Report: AOC's Response to Her Outrageous Carbon Footprint Should Have Even Her Supporters Worried
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the author of the Green New Deal, a document that seeks to supplant air travel, inasmuch as is feasible, with high-speed rail travel. I only mention this because her district is in New York and she works down in Washington; this is one of the few routes in America where rail isn’t just a reasonable alternative to flying but significantly easier.
Yet, her campaign spent seven times more money on air travel than Amtrak — and while I’m sure some of that wasn’t between New York and Washington, the hypocrisy is still galling.
In fact, as the New York Post reported, her carbon footprint is immense — and her excuse for it is beyond ridiculous.
For instance, “even though a subway station was just 138 feet from her Elmhurst campaign office,” the Post noted that her campaign “listed 1,049 transactions for Uber, Lyft, Juno and other car services, federal filings show. The campaign had 505 Uber expenses alone.”
“In all, Ocasio-Cortez spent $29,365.70 on those emissions-spewing vehicles, along with car and van rentals — even though her Queens HQ was a one-minute walk to the 7 train,” the report stated.
“The campaign shelled out only $8,335.41 on 52 MetroCard transactions.”
This is relatively high even by the standards of campaigns.
Rep. Max Rose is another freshman legislator from New York City; although his district is twice as large as hers, he only racked up 329 car service transactions for a grand total of $6,091.29.
Then there were the “66 airline transactions costing $25,174.54 during campaign season.
“The Democratic firebrand or her staff took Amtrak far less — only 18 times — despite high-speed rail being the cornerstone of her save-the-world strategy,” the Post noted. “Most of the flights came after her primary win gave her superstar status, and Ocasio-Cortez spent weeks jetting around the country, burning fuel to support her fellow Dems.”
And this even extended to her home life: “while she is quick to dispense all sorts of planet-saving tips to her constituents and fans, telling a high-school assembly in Queens last month that they should ‘skip disposable razors and switch to safety razors’ and ‘skip meat/dairy for a meal,’ she doesn’t always take her own green advice,” they reported.
“In a Feb. 24 Instagram video filmed in her kitchen, Ocasio-Cortez railed against plastic grocery bags — then appeared to toss two of the sacks, which can be recycled, into the trash.”
There is an aphorism — often falsely attributed to Gandhi — that tells us to “be the change we wish to see in the world.” In the case of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, her personal motto seems to be, “I’m in the world, what do you expect me to do?”
I also fly ✈️ & use A/C
Living in the world as it is isn’t an argument against working towards a better future.
The Green New Deal is about putting a LOT of people to work in developing new technologies, building new infrastructure, and getting us to 100% renewable energy. https://t.co/DZGE1WwLbn
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2019
Firstly, this is hardly “(l)iving in the world as it is.” I think the Green New Deal is bunkum and I’m not going to throw out plastic bags, which I could simply reuse in my wastebaskets.
If my office were right next to the 7 train, I would probably use the 7 train instead of Uber or Lyft.
If I were going to propose a major piece of legislation that relied heavily on high-speed rail, I would also use high-speed rail more.
If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez wants to start “working towards a better future,” she can do so without any Green New Deal being passed. The New York Post offered plenty of alternatives that, quite frankly, she should have thought of.
This would all be her choice, mind you, if she weren’t attacking Americans over their carbon footprints. But she is, and she is putting forward a plan that would be forced scarcity in action.
This is someone who seems woefully unprepared for forced scarcity, much less living as sustainably as any random American does.
It’s not just me who should worry about how out of touch this woman is when we read a statement like this. Her supporters should worry, too. They’ve clearly picked a savior who has no intention of following her own advice.
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