Bill Maher: The Environment Is The Ultimate Health Care Issue (VIDEO)

Bill Maher called the environment the "ultimate health care issue" Friday night during "Real Time" and argued that our future depends on our ability to stop global warming. But some on his panel weren't so convinced.

Conservative talk radio host Amy Holmes, actor Hill Harper, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson weighed in, with Harper being the sole panelist to agree with Maher's assessment. Johnson said he believes in climate change, but that its effects have been greatly exaggerated. While Holmes called herself a skeptic, and argued that the science behind the topic is not settled. She described it as a "raging debate."

Maher was blown away by Holmes' skepticism and shot down Johnson for opposing cap and trade legislation. Maher pointed out that Republicans weren't so disgusted by cap and trade when George H.W. Bush used it to stop acid rain.

Watch:

Comments

[wethepeople3884]

12:56 AM on 05/02/2010

a scientific consensus is not 100 out of 100. If 95 out of 100 agree its still a consensus

[Sivels]

10:15 AM on 04/04/2010

Environmentalism is a religion

[Barbie and Ken forever]

07:46 PM on 04/01/2010

Everything that Amy Holmes spewed, I was debunking it while watching this on tv. I was so frustrated. I can't believe she went to Princeton

[charles77]

11:52 PM on 03/28/2010

Under cap and trade the government and traders get all the money.
Your energy bills go up and you get nothing back. Supposedly the government will use this money to subsidize inefficient power sources, but who knows, it’s gone in any case. That is why Obama included this money in his budget.

Under cap and dividend, there is a “tax” on carbon but 100% of that is rebated back to consumers on a per capita basis, the government keeps none. CO2 free energy sources have to compete fairly with each other on cost.

For example, if you lived in a state where most power came from nuclear, you would in effect be “paid” with money from people in states that burned Coal. This would provide an almost irresistible political force to adopt CO2 sources. I really do not like coal for many reasons.

If we are forced to accept some government intervention to switch to CO2 free sources, it is the best option I have seen. That is not what Congress is considering now however.

http://www.capanddividend.org/?q=readfirst

[charles77]

11:51 PM on 03/28/2010

How about a GRANDE compromise?

You put a tax on carbon, which is EXCLUSIVLY used, to provide FREE healthcare for ALL.

[nogimmicks]

06:11 PM on 03/26/2010

Bill is wrong on cap-and-trade. It is just another banker scam. Just bigger and more destructive. Global climate change has nothing to do with a suspicious plan to create a new speculator paradise. The solution may or may not exist, but if it does exists it will be designed by engineers rather by a bunch of dirty politicians.

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

04:09 AM on 03/17/2010

Bill is one of the wisest celeb aroudn.

[MGhamma]

08:03 PM on 03/16/2010

Amy Holmes, "well I just don't see it"

Bill Maher, "well, then you just don't read".

LUV IT!!!

[climastrology101]

04:44 AM on 03/17/2010

Snarky dismissive comment, when it's Bill who hasn't done his reading.

[DocSkull]

10:39 AM on 03/17/2010

"Snarky dismissive comment, when it's Bill who hasn't done his reading."

Really? What hasn't he read?

Her information comes from obscure foreign newspapers and the blogs which quote them. If you read that newspaper articles their own quotes of Phil Jones indicates that he didn't say what they he said. Either those reporters are too stupid to know that warming trend that is almost at a 95-degree confidence interval is still warming, or they are pretty sure their audience is that dumb.

[climastrology101]

11:13 PM on 03/18/2010

Here's something he could read.

http://joannenova.com.au/2010/03/the-mystery-deepens-where-did-that-decline-go/

[DocSkull]

03:51 PM on 03/28/2010

"Here's something he could read....."

I comment that blogs contain faulty information and you refute me with a blog! Your blog confuses itself because it thinks that different parts of the globe will show the same pattern. In addition, if the globe continues to warm the trend line will continue to steepen ad the influence of short term variation in either direction will be reduced.

[sparky73]

01:52 PM on 03/16/2010

The problem with global warming is Al Gore himself. He has said in the past you can't look at single weather events as proof of cooling or global warming but now he is doing the opposite. He pointed out that the recent rain in the NE is proof of global warming. Al thinks you can pick and chose what weather events is proof of man made global warming. He is destr0ying this movement. He needs to take a back seat to the real scientists.

[sleeperd]

08:58 PM on 03/16/2010

If this pompous snake-oil salesman takes a back seat to "real scientists", i.e., those who don't make their living from AGW funds and grants, this class-warfare scheme is history...

[DocSkull]

10:41 AM on 03/17/2010

"If this pompous snake-oil salesman takes a back seat to "real scientists", i.e., those who don't make their living from AGW funds and grants, this class-warfare scheme is history..."

