President Trump frequently acts like he knows what he’s talking about even when it sounds like he doesn’t. That’s a bad trait for anyone, but especially the president of the United States. He’s counted on to provide reliable information that helps the public understand situations and make wise decisions. Instead, Trump’s misstatements put people’s lives in danger. Consider his latest dismissal of climate change.

Confronted with a report issued by 13 federal agencies within his own administration that said climate change left unchecked could ruin the U.S. economy, Trump said he didn’t believe the assessment. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising, coming from someone who only weeks ago in a 60 Minutes interview said although he didn’t think global warming was a hoax, “I don’t know that it’s man-made.”

It may serve Trump politically to ignore science, but his willful ignorance comes with a price that others will be left to pay. Ignoring climate change means ignoring the role it played in the severity of Hurricane Harvey and other violent storms. It means failing to take steps now that will help limit the loss of lives and property that will occur if Trump’s denial of reality continues to direct this country’s environmental policies.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment said: “Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities.” It warned that the severe impacts of climate change will only get worse if the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases aren’t reduced. CO2 is produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. States where those industries are prominent, including Texas, have been some of Trump’s biggest supporters.

The report based on research by 300 scientists concluded that the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season that spawned Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria was “consistent with the expectation of stronger storms in a warmer world.” It said Harvey’s total rainfall, including the more than 52 inches it dumped on parts of this state, “was likely compounded by warmer surface water temperatures feeding the direct tropical trajectories historically associated with extreme precipitation in Texas.”

The scientists acknowledged that other factors made flooding caused by Harvey worse, including rampant development in areas where it never should have occurred. The subsequent loss of wetlands, forests and prairies that historically absorbed storm water runoff made many locations more susceptible to flooding. So did the failure to make timely improvements to reservoirs, levees and other infrastructure.

Small steps such as replacing the 70-year-old gates at the Addicks and Barker reservoirs have been taken, but most long-range solutions are still in the discussion stage. Stepping up the pace is crucial, but it won’t mitigate the need to either confront global warming now or leave it to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to endure even worse calamities than Harvey.

The Natural Resources Defense Council lists ways that anyone can help reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming: use renewable energy sources such as wind or solar to cool and heat homes, weatherize houses to prevent energy waste, buy energy efficient cars and appliances, unplug unused appliances and stop wasting water.

Steps needed to make more impact globally, however, require policy changes in Washington that Trump has dismissed as job killers. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, now headed by former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has instead led efforts that have overturned at least nine air and water pollution rules and is trying to reverse 15 others.

A recent study by two Harvard University researchers estimates the environmental rollbacks, including Trump’s proposed replacement of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, could cause 80,000 more deaths per decade and respiratory problems for more than one million people. That’s on top of how the rule changes will impact global warming.

We agree with Trump that people need jobs. However, they also need protection from devastating storms that flood neighborhoods, leave families homeless, and can cause death. And as Texans can testify, there are plenty of jobs to be had installing wind turbines and solar panels.

Americans know that global warming is a threat. About 4 in 5 Americans believe the climate is changing and causing extreme weather, including two-thirds of Republicans. A majority of Americans consider this to be a “very serious” problem.

Self-serving politicians who suggest the price to slow global warming is too high, or it’s enough that the United States is doing more than China, or insist that climate change isn’t man-made should read the Trump administration’s own report. Then urge your members of Congress to pass new legislation that would fill the dangerous regulation void the president is creating.