Hurricane Sandy Alters Calculus of Climate Change

If the worst Atlantic storm in U.S. history holds an economic lesson, it is this: We all need to come to terms with the cost of climate change.

The increasing frequency with which weather-related disasters occur in the U.S., together with a growing climate-science literature, suggests devastating storms are going to be much more than once-in-a-lifetime events. Aside from the implications for global environmental policy and the survival of the human race, the changing pattern has an unmistakable bottom line: The long-term cost of natural disasters, for everyone from municipalities to mobile-phone companies to homeowners, is going to be much greater than previously thought.