Despite clear evidence to the contrary, president-elect Donald Trump stated on Fox News Sunday that "nobody really knows" whether climate change is real. This is wholly incorrect and impossible to defend. Denying climate change is not simply another bipartisan stance — ignoring the science behind it will result in very real global consequences, and it is irresponsible for our president-elect to claim "no one knows" the science simply because he does not. The list of people who have understood and heeded this warning include international offices like the United Nations Environment Programme and World Health Organization, as well as global leaders like Chinese president Xi Jinping and German chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump is incorrect.

To review what our president-elect possibly missed in his skipped intelligence briefings: The New York Times reports that the planet has warmed by about 1.7 degrees since 1880, as of October 2015, largely due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. That may not seem like a big deal, but according to The Times, it is "roughly equal to the heat that would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet every day." The consequences of this are far-reaching. The World Health Organization reports that climate change negatively impacts clean air, safe drinking water, and access to sufficient food. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

The Pentagon and CIA named climate change a threat to national security in 2009. These widely acknowledged dangers are why global leaders met and developed the Paris Climate Agreement, which President Obama signed. "This is the single-best chance that we have to deal with a problem that could end up transforming this planet in a way that makes it very difficult for us to deal with all the other challenges that we may face," Obama said at the time. During his campaign, Trump stated a desire to "cancel" the president's support of the Paris Agreement and shift toward clean energy.

The president must protect the United States against all threatening forces, but president-elect Trump blatantly denies the evidence of climate change and claims he is "smart enough" to skip intelligence briefings that may provide him with the facts. On Fox News Sunday, Trump added that he is “very open-minded” on whether climate change is real, but little evidence supports those words. This is a man who appointed a climate denier to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency, regularly invents his own version of facts, and is accused of targeting climate scientists within the EPA.

Here is the good news — you don't need Donald Trump's approval to get involved with world-changing policy or to fight climate change. You can reduce your own carbon footprint in simple ways with tips from The New York Times, support climate legislation, and volunteer time to work with organizations like Water Aid, which offset the negative impacts of climate change.

Related: Dear Future President: 3 Youth Activists on Climate Change

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