Taylor Swift says Don't Blame Me for topping list of Private-Jet Climate Criminals
Kim Kardashian, JayZ and Drake are also on the list
A UK-based sustainability firm recently released a list of top celebrities who are private-jet polluters. On top of the list, shockingly, was singer Taylor Swift. But hold on.
Recap: Kylie Jenner's Instagram post earlier this month, which featured her and Travis Scott with their private jets, drew the attention of environmental activists. The internet also labelled them "climate criminals". A recent report released by a UK-based sustainability firm, Wearyard, lists top celebrities causing pollution with their private jets, in terms of carbon emissions.
The list was topped by, surprise surprise, not Kylie Jenner but Taylor Swift. The list also includes other celebrities like Floyd Mayweather, JayZ, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Drake and many more.
What did Taylor do: The research found that Taylor topped the list with
- 22,923 minutes in the air – that is 15.9 days.
- Her total flight emissions for the year come in at 8,293.54 tonnes, which is 1,184.8 times more than the average person's total annual emissions.
- Her shortest recorded flight of 2022 was just 36 minutes, flying from Missouri to Nashville.
Here comes the backlash: Internet didn't hold back in its criticism, obviously.
Taylor Swift, Kim K and Kylie seeing who can get to Starbucks first pic.twitter.com/MmOqe2pMIu
— Bob (@tweetsbybob_) July 30, 2022
Taylor on her way back to chipotle after they forgot her guac pic.twitter.com/pTvTaQRjs8
— madeline 💌 (@normalmadeline) July 30, 2022
Red (Taylor's Version) pic.twitter.com/OiXToPnU2k
— flagdiscourse 🏴 (@flagdiscourse) July 29, 2022
TAYLOR SWIFT EXACTLY pic.twitter.com/lhk015mTi6
— 🌬 (@Notfancy_) July 29, 2022
But...
Don't Blame Me: Taylor Swift was contacted by Rolling Stone, and a representative answered with, to borrow one of Swift's chartbusters, "Don't Blame Me".
The other Climate Criminals on the list: The second on the list is Floyd Mayweather, the legendary basketball player, who is not a lot behind Taylor Swift. In fact,
- his shortest trip was just 10 minutes (yes, ten minutes), landing in Las Vegas and emitting 1 ton of CO2
- His average CO2 emissions are 7,076.8 tonnes, which is 1,011 times more than the average person’s yearly emissions
- He has taken 177 flights - an average of 25 flights a month.
Kylie is at Number 19 on the list, but her sister, Kim Kardashian, has made it to Top Ten. Kim’s jet emitted 4268.5 tonnes of carbon emissions over 57 flights: 609.8 times more than the average person emits in a year, according to the report.
The report also has Travis Scott among number ten, with 3033.3 tonnes of CO2 just this year. His shortest flight was just for 11 km.
Unadulterated hypocrisy: Even though many celebrities support environmental causes, run their own campaigns, and encourage regular people to reduce their carbon footprint, their standards of living and general lifestyle is quite the polar opposite.