A very insensitive question

Scott Pruitt, denialist (source)

It's considered not quite the thing to mention global warming when there's a record-breaking hurricane .... or a record drought .... or record floods .... or record heat.  

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, says it is insensitive to discuss climate change in the midst of deadly storms. 

Tomás Regalado, the Republican mayor of Miami whose citizens raced to evacuate before Hurricane Irma, says if not now, when? “This is the time to talk about climate change. This is the time that the president and the E.P.A. and whoever makes decisions needs to talk about climate change,” Mr. Regalado told the Miami Herald. “If this isn’t climate change, I don’t know what is. This is a truly, truly poster child for what is to come.” 

For scientists, drawing links between warming global temperatures and the ferocity of hurricanes is about as controversial as talking about geology after an earthquake. But in Washington, where science is increasingly political, the fact that oceans and atmosphere are warming and that the heat is propelling storms into superstorms has become as sensitive as talking about gun control in the wake of a mass shooting. 

“To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced,” Mr. Pruitt said to CNN in an interview ahead of Hurricane Irma, echoing similar sentiments he made when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas two weeks earlier. “To use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very insensitive to this people in Florida,” he added.

[Read more here]

Nonsense.  What better time to discuss your drinking habits than when you are suffering from the morning-after hangover?  What better time to consider your spending habits when the credit card bill arrives?  What better time to consider how much and what you eat when you weigh yourself?

The reluctance to discuss climate change is not about being sensitive.  Well, I suppose it is--it's about being sensitive to the needs of your fossil fuel donors.  Don't say anything that will make hoi polloi become even more worried about climate change.  Above all, confuse and delay as long as possible.  Let's keep on making money while we trash the planet.