer. But the one that I'm actually very concerned about is the so-called coronal mass ejection, where the sun produces this stream of highly charged particles. That disrupts a magnetic field that turns off all the lights in the world. This disrupts our electrical grid everywhere."

Coronal mass ejections are eruptions of charged matter and plasma from the sun. They occur when the sun releases huge bursts of energy when its magnetic field lines shift.

CMEs, when fired out in the direction of the Earth, can cause geomagnetic storms. They occur regularly and are rarely noticeable. They are ranked in severity on the G scale—G1 being the weakest, and G5 being the most severe. Most solar storms are at G1 or G2. A strong, G3 storm however has the potential to cause chaos, plunging the Earth into darkness, and causing widespread blackouts.

Electricity is vital in providing a good quality of life for people, meaning to be without it would be a catastrophe. Nye says we need "big new ways to produce electricity."

"[We need] new ways to distribute it, new ways to store it. And these are big challenges that require not only technical innovation—which there's a lot of that going on—but also policy changes where everybody shares the responsibility," Nye said. "You know, you want in my opinion, which as you know is correct (that's irony everybody), we want clean water, renewable electricity and access to the internet...for everybody in the world."

Nye said climate change is another potential killer of humankind. "[In] the first episode, we do not use the phrase climate change, but it's about five huge storms being generated at the same time and this is based on a mathematical model or in computer and software, written by climate scientists at Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Penn State. And so this is an actual scenario that could happen in the worst case," Nye said.

Happy Ending

Despite the show exploring many terrifying potential disasters, Nye said that all of them have a happy ending. And there is one underlying message: science works to prevent disaster. Although there are many ways in which a global catastrophe could happen, Nye believes that there is much to be optimistic about, especially in terms of climate change.

"Our disaster movies have a happy ending. If we got the systems in place, if we recognize the problems, if we got to work, everything would be great, with science," Nye said.

For example, Nye believes that in 100 years' time, there will be "systems in place" to deal with these anticipated disasters.

He said he "would not be surprised" if there are desalination plants along coasts, as well as covered irrigation and water transmission pipelines.

"I wouldn't be surprised how many people have moved away from New Orleans and Florida to inland where factories are built inland. I wouldn't be surprised if there are solar panels everywhere and the base electrical load will be carried by both fission smaller, more compact nuclear reactors and fusion reactors."

The worst time for climate change will be in 50 years, Nye said, when the U.S. will be dry, and electrical services will "not be as reliable." But he also said that "the best is yet ahead" for humankind.

Turning point

As optimistic as he is, Nye believes it is vital for people to vote in order to see real changes related to pressing disasters

"We are living at a turning point...I mean, [the] decisions we make this year will affect the next 50 years. So let's make good decisions," he said. "In the U.S., we just barely got started dealing with climate change. But we're starting so I'm very optimistic about the medium-term future. You can blame it on leaders, but we can really blame it on ourselves for electing people who have not wanted to address climate change."

Nye said that optimism is vital in addressing potential disasters.

"If you're not optimistic, you're not going to get anything done...If we go into this climate crisis, for example, thinking that it's unsolvable, that it's just all going to be bad, then it will all be bad," he said. "But if we decide we've got to work together for a better tomorrow for all humankind, then maybe we will work together for a better tomorrow for all humankind."

However "big changes" are still needed to get humankind to the place it needs to be.

"We need big changes. We need big ideas. And for that, we need better policies than we have now. Better regulations, and better incentives, better distribution of our wealth, our money, to motivate innovators and to motivate people to let's say, for example, weatherize their houses," Nye said. "And the other thing, everybody remember, that individual action does make a difference."

As frustrated and anxious as many people may be right now, as world news continues to look bleak, right now "things are actually better for more people than ever in history," according to Nye.

"Even though there are wars raging around the world. There are actually fewer wars involving fewer people by fraction than ever before," he said. "And so I am optimistic about the future because the world is getting better for more people all the time. But this climate change business is serious. And we need to address it immediately."

Peaco*ck's Original series "The End Is Nye" will drop all six episodes on Peaco*ck on August 25.

The End Is Nye is a new disaster science series hosted by Bill Nye and created by Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, and Bill Nye.