Neil DeGrasse Tyson Says Scientists Should Find Way to Harness Storm's Power for Mankind's Benefit Instead of Running Away
Astrophysicist and celebrity author Neil DeGrasse Tyson told a host in a recent interview that instead of running away from the problem, scientists and engineers should find a way to harness the unpredictable power of hurricanes for the benefit of humankind.
In a recent feature, Sunday Today visited the office of science celebrity Neil DeGrasse Tyson to talk about some of his ideas, as well as look around at some items in his collection at his office in Hayden Planetarium, New York.
Host Willie Geist sat with Tyson at his office on Sunday, Oct. 1, when their talk turned to the issue of climate change and the recent spate of hurricanes that have battered cities around the world.
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Throwing hands in the air, a seemingly exasperated Tyson started by attacking the mindset that has been common in times of disaster today.
"I'm tired of looking at photos of countless thousands of cars exiting a city, because a hurricane is coming," the science book author began as quoted by Gizmodo.
"Where are the engineers and scientists saying, you know, instead of running away from the city that's about to be destroyed by this hurricane, let me figure out a way to tap the cyclonic energy of this hurricane to drive the power needs of the city that it's otherwise going to destroy?" Tyson said.
"Where are those people?" Tyson asked again. "You need a culture where that becomes a natural state of how people think, rather than 'Buy toilet paper! Buy water! Run!'" he went on to say.
He also explained that this type of response showcases the current state of the country's mindset in responding to these types of disasters.
There's some hope, as the show's host Geist pointed out. Tyson's rising popularity seems to indicate that science is becoming popular again, and scientific solutions to huge problems like control of the weather might just become a reality, as a result.
The video below shows the segment where Tyson outlines his idea of using hurricanes to harvest electric power in his recent interview with Sunday Today last Oct. 1 at the Hayden Planetarium.