Who makes their living from global warming grants? Maybe a few graduate students while they conduct their research might live off a salary from a grant. However, guys like Jones and Mann are paid by the university for teaching. They don't get to keep the money.

[Nate the Heretic]

11:59 AM on 03/15/2010

He has a point, as usual. Regardless of how little subtlety he uses, it makes perfect sense.
Your health depends on not only the quality of your environment, but also the quality of food. The food, too, needs to be in a good environment to be of good quality, so a bad environment is like a double dose of poison. You get it through the food, you get it through the air and water. What's sad is that political pundits and entertainers like this have the loudest voices, as opposed to many of the people that can actually make change happen, who do little or nothing about it.

[Lynn Hasselberger]

12:24 PM on 03/15/2010

I believe in climate change, but I wish they'd just detach that term from all conversation. Clean air, clean water, clean food--those are the things that DO impact our health and, ultimately, health care. The health care and environment debate just goes off on a tangent with no end in sight when they toss in "climate change". Geez. This stuff just drives me batty.

[Nate the Heretic]

12:30 PM on 03/15/2010

I definitely agree, Lynn. Climate Change has an affect on these things, but they are also separate issues themselves, and when they are mentioned together, it gets muddied up with debate over Climate Change instead of debate over our own environmental choices that pertain to clean air, water, and good crops. What's sad is that people think the green movement is all about climate change, when it's not. It's about good, clean living on top of conscious choices that WILL affect the future.

[gbloodgood]

04:14 PM on 03/16/2010

I agree

I always ask people that don't believe in global climate change
Don't you want clean water to drink?
Don't you want clean air to breathe?

[Nathan Ferguson]

11:47 AM on 03/15/2010

Show this to all of your climate 'denier' friends out there:

http://bit.ly/cVmnAk

[Political Conservative]

01:03 PM on 03/15/2010

Thanks... even as a "denier" I have to admit it had some good information presented very well.

[Nathan Ferguson]

04:43 PM on 03/15/2010

Thank you. That means a lot.

[abbienormal]

08:30 AM on 03/15/2010

So, here is the real problem with the climate change deniers. There is no accountability. Will anyone care 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now when they are proven wrong? No. The Fox spokespersons will be wealthy enough to insulate themselves from the effects and no one will remember their names or what they said. Even if we do, we will not be able to hold them accountable for their opinions.

The rest of us, including the rest of the world, will be the ones who suffer for their willful display of ignorance for profit.

I guess it fits with the whole self preservation thing that they have going. My question is why we, as a society, allow these folks to do this at our expense.

[Political Conservative]

08:48 AM on 03/15/2010

There are two sides to that coin. You want to destroy the economy of this country based on unproven and altered "scientific" models and because you are being played as a political pawn. So 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now, what happens when you are proven wrong. As you freeze and starve in your little hut because your government relief is running out, hopefully I will be wealthy enough to keep my family warm and feed in spite of your ignorance on this topic.

[abbienormal]

09:23 AM on 03/15/2010

Okay, I'll play. How will carbon taxes or cap and trade destroy the economy of this country? We are already lagging behind China in greentech technology. Would you like that country to surpass us in yet another thechonology?

Also, your point that you "hopefully will be wealthy enough to keep my family warm" supports my contention that climate change deniers do not consider themselves to be part of the community of this country. Instead, it is a mentality of "may the better man win".

That could be a good strategy if you want to live in a country where most of the citizens are suffering from the effects of higher temperatures. You have heard of the concept of clustering towards the mean. If that holds, your lifestyle will suffer no matter what you do.

If that is what you want, and you are not alone, I despise your vision of the future of our country - not to mention the world.

[MAJK]

10:46 AM on 03/15/2010

Please provide your science to debunk the the science already out there.

[abbienormal]

08:08 AM on 03/15/2010

So the guy from Arizona sees no sign of global warming. Really? So the fact that the state is running out of water is simply a contractual problem? I don't think so.

[MGhamma]

11:34 PM on 03/14/2010

Love me some Bill Maher.

Wiped the floor with Amy Holmes.

Scared the bejezus out of Gary Johnson.

ROFLMFAO!!!

[Tassilo]

10:40 PM on 03/14/2010

If Bill Maher himself were better informed, as he should be, if he's going to bring the topic up, he would be in a better position to confront the skeptics and other spreaders of disinformation. (1) Weather patterns do indeed matter and do indeed count for evidence one way or another, but it's the average weather over extended periods of time and not the individual blizzard that counts. (2) Despite the spectacular blizzards this year, it has, in fact, been the warmest winter in recorded history.