Collide-a-scape

I don’t understand how someone can call himself a climate change “pragmatic” and entirely dismiss the need for adaptation.

Let me see if I get Joe Romm’s logic right:

The tragedy of Katrina demonstrated that we can’t do adaptation, so why bother?

I understand that Romm and many other climate advocates regard talk of adaptation as a bait and switch tactic, but it’s not responsible. Or pragmatic. A more reasonable position would be that of this commenter at Climate Progress:

The top priority should clearly be preventing and mitigating further climate change, but aren’t we at a point where preparation for and adaptation to climate change is also necessary? My understanding is that there’s quite a bit of climate change already “in the pipeline”, based on past emissions which we cannot take back.

Earlier this summer, after federal investigators arrested two dozen residents from Blanding, Utah, for looting ancient Indian burials, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) was quick to denounce the FBI’s conduct. Hatch called the federal pothunting raid “overkill” and asked Congress to investigate the FBI’s sting operation.

A Salt Lake Tribune editorial scolded Hatch for

trying to make cheap political points back home at the expense of federal agents.

Yesterday, Hatch held the CIA to a different standard. As the Salt Lake Tribune reported, he

said the Justice Department’s decision to open a preliminary inquiry into whether CIA officers violated federal laws would put a chilling effect on the nation’s ability to gather intelligence and thwart potential terrorist acts.