Analysis: Ocasio-Cortez’s righteous — and accurate — anger about poverty and the environment
By Philip Bump Philip Bump National correspondent focused largely on the numbers behind politics Email Bio Follow March 27 at 12:15 PM You are probably one of the millions of people who’ve seen the clip above. It’s from a House committee hearing on Tuesday, which is not the sort of thing that often lends itself to going viral. But it features freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — which is.
“I don’t think we should not focus on the rich, wealthy elites who will look at this and go, ‘I love it, because I’ve got big money in the bank; everyone should do this. We should all sign onto it,’ ” Duffy said. “But if you’re a poor family, just trying to make ends meet, it’s a horrible idea.” “I am very encouraged by the sudden concern on the other side of the aisle about climate change, and it makes me feel as though our efforts have been effective,” she began, “at the very least in distancing between the dangerous strategy of climate denial, which we know is costing us lives — at least 3,000 in Puerto Rico in Hurricane Maria.
Ocasio-Cortez is addressing two points at once: the effects of air and water pollution on poorer communities; and the effects of climate change on those same communities. Both are accurate, according to scientific research. Ocasio-Cortez also noted the flooding that has affected Iowa and Nebraska in recent weeks, flooding that bears the hallmarks of being related to the warming climate. Those floods have revealed another way in which poorer rural communities are affected by water pollution, as the Associated Press reported Wednesday: A million privately owned wells in the region are at risk of being tainted by polluted floodwaters.
Why? Disrupted access to public transportation. Disruptions to food systems. Lower ability to prepare for and deal with extreme heat or increased mosquito-borne diseases. Changes to agricultural and fishing patterns. Living in more risk-prone areas such as isolated rural regions or places with poor infrastructure.
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