As the world’s waters rise and storms grow more destructive every year, we find ourselves both frightened by the implications of being a state so dependent on healthy, predictable waterways and encouraged by being one of the states giving the issue the gravity it deserves.

We are encouraged by local legislators assembling a committee to look into the now-regular flooding of the Pawtuxet River with the aim of shielding residents and businesses from harm.

The flooding of the Pawtuxet represents the unfortunate but long-foreseen trend that climate scientists have been warning about for decades, and provides a very clear example of the consequences all of us will continue to face if we don’t make significant and widespread strides to curb the warming effect we have on our planet. The issues plaguing the Pawtuxet, of course, are not isolated to Rhode Island; they are happening worldwide.

This local effort to study the flooding and search for proactive steps against damage and displacement is a service to the residents and business owners who increasingly find themselves at the mercy of a rising river. We commend this exploration – and while we’re at it, wouldn’t the Woonasquatucket and Pocasset rivers be worth a look too?

At the same time, we are concerned that any local effort will be ineffective or constrained if the federal government has no interest in treating climate change with any urgency – or worse, with indefensible denial.

Our communities can't prepare for climate change alone, and this is where a federal strategy – and belief – in climate change is needed. Mitigation goes only so far against rising tides and oversaturating rains.

We can have political debates about immigration policy, foreign policy, domestic policy, judicial policy and so on, but inaction on climate change flies in the face of a mountain of evidence that it’s happening and human habits are making it worse.

Our president’s meddling in offshore wind-power permitting in late August threw a stick in the spokes of construction on the nearly complete 65-turbine Revolution Wind farm off the Rhode Island coast. He has repeatedly pledged allegiance to fossil fuels and dismissed climate change as a hoax.

Folks, it’s no hoax. It’s here, and in every other state in the nation, with a bigger footprint every year. Here and across the globe, our best hope to rise above it will depend on forward-thinking research like the Pawtuxet River flood study coupled with responsible, science-based policymaking in Washington to fund those studies, share the cost of infrastructure changes and resume weaning ourselves off petroleum.