SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Residents sort through damaged and destroyed items after a night of heavy rain and wind caused many homes to flood on September 2, 2021 in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York City. (Photo: Scott Heins/Getty Images)
'The Climate Crisis Is an Inequality Crisis,' Says Ocasio-Cortez After Deadly Storm Hits Northeast
"Among the people MOST at risk during flash floods here are those living in off-the-books basement dwellings that don’t meet the safety codes necessary to save lives," said the New York Democrat.
Sep 02, 2021
As many parts of the Northeastern United States reeled Thursday following deadly flooding, tornadoes, and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined other progressive voices in linking the climate emergency to the nation's growing inequality, and calling for urgent action to address both crises.
NBC News reports at least 43 people were killed as Ida--now a post-tropical cyclone--battered the Tri-State Area with flooding caused by record rainfall, as well as tornadic winds, over the past 24 hours.
According to the outlet:
Four women, three men and a 2-year-old boy died in separate flooding incidents in the city, police said. All eight victims lived in Queens and died in the basements of residential homes, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea...
In New Jersey, 23 people were killed, including four residents at the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth, four people in Somerset County, one person whose body was recovered in Passaic and one who was found in South Plainfield. Of the four residents, three were family members.
"Many of these deaths occurred in basement dwellings, many of which are illegal and growing in [number] due to the unaffordable housing crisis, but do not meet safety standards required to keep people safe in incidents like flash floods," Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted. "These are working class, immigrant, and low-income people and families."
Echoing the congresswoman's remarks, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a Democrat, told MSNBC Thursday that this is "a climate justice issue at the end of the day."
"Think about the communities that are most impacted when these storms hit," said Richards. "They're in environmental justice communities, people living in basements... that's all tied to the affordability crisis. So we have to ensure that we're dealing with the systemic issues."
Richards accused the U.S. Congress of "dragging its feet" on passing an infrastructure bill that includes adequate funding to combat the worsening climate emergency.
"We need it done yesterday," he asserted, adding that "if we're not taking drastic and bold stances on policies and prevent this moving into the future, we're going to continue to see more deaths."
Critics have denounced the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package approved by the U.S. Senate last month for funding "false" climate solutions, while investing billions of dollars in the fossil fuel industry.
Progressives have expressed confidence that congressional Democrats can overcome Republican, right-wing Democrats' and corporate lobbying efforts against the far more ambitious and broadly popular $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal, which contains groundbreaking climate and clean energy policies including a Civilian Climate Corps.
The U.S. Senate approved the budget blueprint without a single Republican vote on August 11, while the House passed the measure along party lines nearly two weeks later. The package is backed by the Biden administration.
In addition to supporting the reconciliation bill, Ocasio-Cortez, along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), earlier this year reintroduced Green New Deal legislation that calls for creating more than a million jobs, upgrading U.S. infrastructure, transitioning to 100% renewable energy, and taking other critical steps to tackle the climate crisis.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
extreme weatherinequalityed markeygreen new dealjamaal bowmannew york citynew jerseyalexandria ocasio-cortez
As many parts of the Northeastern United States reeled Thursday following deadly flooding, tornadoes, and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined other progressive voices in linking the climate emergency to the nation's growing inequality, and calling for urgent action to address both crises.
NBC News reports at least 43 people were killed as Ida--now a post-tropical cyclone--battered the Tri-State Area with flooding caused by record rainfall, as well as tornadic winds, over the past 24 hours.
According to the outlet:
Four women, three men and a 2-year-old boy died in separate flooding incidents in the city, police said. All eight victims lived in Queens and died in the basements of residential homes, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea...
In New Jersey, 23 people were killed, including four residents at the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth, four people in Somerset County, one person whose body was recovered in Passaic and one who was found in South Plainfield. Of the four residents, three were family members.
"Many of these deaths occurred in basement dwellings, many of which are illegal and growing in [number] due to the unaffordable housing crisis, but do not meet safety standards required to keep people safe in incidents like flash floods," Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted. "These are working class, immigrant, and low-income people and families."
