Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by 16 scientists and engineers which downplayed the threat of climate change and urged public officials not to combat global warming.

As we reported, only 4 of the 16 authors have published peer-reviewed research related to climate change, and 6 have been linked to fossil fuel interests. Given their lack of expertise on the science of global warming, it is hardly surprising that the op-ed was riddled with scientific inaccuracies and distortions.

Today, 38 climate scientists responded to the flawed op-ed in a letter to WSJ titled “Check With Climate Scientists for Views on Climate.” The following is an excerpt from their rebuttal:

Climate experts know that the long-term warming trend has not abated in the past decade. In fact, it was the warmest decade on record. Observations show unequivocally that our planet is getting hotter. And computer models have recently shown that during periods when there is a smaller increase of surface temperatures, warming is occurring elsewhere in the climate system, typically in the deep ocean. Such periods are a relatively common climate phenomenon, are consistent with our physical understanding of how the climate system works, and certainly do not invalidate our understanding of human-induced warming or the models used to simulate that warming.

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Research shows that more than 97% of scientists actively publishing in the field agree that climate change is real and human caused. It would be an act of recklessness for any political leader to disregard the weight of evidence and ignore the enormous risks that climate change clearly poses.