Celebrities around the globe get special privileges because of their status. We all know that abundance of CO2 is bad for our planet’s atmosphere and majority of the World’s population is trying to reduce the amount of CO2 we produce. However, some celebrities have taken it too far for their convince of transportation. According to Yard the top five celebrities that travel on a private jet that are being accused of CO2 emissions are Taylor Swift, Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, A-Rod, and Blake Shelton (Yard, 2022). Is there something these celebrities can do to reduce their carbon footprint, or can they justify another way to offset the CO2 emissions?
I understand that because these are celebrities there is a safety reason behind the use of private jets. No one wants anyone to feel unsafe because they are using public transportation, a fan gets too aggressive or doesn’t know when enough is enough. Let’s take Taylor Swift for example, she is the pop princess of the world, and everyone wants to meet her and listen to her music live. In one year, Miss swift’s private jet had logged 170 flights with emissions totaling more than 8,293 metric tons since January (Chiu, 2022). Now if you round Miss Swift’s flights up to 180 that is equitant to six months of straight flying or every other day. I understand with Swift’s spokesman when they told the Washington post that “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals” (Chiu, 2022). With my knowledge of logistics from the Army, I can conclude that it would be a logistical nightmare to setup and tear down a full concert set and transport it to the new location in just two days. I would like to see Taylor Swift and other music artist combat CO2 emission by traveling with other artist to shows while they tour, this would reduce the number of airplanes in the sky emitting CO2.
Now in my opinion the celebrity that should be number one on Yards list for being reckless for the amount CO2 emissions is Floyd Mayweather. Mr. Mayweather has been reported taking a 10-minute flight (Chiu, 2022) but annually came in at 7,076 metric tons of CO2 emissions right behind Taylor Swift. There should be no reason for a 10-minute flight instead that could have been a car drive across town which would have emitted far less CO2 emissions then a plane would.
A great example of an organization that has used their private plane to good use is the New England Patriots. They are the only football team that owns their own plane to combat the expensive cost to rent out a charter flight for the whole team, but it also reduces their carbon footprint since the team is now traveling together on the same plane. Since owning a plane creates a huge carbon footprint by itself, the Patriots used their plane to support the World the last few years during the pandemic by flying masks, health workers, and vaccines from one place to another (Alikpala, 2022). Other professional teams should take this play of owning their own planes for their team out of the Patriots playbook and start reducing their overall carbon footprint.
Overall, when it comes to celebrities and their jets some of them will have the justification of owning their own private jet and some will just abuse their fame and fortune. Traveling in private jets can have the benefits of security, privacy, and the conveniency of leaving and arrive when one chooses but all of that comes with a responsibility of knowing when it is appropriate to jump on that plane.
References
Alikpala, G. (2022, September 17). Do NFL teams have their own planes? how do they travel to away games? Diario AS. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from https://en.as.com/nfl/do-nfl-teams-have-their-own-planes-how-do-they-travel-to-away-games-n/
Chiu, A. (2022, August 3). Celebrities use private jets excessively. it's a climate nightmare. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/02/taylor-swift-kylie-jenner-private-jet-emissions/
Yard, Y. (2022, October 4). Just plane wrong: Celebs with the worst private jet CO2 emissions: Insights. Yard. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from https://weareyard.com/insights/worst-celebrity-private-jet-co2-emission-offenders
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