How does PBS Newshour turn around their excellent climate reporting in such short spans of time? The first quarter of this report summarizes and sets up the climate and infrastructure issues from Hurricane Sandy. Then it moves to a rather courteous and agreeable interview with Joe Romm and Kenneth Green, writers for opposing think tanks.

I typically bristle when journalists pit “both sides” against each other, but this time it seemed to have worked - because they both agree that climate is changing and something has to be done. Their ideas to respond to climate change are complimentary, and they discuss a diversity of solutions that both government and free markets can address. The construction sector depends on government incentives, for example - you really can’t separate the two.

newshour:

Why haven’t we heard more about climate change during the national campaign?

Joseph Romm, Center for American Progress:

Well, of course, Mitt Romney gets a lot of money from fossil fuel interests. So, that’s one reason he even opposes a clean energy tax credit for wind.

Obama, I think, is just misreading the polls entirely…It’s when global warming becomes local that the public becomes concerned about it. And that’s why the polls in the last two years have shown the public is increasingly concerned, and this is particularly true of independent voters also. They are very concerned about their local pollution, but also the extreme weather that they have been seeing.

Who could miss 14 billion-dollar extreme weather disasters in this country last year and over seven this year? It’s just — you know, everyone sees the weather is going crazy, and it’s affecting them. It’s not going to be affecting a distant people in a distant land a distant time from now. It’s happening here now.