Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) faced sharp pushback from Joe Rogan during a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, after Sanders repeated a familiar claim about climate change and rising global temperatures—one that Rogan immediately challenged with counter-data.
Sanders, a longtime advocate for sweeping climate policy, claimed that “the last ten years have been the warmest on record” and argued that a transition away from fossil fuels would not only address the climate crisis but also “create millions of good-paying jobs” in green energy sectors like wind and solar.
But Rogan wasn’t convinced.
“First of all,” Rogan said, “the reality is that the Earth’s temperature has never been static, right? It’s always been up and down. There’s been ice ages and heat waves.”
He then referenced a Washington Post article that, according to Rogan, undercuts Sanders’ assertion about recent record-high temperatures. Rogan claimed the article cited data suggesting the planet is currently in a cooling trend, not a warming one.
“This was, like, a very inconvenient discovery,” Rogan said. “But they had to report the data, and kudos to them for doing that.”
According to the data Rogan cited, the hottest average global temperature in Earth’s history occurred nearly 100 million years ago—96.8°F—far exceeding the 2023 global average of 58.86°F. That contrast, Rogan argued, refutes the notion that modern temperatures are historically unprecedented.
Sanders appeared caught off guard.
“Well, I’m not sure,” he responded. “I didn’t read that article, but — but the scientists who are out there — I think —”
Rogan quickly interrupted:
“I know. But there’s a lot of money involved in that, too, Bernie. That’s part of the problem. There’s a lot of money involved in this whole climate change emergency issue. And there’s a lot of control.”
Sanders shifted away from temperature specifics and instead focused on climate change more broadly, calling it a “global issue” and pointing to China’s carbon footprint as a major contributor.
“All I can tell you is that we are, in my view, going to see more extreme weather disturbances in the coming years than we have ever,” Sanders said. “We’re seeing them right now.”
However, Sanders did not provide examples of these extreme weather events during the segment.
