Charles Petzold

In the aftermath of the storm known as Sandy, we should be very cautious to avoid the "loose talk" and "rash decisions" that often accompanies these ever-more-frequent extreme weather events.

Let's be clear: There's no definitive proof that any particular occurrence of weird weather is caused or even exacerbated by climate change.

And if even — theoretically speaking — it is conceivable that climate change might influence or exacerbate weather patterns, that's obviously not the case here, because there is no such thing as climate change.

And even if climate change exists, humans certainly didn't cause it.

And even if humans built climate change, there's nothing we can do about it.

And even if there was something we could do to alleviate climate change, we shouldn't do whatever that might be because it would be inconvenient, and disrupt people's lives, and affect the economy in some way, and that's obviously to be avoided.

Look, if there's anyting we've learned in this life, it's that it's best not to try to anticipate future problems and do something about them now, but to wait until the problems actually manifest themselves and then try to fix them. Dealing with problems as they arise is always easier and undeniably cheaper than exercising the foresight necessary to prevent the problems in the first place.

Life is — and should be — an eternal game of whack-a-mole.