Sandy and democracy

This area, the northeast, has witnessed two big hurricanes in as many years. Irene came this way in August 2011 and we've just been hit by monster storm Sandy.
Luckily, neither caused any damage worth mentioning here. There wasn't even any significant power outage. The day after Sandy struck, I noticed a piece of vinyl siding in the frontyard. Fortunately it had been torn off the neighbor's house, not this one. It was, as far as I could see, the only kind of damage on this street, except for a few downed branches.
Elsewhere, of course, Sandy was devastating. Why have storms increased in frequency and severity in recent years? That's probably because of global warming. Essentially, hurricanes are a natural means of transferring excess heat from the lower latitudes to higher ones. The excess heat likely is of anthropogenic origin, or due to CO2 output. The storm problem seems likely to continue, or worsen, until global warming is effectively addressed. Yet again, the solution involves sacrifices, such as less driving. It appears, therefore, that democratic government is as helpless in the face of environmental problems as it is in the face of economic ones. Long touted as the great panacea (or cure-all) of today's world, democracy is really anything but.