The climate change debate is a heated one, no pun intended. The scientific consensus is clear- carbon dioxide is increasing in the atmosphere due to human activity leading to the average temperature of the planet increasing. This has led to rising sea levels and has a host of runoff impacts which will adversely affect millions of people’s lives. On the other hand, some feel that climate modeling is flawed and doubt how much impact human activity has on it.

But just how to deal with this crisis is also a debate as heated as any other! And Joe Rogan has also weighed into the debate after one of Microsoft founder Bill Gates‘ claims about afforestation two years ago. The tech billionaire, who is a veritable climate change activist, courted controversy in 2023 after claiming that planting trees to deal with climate change is “complete nonsense.” But Rogan completely disagrees.

“You have people like Bill Gates saying that planting trees to deal with carbon is ridiculous. That’s a ridiculous way to do it. How is that ridiculous? They literally turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. It is their food. That’s what the food of plants is. That’s what powers the whole plant life and the way we have this symbiotic relationship with them. The more carbon dioxide is, the greener it is, which is why it’s greener today on Earth than it has been in 100 years. Sure. These are all facts that are inconvenient to people that have a very specific, narrow window of how to approach this,” Rogan said on his podcast.

Of course, Joe Rogan is completely right. Plants absorb CO2 and release oxygen into the atmosphere, which is why many organizations and activists advocate reforestation and aforestation as a strategy to reduce the CO2 levels in the atmosphere and deal with the climate change crisis.

However, some scientists question the level of impact just planting trees has on reducing the atmospheric CO2 content in any meaningful way. Scientists have also warned that planting trees in the wrong places (such as the Arctic) could increase warming, not to mention the risks to ecosystems that planting monoculture trees poses. Climate change may be a boring topic for most, but the topic is responsible for one of the most memorable moments on Rogan’s podcast.

Throwback to Joe Rogan’s heated debate with Candace Owens on climate change

Joe Rogan fans will remember his infamous interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens, where the duo discussed the issue of climate change. Owens revealed that she doesn’t believe the global climate is changing because of anything humans are doing. This prompted the podcast host to point out that “most scientists, the vast majority, agree that human beings are negatively affecting climate change.” But Owens was unconvinced, which led Rogan’s producer to pull up an article from the ‘Scientific American’s website, one of the most well-respected science magazines in the world.

Bizarrely, the conservative commentator claimed that she didn’t believe anything the website said since it was a ‘.com’ and not a ‘.org’ domain. Rogan looked as puzzled on this as the audience watching it, and the conversation moved on. But since then, Owens has never been on the JRE podcast, despite having become one of the most influential voices in the conservative sphere since then.

And fans feel that Owen’s strange responses to the climate change question, and more importantly, the ‘disingenuous’ manner she tried to defend her position rubbed the UFC commentator the wrong way, and is the reason she hasn’t been back on Rogan. What do you think about Joe Rogan’s response to Bill Gates’ take on afforestation as a way to deal with climate change?