About the Private Jet Issue
When celebrity Kylie Jenner taught she was just sharing a harmless, cute photo with her boyfriend on Instagram, she certainly didn’t expect the kind of social buzz it will trigger. The cause of the controversy was the photo’s background showing two private jets, and the caption saying „you wanna take mine or yours?”. People had a strong opinion about the topic, and trend emerged on social media, criticizing the celebrity about the redundant luxure of her plane usage, seemingly not minding about the huge amount of CO2 it emittes along the way.
@mattiastable My old username was climatechef because I care about this, and so should you. This stuff is bad #kyliejenner #climatechange
♬ original sound - Mattia
„Me on my way to not eat meat again while Kylie Jenner takes her private jet for a 15 minute flight”
„Kylie Jenner just took another 4 minute plane ride but it’s ok guys because I put my plastics in the recycling bin and brought a metal straw.”
While using reusable straws is more about plastic waste, than carbon footprint (like CO2 emissions), it still refers to an environmental leveled issue, and imposes the same question: Why should we care about environmental awareness on an individual level, if the people who could have a real impact don’t?
Do you produce more carbon than a celebrity?
Shortly after the private jet affair, the digital PR team at marketing agency Yard published an article entitled Just Plane Wrong: Celebs with the Worst Private Jet Co2 Emissions. The purpose of the study is to highlight the damaging impact of celebrities’ private jet usage while pointing out how much carbon dioxide they emit.
The article has received a lot of publicity, and with that, also a lot of criticism. On one hand, the accuracy of the represented numbers and calculations didn’t pass some fact-checks. Others pointed out that – despite the fact that it is said to be – the Yard’s publication is not a study, but a compilation of data from the Celebrity Jet Tracker Twitter bot, which retrieves data from the ADS-B Exchange database. Celebrities on the list have also spoken out on the issue: Taylor Swift’s representative manager stated that the survey is incorrect and misleading, since it’s not her using the plane all the time, but loaning it regularly to other individuals.
Even if Yard’s calculations are not entirely accurate, and these celebrities are not using these private planes exclusively by themselves when the recorded flights happened, it doesn’t make the issue less relevant.
Why bother?
The YARD article has gone viral on social media, and people have once again spoken out on the issue of unnecessary private plane use by celebrities. The news have provoked the same reaction from people: Why bother reducing our individually produced carbon footprint, if the rich, companies, corporations, industries and governments don’t? Why are we so careful not to eat meat while rich people hop on private jets to fly 30 minutes when a car (or even better:public transportation) would work just as well? People are shamed and blamed as individuals for their carbon emissions, but with 80% of all pollutants produced by the world’s 13 companies, we cannot forget who the main culprits are. Aren’t we all supposed to take responsibility and action collectively?
It’s easy to feel that our actions to reduce our carbon footprint are on a macro level, or almost insignificant compared to the ignorant destruction of the rich or big business. But does that mean we should stop caring about individual climate-conscious choices, or we should still believe that small steps can make a big difference? We hope that by raising our voices and awareness of the problem, signing petitions, volunteering, donating to non-profit environmental organizations, or even participating in demonstrations, we can put pressure on the leaders of industries and governments to put aside their selfishness and self-interest and make real change-making decisions.
What do you think: should we give up and not care about our actions, because they seem a little too insignificant compared to the ignorance and incapacity of large corporatons, or should we take actions even if they are small? What other methods do you think could make a real impact? What methods could we use to reach influential people who have more power to take real action?
