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Bill Nye the Science Guy Visited the Alberta Tar Sands and Was Depressed

Nye suggested a new government is the answer to Canada's climate change woes.

Read: How to Get Rid of All the Shit You Put into Your Body This Summer

Bill Nye the Science Guy is currently in Alberta working on a climate change documentary. And not surprisingly, when Nye went to the tar sands, he thought it was a "depressive" sight.

"From an environmental point of view locally, it's astonishing and overwhelming," he told APTN National News.

The Alberta tar sands is one of the largest deposits of crude oil in the world, and has been the focus of plenty of controversy in Canada—especially among First Nation communities—for its damaging environmental effects.

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On Monday, Nye visited the community of Fort McKay First Nation, where the land and the community has been severely impacted by decades of tar sands production.

"I think anybody would say that First Nations have rights that have been abridged or catastrophically curtailed," Nye told APTN.

He added that the hope for the environmental future in Canada could lie in the federal election—although Nye did not endorse any specific party. But he did point out that new views on the environment is what would be most helpful to address these issues, while remaining critical of the Harper government.

"Everybody says they feel like the tipping point's been reached. Everyone we speak with, where enough is enough kind of thing," he said. "But then you have people that are in denial of climate change, who justify all of this extraordinary exploitation to the environment."

Nye, who is also CEO of the Planetary Society, has been speaking out about climate change for years. Last year in an interview with VICE, he was already talking about Harper's focus on fossil fuels and how it's hurting Canada.

"The government in Canada is currently being influenced by the fossil-fuel industry," Nye told VICE. "Stephen Harper is a controversial guy in the science community because [of] the policies, especially in Western Canada."

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