Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now is at higher levels than at any other point in human existence. The United States is ramping up oil and gas production. Historic wildfires, floods and storms killed thousands of Americans in just the last two years, and its forecast to get much, much worse.

Yet Democrats spent less than 10 minutes on Wednesday talking about climate change at the first presidential primary debate.

At an event in Miami a city already facing disastrous sea level rise and where a wildfire is raging just 30 miles northwest a handful of candidates raised the issue unsolicited. But NBCs moderators waited an hour and 22 minutes to ask any questions about climate change. Only five of the 10 candidates onstage had a chance to respond to four questions on the issue directed at individual contenders, making it impossible to compare everyones stances. Discussion of a topic that only first came up 10:22 p.m. local time ended abruptly at 10:29 p.m.

Spending only seven minutes on climate questions was absurd, Kassie Siegel, climate director of the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said in a statement.