In 2019, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced her Green New Deal – an infrastructure bill that would save the world by putting a stop to climate change and spending enough tax money to make old FDR green with envy. Alas, ending climate change wasn’t good enough, and her proposal died in Congress. Then came 2020 and the Coronapocalypse. According to Berkeley professor Robert Reich, the Green New Deal was all that could save us – but even then, the masses were not swayed.
Now, with the pandemic subsiding on its own and the doomsday clock presumably still ticking away, AOC appears once again, swinging wildly with the Green New Deal at a new monster – one sure to tug at the heartstrings of the people: Racism.
Yes, that’s right. Racism is the cause of climate change. As one could guess easily enough, this latest attempt at linking her legislation to any cause worth championing was received about as well as her others.
The Big Reveal
“We’re going to transition to a 100% carbon-free economy that is more unionized, more just, more dignified and that guarantees more health care and housing than we ever had before. That’s our goal,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a press conference after she and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) reintroduced the bill. She later explained that “the Green New Deal also, importantly, recognizes the systemic cause of climate change.”
Oh boy, everyone knows what comes next after a word like systemic …
“Because while climate change is a planetary crisis, it is not caused by an environmental or random … ah, it does not have a random or environmental genesis,” she continued, in a rather Joe Biden-esque way of setting up her next point. “It’s not just human caused; it’s societally caused.” Because there’s a difference? She then went on to, in another sort of bumbling Biden moment, finally say what she wanted to say:
“The climate crisis is a crisis born of injustice, and it is a crisis born of the pursuit of profit at any and all human and ecological costs … which means that we must recognize in legislation that the trampling of indigenous rights is a cause of climate change – that the trampling of racial justice is a cause of climate change because we are allowing people, and we are allowing ourselves, to make sure … to … we are allowing folks to deny ourselves human rights and deny people the right to health care, the right to housing, and to education.”
There you have it: Climate change is caused by racism.
The Vicious Cycle
When the migrant caravan approached the southern U.S. border back in 2018, the left was quick to say these pour souls were fleeing violence, poverty, anguish, and … wait for it … climate change. According to news outlets across the world, there would be more to come, too. Well, they weren’t wrong on that count.
Then, Trump and his supporters apparently ratcheted up the racism and xenophobia to keep these folks out. And since racism causes climate change, that must have just made the weather get worse in Central and South America, leading to the masses of migrants clogging up the southern border now. It makes sense. Climate change and racism are tied to just about everything – as is progressive spending. Heck, remember when Chelsea Clinton had to enlighten us about how climate change even causes diabetes – wait! How did we not see it before? The National Institutes of Health explain that diabetes affects more blacks than whites – about 66 more per 1,000. Not only is diabetes itself racist, but it’s also caused by racism. Oh, what a vicious cycle it is!
The Reality Check
Are the poor more affected by inclement weather? Of course. Are many of the poor in America and across the world non-white? Yep. Does that mean that racism in America causes climate change?
Not only are there plenty of non-white people in the U.S. doing just fine regardless of the weather and a whole bunch of poor white folk freezing or dying of heat strokes, but there are also about 7.9 billion people in the world, of which roughly 332.6 million Americans make up a meager 4.2%. How could the behavior of so few, relatively speaking, avert planetary doom were it really coming?
The United States is but one of 195 countries. And it’s not even the worst offender when it comes to pollution – not by a long shot. Of all the plastic littering the ocean, a whopping 1% of it comes from the U.S. Most comes from Asia, where folks simply toss trash into the nearest waterway to be washed out of sight and out of mind. Guess what else Asia has the most of: People, many of whom pollute with reckless abandon. China – another single nation out of 195 – accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions, with no signs of a cutback in the future. China, which does account for about 10% of the world’s population, puts out almost 30% of the world’s air pollution. Where’s their Green New Deal?
As climatologist Patrick Michaels explained to Liberty Nation’s Tim Donner in 2019, the U.S. has cut its carbon emissions more than any other country in the world – and all without a Green New Deal. That’s good news for America and Earth – but perhaps not so good for AOC.
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