Metro

Ocasio-Cortez responds to carbon footprint exposé: I’m just ‘living in the world’

Freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to The Post’s report on her giant carbon footprint by saying she’s just “living in the world.”

“I also fly and use AC,” the Green New Deal-touting pol tweeted Saturday night. “Living in the world as it is isn’t an argument against working towards a better future.”

According to the GND fact sheet, the nation must “totally overhaul transportation by massively expanding electric vehicle manufacturing, build charging stations everywhere, build out high-speed rail … create affordable public transit available to all, with goal to replace every combustion-engine vehicle.”

But since declaring her candidacy in May 2017, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign relied heavily on combustion-engine cars — taking Ubers and Lyfts instead of hopping on the subway.

In her rebuttal, the Bronx-born congresswoman said the GND is about systemic change — not about personal gas-guzzling practices.





“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.”

In a tweet of The Post’s front-page cover on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez snipped, “The Post put the fact that I get into cars (while proposing a plan to invest in better car technology on the front page,” with an emoji of someone laughing so hard they cry.

“Pack it up folks, the Pulitzer’s been decided. No one can rival this kind of hard-hitting journalism.”

The pol didn’t address the finding from the American Public Transportation Association that “a single person … by eliminating one car and taking public transportation instead, a savings of up to 30 percent of carbon-dioxide emissions can be realized.”





Instead, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign logged 1,049 car service transactions totaling over $23,000 between May 16, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2018, The Post found. Her campaign once booked 26 car-service transactions in a single day.

Even though her Queens HQ was just a one-minute walk to the 7 train, her campaign only made 52 MetroCard purchases, spending about $8,300.

And despite high-speed rail being the cornerstone of her green strategy, the Democratic firebrand took Amtrak 18 times, compared to 66 airline transactions costing $25,174.54 during the campaign season.

Related Video





Share this: