Note: The news has been grim this week, and even those of us who report it sometimes need to have a bit of fun. 

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) is a controversial politician who Tucker Carlson once called "an idiot windbag." However, she is known for her strong positions on the environment and has expressed her concern that "farting cows" are contributing to climate change. From 2019:

The resolution she introduced with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) didn’t propose any measures to control greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, nor did the frequently asked questions document.

“We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero, emissions in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast,” the document said.

She also predicted in that same year that the world would end in 12 years, so unfortunately, we don’t have much time left. 

It was, therefore, deeply concerning to see her apparently releasing the greenhouse gas methane—the very gas that bovines are blamed for blasting out (although it turns out that they burp it out much more than they fart it, if you must know)—into the atmosphere. 

Now, in fairness, it could be the person behind the camera or someone else in the room, but it seems that AOC was unconcerned by the environmental danger. Check out the 39-second mark:

The United States’ responsibility is to human rights. That means supporting the safety of the Israeli people and preventing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/7CsuN6uO3w

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) October 12, 2023

Luckily for us, intrepid social media sleuths are here to investigate the matter for enquiring minds. Here is an analysis by someone called "drefanzor memes on X":

At the 39 second mark it sounded like AOC farted;
we put the video under thermal infrared to confirm that she did, in fact, pollute the environment. #DilleyMemeTeam https://t.co/MKBg4Ck4CG pic.twitter.com/IDA8JwGKFa

— drefanzor memes (@drefanzor) October 13, 2023

It brings to mind the Great Eric Swalwell Controversy when the Democratic California representative appeared to let loose and defile nature on live TV:

Swalwell did what all good Democrats do—blame someone else—and told late-night host Seth Meyers that he was "completely exonerated."

"It was not me!!!!!" he wrote in a text message to a Buzzfeed reporter.

Considering that greenhouse gases are considered a prime cause of climate change, one can only wonder how much Swalwell and AOC are contributing to the issue. There are a lot of vapors involved:

Most gas passed during flatulence goes unnoticed because there isn't a smell. It may contain odorless gases, such as nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane, but a small portion includes hydrogen sulfide, which causes it smell like rotten eggs.

The Environmental Protection Agency has not yet, as of this writing, commented on the matter.

With all the hot air regularly coming out of Washington, D.C., this latest noxious story has social media users alarmed and holding their noses. "Too much word salad for lunch?" wrote one poster. "Who did it better? Eric Fartwell or AOC?" wrote another.

I'm pretty sure this post is fake because I am not able to find it on former President Donald Trump's Truth Social feed, but it's still funny:

#AOC #AOCfart #AOCfartgate pic.twitter.com/1wm97w1aXE

— M88☦️ (@GalaxyEnjoyer) October 13, 2023

One of my colleagues remembered this video, which shows you that you always need to be aware of your surroundings:

Ocasio-Cortez is known for regularly making strong, if woefully uninformed, statements, and on this one, she appears to have really let it rip.