In the realm of bumper-sticker politics, there is a popular phrase among the environmentally conscious that encourages people to “think globally, act locally.” The gist is that while none of us have the power to singularly change the world, it is important to do what we can.

So, as President Donald Trump works to roll back environmental protections established by the Obama administration, Gov. Jay Inslee and other Washington officials should cling to that mantra. Trump’s beliefs about climate change and carbon emissions and economic impacts are an affront to science and are fueled by a rejection of demonstrable reality.

On Tuesday, Trump signed a sweeping executive order to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which had been designed to systematically reduce the nation’s reliance upon coal for generating electricity and to establish limits on carbon emissions. Trump had campaigned on a platform of overturning the rules, and on Tuesday he said, “We’re ending the theft of American prosperity and rebuilding our beloved country.”

That would be a powerful sentiment — if it were true. But Trump’s assertions, along with his previous claim that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by China, do not match the facts.

While climate change deniers have a handful of scientific reports to support their position, 97 percent of published climate scientists believe that human activity contributes to extreme climate change. Scientists are not always accurate, but it is folly to ignore a strong consensus among those who actually study the data, understand the science, and have their work vetted by peers. The idea of human-caused climate change is not settled science, but that science clearly points in one direction.