Freshman Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned that the world would end in 12 years unless the United States seriously addressed climate change, calling her environmental concerns "our World War II."

Speaking at a Martin Luther King forum in New York City yesterday, Ocasio-Cortez said, "And I think the part of it that is generational is that millennials and people, in Gen Z, and all these folks that 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," she said.

"Your biggest issue, your biggest issue is how are going to pay for it? — and like this is the war, this is our World War II," she continued. "And I think for younger people looking at this are more like, how are we saying let's take it easy when 3,000 Americans died last year, how are we saying let's take it easy when the end person died from our cruel and unjust criminal justice system?"