Trump in Louisiana is a Study in Ignorance and Reckless Disregard

Today, Donald Trump is visiting Baton Rouge and a flood ravaged Louisiana. According to WIRED, “This is the eighth time in about a year that 500-year rainfall has hammered the US, and climate change will make extreme weather events like this more common.” The New York Times writes, “Climate change is never going to announce itself by name. But this is what we should expect it to look like.”

Katharine Hayhoe, a climate researcher at Texas Tech University, told The Washington Post, ‘Louisiana is always at risk of floods, naturally, but climate change is exacerbating that risk, weighting the dice against us ... How long will it be until we finally recognize that the dice are loaded?’ ”

In response, Sierra Club Political Director Khalid Pitts released the following statement:

"For Donald Trump, this day trip to Baton Rouge is just another episode in the gaudy reality show that his campaign has become rather than a recognition of the real problems American families are facing. Let's be clear: Donald Trump is taking his reckless and dangerous denial of climate science to the heart of a crisis fueled in part by climate change. That's like a tobacco lobbyist offering health tips at a cancer ward. The scientific community's loud calls for action and disasters like the one that is devastating Louisiana should be wake-up calls that we need to immediately shift into high gear to tackle the climate crisis, but Trump has his head buried in the sand. No amount of campaign theatrics can change that.

Only one candidate in this race has a serious plan to address climate change by cutting the pollution that is fueling this crisis and growing our clean energy economy, and that's Hillary Clinton. The choice this election for anyone interested in protecting the health of our communities and our families grows clearer by the minute."