Climate change is upon us. There is little credible dispute about this, throughout our political society. If you have a word of complaint with this assumption, swing by the information center in Old Forge and look at our snowfall totals for the past 40 years.

What you will find is a steady decline—even dipping below 100 inches for a couple winters recently.

We have all noticed the weak winters of late. Even this one, with fairly steady snowmobile trail conditions, came with some major thaws. Snow doesn’t come like it used to.

There is a debate, unfortunately, about how it is affecting us. We live in the mountains! Sure, tough snowfall totals hurt, but maybe the weather will shift yet again and bring fruitful winters in the near future.

The truth of the matter is that global warming demands our attention.

It is affecting our lives and our economy in Old Forge, just as it is affecting the lives of people hit by Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, people in tornado prone areas, people on coastal areas that are too familiar with monsoons, and people who have been devastated by recent droughts.

Obviously, these catastrophes have happened throughout Earth’s history, however global warming has been closely correlated with an increase of the frequency and intensity of these storms.

Trusted science news outlet National Geographic states their predictions clearly: “Floods and droughts will become more common.”

Scientists around the globe have supported this hypothesis.

“Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger,” National Geographic’s website continues.

And this dreadful reality is nearer than most would like to believe.

The issue of climate change, largely put on the back burner by our legislative bodies, is pressing us into a corner.

Weather patterns are becoming more and more unpredictable, and our economies are becoming more and more unstable.

Yet our government only focuses on the problems directly at hand.

Some foresight is needed by our representatives. Although there is some talk of global warming, there are few meaningful debates and legislative initiative about the issue.

The problem exists in the collective inaction because this will have much more sting than a fiscal cliff.

We must support politicians that push for advances in renewable energy, as well as laws pushing carbon emissions in the right direction: down.

What once were seen as liberal ideas concerning climate change are now seen as reasonably logical, and it is important that our government’s center of debate shifts with this ideological change.

Let’s force this change to happen quickly.

Disregard will lead to pain. The positive feedback loop that is our atmosphere will further increase the rate of demise.

Not only will this drag down the Central Adirondack’s snow-based economy, but it will threaten human lives across the globe.

It is the duty of our government to respond to the people’s concern. And it is our duty to look into the future and see the soon-to-be-upon-us consequences.

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You can follow Colin Criss on Twitter @ADKCurrent