NSW Planning & Environment Staff Specifically Ordered Not To Discuss Link Between Fires, Warming

[hatrack]

Ed. - If you're looking for a preview of the "Epiphany" we can expect from the GOP, please see below for an example from a nation on fire.

As bushfire conditions were declared “catastrophic” on Tuesday, New South Wales bureaucrats attending a conference on adaption to climate change were directed not discuss the link between climate change and bushfires.

Bureaucrats from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment were sent an email soon after the AdaptNSW 2019 Forum began, causing consternation among some attendees who saw it as tantamount to gagging them. The email said: “For those attending AdaptNSW today, public affairs has issued advice not to discuss the link between climate change and bushfires. “Refer questions in session and plenaries to bushfire reps.”

EDIT

The entire rationale for the conference was to bring together experts who could contribute to discussion on adaption to climate change. It was held, coincidentally, as Sydney was braced for a bushfire threat that for the first time had been categorised as “catastrophic”. But some in the government, notably the Nationals, expressed outrage at people talking about whether climate change is exacerbating the extreme conditions and bushfire risk.

On Monday the NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, said: “It is an absolute disgrace to be talking about climate change while we have lost lives and assets. “For any bloody greenie or lefty out there who wants to talk about climate change ... when communities in the next 48 hours might lose more lives, if this is the time people want to talk about climate change, they are a bloody disgrace.’’ The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, took aim at the Greens and “all those other inner-city raving lunatics” who, he claimed, were politicising the tragedy.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/13/nsw-public-servants-at-climate-conference-told-not-to-discuss-link-with-bushfires

[Blues Heron]

1. OK lets talk about global warming then, deputy. "Climate change" is a euphemism anyway

[Mike 03]

2. We need to rethink how we are going to go forward strategically when it comes to global warming.

We can throw out fantasies of compromising with deniers, of reaching across the aisle. Even though it runs against what many of us were taught--that negotiation and compromise are necessary--we've entered a new era now, facing a reality we've never faced before, that will require a new approach.

Are there precedents in history for this? Examples from WWII or the cold war? Could a science like Game Theory or Behavioral Economics help us find a solution, a new way forward?