For a long time, we have been hearing about global warming. This year, because of all the cold weather in the United States, some long-time critics are saying, “Look, there is no global warming.”

Even the language has changed. Instead of global warming, the talk is now about global weather change. The weather patterns and temperatures we have been experiencing seem to be less predictable. In some parts of the planet, it is getting much warmer, and in other places, winter this year has been brutally cold.

As a result, some weather critics are saying that climate changes are just cyclical, and that media and climate change theorists are talking it up for political reasons. Long-term climate change is occurring, however, whether people agree that it is happening or not. It is affecting not only North America, but our entire planet.

To see how our climate is changing, we have to look at what is happening worldwide. Cyclones and tsunamis occur in Far East Asian countries. Coastal hurricanes affect Central America, South America and the U.S. Windstorms and heat waves prevail on the African continent. Tornadoes take place in the Midwest and Southwest. In the winter months, heavy snowstorms can affect all of us. Drought is occurring in many parts of the planet, but scientists disagree about whether or not that is due to long-term global warming.

Climate change is real. Our coral reefs are eroding, and the polar ice caps are melting. The coral reefs provide food and protection for marine life at the bottom of our marine food chain. The melting of the ice caps threatens to raise the water levels along coastal areas, potentially wiping out areas where millions of people now live.

Scientists overwhelmingly believe that the climate change we are experiencing is substantially man-made, the result of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels like coal in factories and power plants. Those who argue against dealing with climate change cite the costs to our standards of living, if we try to reduce our carbon footprint.

There are great costs to doing nothing, also. Dangerous winter storms kill drivers and pedestrians on our roads. Flooded homes and businesses cause great damage to lives and incomes. Hurricanes and tsunamis leave terrible tragedies in their wake. The economy suffers from all these worsening weather events.

We used to say that taxes and weather were the two things that people could not control. But of course we can control both, to some degree. We need taxes to run our government, but we can use the money that government collects to help us deal with some of our weather problems.

We will never fully control the weather. It still has many aspects of randomness, in how patterns are formed and developed. But we can work to reduce the worst risks that we face from climate change.

Our states and our federal government can be more active in working to reduce flooding. For example, in southern Florida, pump stations work with local drainage systems to control flooding in each community. Excessive water is pumped into and out of huge reservoir storage pits. It is costly for drainage to be installed, in preparation before a huge storm, but it should be considered if people’s roads, homes, businesses and lives are at risk.

In areas that get hit with heavy snowfalls, across the Northeast and Midwest, state and local governments need to be sure that adequate amounts of shelters are in place, with plenty of water, food and blankets, if people lose electricity for long periods. Perhaps in states like Maine, school districts should rethink school schedules, giving more time off in January and February and extend the school year into July, instead of putting young people at risk in the winter.

Meanwhile, the number of power plants using coal or oil should be cut back. Each community should make an analysis of the costs and benefits of installing new, green energy plants, whether for new electric power or to stay with the existing facilities. Tough decisions to invest in new facilities to reduce the man-made hazardous particles in our air are financial and health decisions that the cities or federal government must make to deal properly with solutions to climate changes.

There are no short-term solutions to man-made or natural happenings that affect climate changes. Long-term solutions are needed, so we need to start planning for them now.

— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.