MSNBC bemoaned the lack of climate change discussions in media coverage of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on Monday, as Andrea Mitchell said it is "something that has not been raised much" and Daily Beast reporter Sam Stein equated it to not discussing counterterrorism after a terrorist attack.
"I want to ask ... about climate change," Mitchell said near the closing of her show. "Something that has not been raised in much of the coverage. We've been covering these back-to-back storms, and I know there's no cause-and-effect relationship that can be established, but there's certainly trends, and warmer waters are certainly one of the factors here."
"I don't even know you can say there's no cause-and-effect," Stein said. "Scientists conclude that warmer waters feed these storms, and these storms are of higher intensity because of it, and certainly among the factors that you should be discussing in the aftermath of these is climate change."
The Trump White House has not faced a single question on climate change in last two weeks. https://t.co/lJVuUDZZJe
— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 10, 2017
Stein said that, except for on MSNBC, climate change is hardly being discussed at all, and that the White House had not faced a question on the issue until one pool reporter shouted out a question at President Donald Trump about it this weekend.
Stein took exception to a recent remark by Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt that it was not appropriate to discuss climate change amidst the storms.
"That's the equivalent of saying you can't discuss counterterrorism in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, and so it's an interesting thing that we're not having this discussion in the midst of these historic storms," Stein said.