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Vinny from "Jersey Shore" is a secret climate change nerd

The Jersey Shore’s Vinny is smart on climate change, so we made him our climate correspondent for a day

When President Donald Trump questioned climate change in a tweet about the cold snap that hit the east coast in December, few were surprised. Donald Trump has a long history of climate denial, and the presidency has done nothing to change that.

What did cause a stir, however, was one particular response to the President’s tweet — authored by none other than the most solicitous "Jersey Shore" cast member, Vinny Guadagnino.

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“I think climate change is more complex than global warming will make it hotter. It has to do with disruptions of atmospheric conditions, ocean patterns, jet streams and shit like that,” he wrote.

The online reaction was mixed. Many praised the reality TV star, though many more joked at the perceived absurdity of having a "Jersey Shore" cast member school the President on climate change. And Guadagnino pushed back on that, too. “I get the joke but why does having a summer shore house automatically make u stupid?” he tweeted. After all, this wasn’t the first time Vinny had spoken out about climate change online.

Regardless of what interested people about Guadagnino's tweet, his concerns over global warming are real, and they got the world’s attention. So we asked him if he’d be willing to come to VICE HQ and interview chemist and climate expert Bhawani Venkataraman — with the help of some of our viewers.

This segment originally aired January 18, 2018, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.