The truth is, once we return from our short exile, we’ll probably forget and go back to our self-destructive ways, rebuilding on ever-eroding barrier islands, draining and paving the wetlands that might protect us from climate change and hurricane harm. The last we saw Irma, it was a rainy patch wafting around the upper Mississippi Valley like a disconsolate ghost. Here in Florida, I’m sensing a certain petulance taking hold. Even though the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the first responders, the various state agencies and good old ordinary humans all seem to have done a fine job coping with the storm, and we all enjoyed the images of Florida heroism — the Busch Gardens flamingos marching single-file to safety, the intrepid boaters rescuing stranded pregnant ladies and old people, the Key West street roosters wrapped in newspaper, ready to be evacuated in the back seat of a car — perhaps it’s only natural to wonder why we can’t avoid this hassle altogether. It’s the 21st century! We have smart houses and self-driving cars and robots! It’s not reasonable that some alchemy of warm water, cool air and thunderclouds can just rear up and disrupt all human life for hundreds of miles. I mean, who’s the boss around here?