While watching the HBO Chernobyl dramatization, I was struck by the Soviet government's contradictory response of publicly denying the problem existed and minim

While watching the HBO Chernobyl dramatization, I was struck by the Soviet government's contradictory response of publicly denying the problem existed and minimizing its extent, while at the same time giving the science team almost carte blanche authority to requisition resources to solve the problem. 5000 tons of boron? Helicopters are on their way. The entire country's supply of liquid nitrogen? It's yours. Robots? If they'll help, sure. The show made a big deal about how communist secrecy and denial obstructed the solution, made the problem worse, and even allowed it to happen in the first place. "A nuclear disaster cannot occur in the Soviet Union". But when I think about how we're reacting to climate change, it really seems like we're pretending the problem doesn't exist the same way they did, but without the corresponding succeed-at-all-costs extreme problem solving.