Bill Maher and Guests Got Environmental On a New “Real Time”

On a 2023 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, Maher addressed a contradiction in the rhetoric of many celebrities who consider themselves environmentalists — himself included. At issue was the practice of flying in private jets, and whether or not this contradicted their concern over climate change.

In many ways, this week’s episode felt like the logical follow-up to that earlier one. Here, too, Maher addressed one of the big questions when it comes to mitigating the effects of climate change: is it more important to address these issues with technology, or is changing personal behavior more important? Hence the appearance of Bjørn Lomborg, there to promote a new edition of his book False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet. (Maher on the title: “I don’t like that. I think it goes too far.”)

Maher described Lomborg as “a skeptic” regarding the effects of climate change. On this, Maher said, the two disagreed; Maher told Lomborg, “I am skeptical of you.”

For his part, Lomborg called climate change “a real problem.” He clarified his position, arguing that some reports on climate change’s effects were inflated based on cherry-picked data. Unfazed, Maher cited an example of Lomborg doing the same thing to make a point of his own.

“I know you’re not a denier,” Maher said. “I wouldn’t have you on if you were.”

Lomborg went on to discuss climate change’s impact on GDP. To Maher, this missed the larger issue. “What will the oceans look like?” he asked. Later, he returned to this point, asking Lomborg, “How does rich fix the oceans?”

At this point in their conversation, Maher returned to a recurring theme — that “asking people to be good” isn’t effective. Lomborg made the case that asking people to be less comfortable wasn’t a viable strategy and that “innovation” was the way to go. (I’m quoting him directly; those aren’t ironic quotes.)

In the last part of their conversation, the two men discussed different pilot programs around the world. Lomborg spoke warmly about Iceland’s initiative to pull carbon directly from the atmosphere. “We’re not there yet, but this could be one solution,” he said.

There was one big environmental subject that didn’t come up in the interview, but did materialize later in the night: cryptocurrency. During the evening’s panel discussion, Maher spoke aboutTDonald Trump’s foray into crypto. “He’s getting into business with someone who used to be in the colon cleanse business,” he observed — and then gre visibly frustrated when reminding his audience of the environmental impact of cryptocurrency.

“All the progress that we’re making with green energy is being sucked away by crypto!” he said, looking more visibly frustrated than he usually gets. Still, it wasn’t hard to see why.

Bill Maher Talked Private Jets and Oscar Season on a New “Real Time”

Frances Haugen, Tim Ryan and Bari Weiss joined him for the episode

Some other notable moments from the episode:

Maher on the scandal surrounding Mark Robinson: “I’ve said this for 25 years: when you think Republicans can’t go any lower — they do!”
This episode’s panel included the New York Times’ Bret Stephens and MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. There was some friction between the guests, with Ruhle getting in some memorable digs.
Maher on Donald Trump: “Rhetoric has consequences, but he is the worst possible person to make this case.”
Ruhle to Stephens: “Bret, you don’t stop calling out the truth because people aren’t listening.”
Ruhle on Stephens’s take on the election: “For the last two weeks, I’ve been going on and on — I can’t figure out where undecided voters are. Where’s the person with a list on their refrigerator — ‘Well, she said this and he said that.’ Who is this person? And then I open the New York Times three days ago, and it’s you.”
Maher on the Oasis reunion: “Hoping to see a fight on stage is the only reason anyone’s going to see these guys.”
Maher on the current state of country music: “A lot of it’s good now! It sounds like the Eagles in ‘72!”