Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took Republicans to the woodshed on Tuesday for smearing her Green New Deal, all while revealing that Republicans and the fossil fuel industry have known about climate change for decades.
Ever since the freshman congresswoman introduced her sweeping legislation, the GOP have been attacking it in the most absurd ways, including by accusing her of wanting to ban air travel and take away everyone’s ice cream.
So, she addressed them head-on in a hard-hitting Twitter beat-down.
First, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that she enjoys flying back to Puerto Rico to see members of her family, which would be hard to do if air travel were banned. And as she demonstrated during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she absolutely loves to indulge in ice cream.
Trust me, I like ice cream way too much to do that.
(I also like visiting my family in Puerto Rico too much to “ban airplanes”)
Maybe if the GOP did their job for once & read a piece of legislation, they’d see that communities + jobs come FIRST, not last, in the #GreenNewDeal. https://t.co/b7oFVCkmGp
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2019
She then informed her followers that Republicans have known about climate change for years and that human activity such as pollution is the main cause.
We are already feeling the early nightmares of climate crisis, & the GOP is doing nothing to stop it – as they have for years.
I’ve been reading docs all week about how much people knew about climate + when.
They knew early. & Their goal has been to sow doubt this entire time. https://t.co/6YjVuKoevZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez then shamed the GOP for not even trying to prevent or reverse climate change even though thousands are dying because of the consequences.
Do you really think these increasingly regular & horrific wildfires & droughts are a coincidence?
That growing regularity of “100-year floods” is an accident?
We are losing our homes & loved ones *now.* 3,000 Americans died in María.
And GOP doesn’t even care enough to try.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2019
Then she linked to a scientific article that reveals ExxonMobil oil company has known about the problem for 40 years and responded by peddling misinformation in the name of profit.
If you want to read more, here’s a starter:https://t.co/D6q2LsOCFq
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2019
It turns out that ExxonMobil has known about climate change and the devastating effects of it on our planet since 1977.
According to Scientific American:
Exxon didn’t just understand the science, the company actively engaged with it. In the 1970s and 1980s it employed top scientists to look into the issue and launched its own ambitious research program that empirically sampled carbon dioxide and built rigorous climate models. Exxon even spent more than $1 million on a tanker project that would tackle how much CO2 is absorbed by the oceans. It was one of the biggest scientific questions of the time, meaning that Exxon was truly conducting unprecedented research.
The company’s senior scientist warned management about climate change after much research, and ExxonMobil has gone to great lengths “to question the scientific basis for concern about climate change” ever since.
Ocasio-Cortez concluded by noting that a majority of millennials support the Green New Deal.
Don’t mess with our future.
When it comes to climate, it’s all our lives at stake. The younger you are, the more consequences you’ll see.
It’s life and death for us.
And we will fight like it. https://t.co/jlyFGkzCUW— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2019
Republicans should seriously pass the Green New Deal or they can expect to have Ocasio-Cortez breathing down their necks until they finally relent. The question is will it be too late by the time they do.
Featured Image: Screenshot
