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While she intended to express a sense of urgency, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s declaration of impending apocalypse and puzzling comparison between climate change and WWII mostly incited confusion and laughter online.<\/p>\n
Shortly before launching the first assault in the war against global warming (eating ice-cream with comedian Stephen Colbert), the 29-year-old lawmaker made her apocalyptic prediction. She announced that the end is nigh in her interview with journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates on Monday night at a forum honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we\u2019re like: \u2018The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don\u2019t address climate change\u2019,<\/em>\u201d the doomsaying congresswoman revealed in her rather distinctive oratorical tone.<\/p>\n To prevent the coming end-times, she called millennials and members of Gen-Z into battle with her inspiring words: \u201cAnd, like, this is the war \u2013 this is our World War II.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Twitter users responded with levels of mockery scaled to the congresswoman\u2019s wildly hyperbolic warning.<\/p>\n The world does have its fair share of apocalypse prophets, but they don’t usually end up in Congress.<\/p>\n \u2014 Tiny Tim (@tvshub) January 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/center><\/div>\n Others were baffled by Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s historical analogy, or imagined a war against an ecological phenomenon a bit too literally.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still trying to figure out what was our world war 1…..<\/p>\n \u2014 yikes 🤦♀️ (@DarriiYikes) January 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/center><\/div>\n So Alexandrian Ocasio-Cortez thinks we should fight global warming the same way we fought world war 2? Sorry Japan 🇯🇵 , it was her idea.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jack Blasted (@jackzblasted) October 22, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/center><\/div>\n But some commenters even saw the bright side of the apocalyptic proclamation.<\/p>\n According to @AOC<\/a> , if it lasts longer than 12 years we have nothing to worry about it. The only one alive will be @elonmusk<\/a> driving his Roadster around Mars<\/p>\n \u2014 BeamMeUp (@LowTestScore) January 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/center><\/div>\n Mockery aside, Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s seemingly oddly specific number is sourced in a report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October last year. Well not quite predicting the end of the world, the report did suggest dire consequences in a dozen years if serious action is not taken to fight global warming.<\/p>\n The freshman lawmaker doubled down on her statements on Twitter, emphasizing that climate change is an \u201cexistential threat<\/em>\u201d and chalking up criticism to generational differences.<\/p>\n For some reason GOP seems to think this is a gaffe, but it\u2019s actually a generational difference.<\/p>\n Young people understand that climate change is an existential threat: 3,000 Americans died in Hurricane Mar\u00eda.<\/p>\n The UN says we\u2019ve got 12 years left to fix it: https:\/\/t.co\/KzawP5oI1M<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/xTjtM39cCL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/center><\/div>\n However, more than one Twitter user noticed that Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s words were rather reminiscent of the dire warnings issued by Al Gore, ironically almost exactly 12 years ago. Gore was slightly more pessimistic when he predicted a global emergency within ten years in his 2006 film \u201cAn inconvenient truth<\/em>\u201d; his climate-catastrophe is currently about 3 years overdue.<\/p>\n Just in case her predictions do turn out to have some basis in reality, a new website has launched featuring a convenient timer<\/a> to help us plan our few remaining years.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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