Ocasio-Cortez tweets video of damage caused by Dorian: ‘This is what climate change looks like’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) retweeted a video showing the extent of the damage already caused by Hurricane Dorian as it ravaged the Bahamas over the past few days.

In her post, the freshman lawmaker writes that the video “is what climate change looks like; it hits vulnerable communities first.”

{mosads}“I can already hear climate deniers screeching: “It’s always been like this! You’re dim,” etc,” she wrote. “No. This is about science & leadership. We either decarbonize&cut emissions, or we don’t & let people die.”

The minute-long video showed flyover shots of Abaco in the Bahamas with the pilot pointing out all the things on the island that are “gone” following Dorian’s destruction.

This is what climate change looks like: it hits vulnerable communities first.

I can already hear climate deniers screeching: “It’s always been like this! You’re dim,” etc.

No. This is about science & leadership. We either decarbonize&cut emissions, or we don’t & let people die. https://t.co/paUHKAp03e

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 3, 2019

Hurricane Dorian was classified as a level 5 hurricane at its peak but was downgraded to level 4 over the weekend as it heads towards Florida and the southeastern portion of the United States.

There have been at least five deaths confirmed by the storm so far.

The storm is expected to hit Florida early Wednesday and into Thursday. Dorian has since been downgraded to a category 2 storm.

Ocasio-Cortez has championed the Green New Deal since entering Congress, largely on a platform of addressing climate change and its disproportionate effects on low-income people.

Recent scientific research has found that climate change has a role in increasing the intensity of tropical storms, resulting in more rainfall and flooding.

Ocasio-Cortez’s message comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a similar warning tying climate change to the to hurricane Tuesday.

The 2020 presidential candidate blasted the fossil fuel industry for its contribution to the climate crisis.

“Let us be clear: Hurricane Dorian has everything to do with climate change, which is the existential crisis of our time,” he wrote. 

The fossil fuel industry is now the equivalent of the tobacco industry. It creates death and destruction, then spends billions denying its responsibility.

Let us be clear: Hurricane Dorian has everything to do with climate change, which is the existential crisis of our time. https://t.co/TBLiIcKb1W

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 3, 2019