Echoing the congresswoman's remarks, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a Democrat, told MSNBC Thursday that this is "a climate justice issue at the end of the day."
"Think about the communities that are most impacted when these storms hit," said Richards. "They're in environmental justice communities, people living in basements... that's all tied to the affordability crisis. So we have to ensure that we're dealing with the systemic issues."
Richards accused the U.S. Congress of "dragging its feet" on passing an infrastructure bill that includes adequate funding to combat the worsening climate emergency.
"We need it done yesterday," he asserted, adding that "if we're not taking drastic and bold stances on policies and prevent this moving into the future, we're going to continue to see more deaths."
Critics have denounced the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package approved by the U.S. Senate last month for funding "false" climate solutions, while investing billions of dollars in the fossil fuel industry.
Progressives have expressed confidence that congressional Democrats can overcome Republican, right-wing Democrats' and corporate lobbying efforts against the far more ambitious and broadly popular $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal, which contains groundbreaking climate and clean energy policies including a Civilian Climate Corps.
The U.S. Senate approved the budget blueprint without a single Republican vote on August 11, while the House passed the measure along party lines nearly two weeks later. The package is backed by the Biden administration.
In addition to supporting the reconciliation bill, Ocasio-Cortez, along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), earlier this year reintroduced Green New Deal legislation that calls for creating more than a million jobs, upgrading U.S. infrastructure, transitioning to 100% renewable energy, and taking other critical steps to tackle the climate crisis.
As many parts of the Northeastern United States reeled Thursday following deadly flooding, tornadoes, and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined other progressive voices in linking the climate emergency to the nation's growing inequality, and calling for urgent action to address both crises.
NBC News reports at least 43 people were killed as Ida--now a post-tropical cyclone--battered the Tri-State Area with flooding caused by record rainfall, as well as tornadic winds, over the past 24 hours.
According to the outlet:
Four women, three men and a 2-year-old boy died in separate flooding incidents in the city, police said. All eight victims lived in Queens and died in the basements of residential homes, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea...
In New Jersey, 23 people were killed, including four residents at the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth, four people in Somerset County, one person whose body was recovered in Passaic and one who was found in South Plainfield. Of the four residents, three were family members.
"Many of these deaths occurred in basement dwellings, many of which are illegal and growing in [number] due to the unaffordable housing crisis, but do not meet safety standards required to keep people safe in incidents like flash floods," Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted. "These are working class, immigrant, and low-income people and families."
Echoing the congresswoman's remarks, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a Democrat, told MSNBC Thursday that this is "a climate justice issue at the end of the day."
"Think about the communities that are most impacted when these storms hit," said Richards. "They're in environmental justice communities, people living in basements... that's all tied to the affordability crisis. So we have to ensure that we're dealing with the systemic issues."
Richards accused the U.S. Congress of "dragging its feet" on passing an infrastructure bill that includes adequate funding to combat the worsening climate emergency.
"We need it done yesterday," he asserted, adding that "if we're not taking drastic and bold stances on policies and prevent this moving into the future, we're going to continue to see more deaths."
Critics have denounced the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package approved by the U.S. Senate last month for funding "false" climate solutions, while investing billions of dollars in the fossil fuel industry.
Progressives have expressed confidence that congressional Democrats can overcome Republican, right-wing Democrats' and corporate lobbying efforts against the far more ambitious and broadly popular $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal, which contains groundbreaking climate and clean energy policies including a Civilian Climate Corps.
The U.S. Senate approved the budget blueprint without a single Republican vote on August 11, while the House passed the measure along party lines nearly two weeks later. The package is backed by the Biden administration.
In addition to supporting the reconciliation bill, Ocasio-Cortez, along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), earlier this year reintroduced Green New Deal legislation that calls for creating more than a million jobs, upgrading U.S. infrastructure, transitioning to 100% renewable energy, and taking other critical steps to tackle the climate crisis.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.