“We don’t have to project one minute into our future to see that the climate crisis is already here.”
“On this note, I speak to you not as an elected official or public figure, but I speak to you as a human being,” added Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) at one point during a speech over the weekend.
She was practically choking back tears while talking at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen on Friday.
“[I’m] a woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet, because of what I know about our children’s future,” she said. “And that our actions are responsible for bringing their more dire possibilities into focus.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who turns 30 this month, blamed climate change for several natural disasters — including the hurricanes that recently hit Puerto Rico.
“I speak to you as a daughter and descendant of colonized peoples who have already begun to suffer,” she said.
“Just two years ago, one of the deadliest disasters in the United States struck in the form of Hurricane Maria. The climate change-powered storm killed over 3,000 Puerto Ricans — American citizens. My own grandfather died in the aftermath, all because they were living under colonial rule, which contributed to the dire conditions and lack of recovery.”
“This year we saw Hurricane Dorian wreck similar ravage in the Bahamas,” she also said.
“And that is not a coincidence.”
“As many have noted in an awful turn, the climate crisis’ path is first impacting those who have not only contributed to our emissions the least, but have already suffered greatly in the global history of inequality, colonization, and imperialism — stacking one injustice upon another.”
“But this is everyone’s loss, too,” she said.
The progressive Democrat, 29 — who has pushed the wildly expensive and highly controversial Green New Deal — went to the meeting with the C40, a group of 94 mayors led by Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles.
Garcetti shared his own Green New Deal targets earlier this year: His plan sets aggressive goals for the city’s sustainable future and tackles “the climate emergency with accelerated targets.” He said it puts L.A. “on course to be carbon neutral by 2050,” according to a release.
“Politicians in Washington don’t have to look across the aisle in Congress to know what a Green New Deal is — they can look across the country, to Los Angeles,” said Garcetti in a statement in April.
“With flames on our hillsides and floods in our streets, cities cannot wait another moment to confront the climate crisis with everything we’ve got. L.A. is leading the charge, with a clear vision for protecting the environment and making our economy work for everyone.”
Related: Pediatrician to Climate Change Advocates: Keep Your Hands Off Our Kids
See this clip of Ocasio-Cortez’s Copenhagen speech here:
The Green New Deal pushed by AOC calls for the U.S. to shift away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable sources such as wind and solar power. It calls for the virtual elimination by 2030 of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.
Republicans have railed against the proposal, saying it would devastate the economy and trigger massive tax increases.
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