Ocasio-Cortez calls climate change ‘our World War II,’ warns the world will end in 12 years

Praying Mantis

Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asking 2014 Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai a question at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.  (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spoke out on Monday about the urgency to take on climate change, comparing it to World War II.
Speaking at an event commemorating Martin Luther King Day, Ocasio-Cortez expressed how the issue of climate change is a “generational” issue that younger people are more focused on.
“Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?'" Ocasio-Cortez said.
The Democratic Socialist said the fight against climate change is war and that it’s “our World War II.”
In November, the White House released a federal report that found that the impacts of climate change are being felt across the country, and “extreme weather and climate-related events” are going to worsen in the years to come -- with a significant impact on the economy.
The National Climate Assessment finds that extreme weather disasters “ have already become more frequent, intense, widespread or of long duration and have cost the the U.S. nearly $400 billion since 2015.”
Ocasio-Cortez has made waves ever since she won the upset victory in New York against incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, who was a top Democrat in Congress at the time. She is now the outspoken advocate of the Green New Deal, which is meant to address economic inequality and climate change.