CNN's Harry Enten: Climate Change Just Isn't a Big Priority for Most People

Yesterday, Bill Gates announced a shift on his approach to climate change, one that he is hoping other people in the environmentalist space will replicate. As David described yesterday, the approach is much less about doom and gloom for humanity and more about taking on the challenges with a can-do attitude. Here's a bit of what Gates had to say:

There’s a doomsday view of climate change that goes like this:

In a few decades, cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization. The evidence is all around us—just look at all the heat waves and storms caused by rising global temperatures. Nothing matters more than limiting the rise in temperature.

Fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong. Although climate change will have serious consequences—particularly for people in the poorest countries—it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future. Emissions projections have gone down, and with the right policies and investments, innovation will allow us to drive emissions down much further.

Here's the part that feels like the biggest change of tone to me:

From the standpoint of improving lives, using more energy is a good thing, because it’s so closely correlated with economic growth...

Although wind and solar have gotten cheaper and better, we don’t yet have all the tools we need to meet the growing demand for energy without increasing carbon emissions.

But we will have the tools we need if we focus on innovation.

This is basically the approach that Elon Musk has been taking for years. Musk is also a big proponent of doing things to stop climate change. The reason he sounds so different is that his approach isn't about moaning like Greta Thunberg and trying to shame people and governments into living smaller lives. Instead, his approach is we can solve these problems and have better lives for everyone. It's the difference between this:

"How dare you?" Environmental activist Greta Thunberg got teary as she called out world leaders. https://t.co/klshQTU0Nb pic.twitter.com/e5cKxUDr3i

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 23, 2019

And this:

Elon Musk: “I love humanity. I think we should fight for a good future for humanity and be optimistic about the future.”pic.twitter.com/fykVVHmQe9

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) October 27, 2025

In any case, today CNN's Harry Enten has another banger of a clip pointing out that support for the climate alarmist of Greta Thunberg seems to be shrinking in the US. This simply is nowhere near being a priority for most people.

🚨NEW: CNN's Harry Enten:

"The bottom line is that the climate change message ... has not really worked with the American people."

"It is not anywhere close to being the biggest thing that people are worried about."@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/tq3nswy6K9

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) October 29, 2025

My own take is that the difference in tone I've described above is a big part of why the appeal of this is pretty limited. Most normal people, i.e. those who aren't depressives living in their mother's basement, don't want to be scolded by a teenager who has never had a job. Most people don't enjoy climate doomerism. It's a minority viewpoint. 

Bill Gates has been in the doomer camp but now he seems to be moving into the other camp, the one that says the way out our problems is innovation. And, to give him some credit here, it's partly because he's actually building something that could make a difference. He's backing a new type of modular nuclear reactor, the first of which is being built in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Just a few days ago, that plan got a big environmental clearance.

Bill Gates-backed TerraPower’s innovative Natrium reactor project in Wyoming has cleared a critical federal regulatory hurdle. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has successfully completed its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project, known as Kemmerer Unit 1, and found no adverse impacts that would block its construction.

The commission officially recommended that a construction permit be issued to TerraPower subsidiary USO for the facility in Lincoln County.

This announcement marks a significant milestone, making the Natrium project the first-ever advanced commercial nuclear power plant in the country to successfully complete this rigorous environmental review process.

By nuclear building standards, this new plant is racing along. And TerraPower is also applying to bring this same reactor to the UK:

TerraPower, a nuclear innovation company, announced today the official submission of the Natrium reactor and energy storage system into the United Kingdom’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process. This is the company’s first regulatory step to deploying the Natrium technology in an international market.

The concept here is that these reactors can generate enough power to support 400,000 homes, but they are still small enough that they can be mass produced to some degree. That brings the cost down and makes it easier to get through necessary building inspections.

So is Gates just catching on to the fact that the old doomerism isn't working or has he discovered some internal optimism by building something? Maybe it's a bit a both. Whichever it is, it's nice to have one more voice that is sounding more optimistic about the future of mankind instead of just endlessly hectoring us all about what failures we are. Greta's routine gets old fast.