Air pollution is one of the leading causes of climate change, yet, celebrities knowingly continue to overuse their private jets.
These changes result in 6.4 million deaths per year that are caused by a long line of diseases. Despite this, celebrities demonstrate their selfishness and lack of care by using their jets to get to places, some that do not necessarily require flying.
In 2022, it was reported that Kylie Jenner took a 17-minute flight from Van Nuys in Los Angeles to Camarillo, Calif. This flight is only 50 km.
Although this is a careless act, she was not the first celebrity to take such a short flight. Drake and Mark Wahlberg were also caught taking 20-minute flights.
Not every celebrity needs a private jet.
We get that most of the time they receive unwanted attention from fans or paparazzi, but the whole point of having approximately 200 people or more on one flight is that fewer people produce CO2 emissions.
So, having a private jet that only, maybe, five to 10 people fly on is completely against the point of caring for the planet.
Although many celebrities contribute to the long list of people who own private jets and use them carelessly, there are a few who were much more noticeable than others.
The top three contenders for 2023 were:
Taylor Swift, in first, with a whopping 8,293.54 tonnes of CO2.
Floyd Mayweather, in second, with 7,076.8 tonnes of CO2.
Jay-Z, in third, who produced 6,891.3 tonnes of CO2.
Although Swift did come in first, I don’t believe it’s fair that all blame goes to her. As we see, there are many other celebrities who come extremely close to her.
With the use of private jets by these celebrities, there are thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions being introduced into the air, severely affecting the Earth.
In comparison, the average person produces four tonnes of CO2 in a year. Whereas, every hour, a single private jet can produce two tonnes of C02.
The use of private jets, at the end of the day, is not sustainable. It is extremely polluting and has a long-lasting effect on climate change.
So, when celebrities such as Taylor Swift or Jay-Z use their planes every day, whether flying for 30 minutes or 10 hours, these numbers add up and severely contribute to the thousands of tonnes of CO2 in the air.
What does the future hold for private jets and climate change?
If celebrities or private jet users, in general, continue to be careless with their usage, they could accelerate climate change.
A solution has been brought to our attention, that is purchasing carbon offsets. Offsets are used to reduce carbon footprint by purchasing these credits. Carbon credits can be bought through tree planting, as a popular example.
Therefore, with each carbon offset purchase, there is a reduction of one tonne of CO2.
Celebrities such as Bill Gates and Taylor Swift have purchased offsets for their private jet flights.
There is currently uncertainty as to if these offsets will work, but, for now, if celebrities who use private jets can continue to purchase offsets, there is a possibility that we will not see such large contributions to climate change.
I think that if celebrities want to continue their overuse of jets, they should all be purchasing carbon offsets as this is the best solution currently.
Overall, celebrities should be more careful with their use of private jets and think about flying on a commercial flight once in a while, like the rest of us.
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