The 1940’s were like that. The 90’s were like that. Sandy was a surprise for many, but we had one like that in 1938. That’s what the deniers will say.
The conversation will continue. They will continue until the leaders of the major economies of the earth are damaged directly by a protracted series of frequent catastrophes that are usually considered flukes, like another Dustbowl, or a monster hurricane in NYC or London every few years. They’ll eventually come around to the fact that it is good risk management to bet on the side of anthropogenic climate change and put more money and R&D into passive tech and a greener way of doing things. They are slowly coming around.
It would be nice if they would work a little faster.
The best the rest of us can do is do our homework and live greener.
We’ll see how it goes…