Safety Razors, Bananas And Thrift Stores: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Advises Teens Reducing Their CO2 Footprints

838

NEW YORK, NY – New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited a high school in New York Monday where she answered a teen’s question about what they could personally do to fight global warming.

Her response? The freshman Democrat told them not to use disposable razors and skip out on meat and dairy, according to a Tuesday tweet.

Environmentalists have long criticized disposable razors as a source of plastic waste and have increasingly criticized meat and dairy producers for their greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations is even pushing for people to eat more insects for protein and eschew dairy.

The U.N. and other health authorities have most recently targeted red meat as a source of social ills, suggesting beef and other red meats increase cancer risks and that emissions will drastically decrease if red meat is abandoned.

Christiana Figueres, the former head of the U.N.’s climate program, suggested “restaurants in 10-15 years start treating carnivores the same way that smokers are treated,” at a November conference.

“If they want to eat meat, they can do it outside the restaurant,” Figueres said.

However, animal meat is a key source of nutrients, including the only form of omega-3 fatty acids human bodies use. Plant-based diets also lack some key nutrients, requiring people to take vitamin supplements. Moreover, putting the world on a vegetarian diet would only reduce individual carbon dioxide emissions about 2 percent, according to research.

Ocasio-Cortez also suggested shopping at thrift stores, walking, biking, using public transit and lugging around a grocery bag and coffee mug.

Ocasio-Cortez is set to unveil “Green New Deal” legislation as early as next week. The legislation is expected to call for net-zero carbon dioxide emissions within 10 years and push a grab bag of social justice goals.

Follow Michael on Twitter

Comment via Facebook

Corrections: If you are aware of an inaccuracy or would like to report a correction, we would like to know about it. Please consider sending an email to [email protected] and cite any sources if available. Thank you. (Policy)