Celebrities Create More Emissions via Air Travel than Most

Photo taken from Flickr

The Kardashians received backlash at the end of 2018 for Kim Kardashian’s Instagram videos depicting a giant private jet that Kim and Kanye took, with many fans frustrated about the environmental impacts of such lavish travel. They are not the only celebrities frequently using such forms of transportation, though. Celebrities like Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, and more also own private jets that take them around the globe. 

Currently, carbon emissions from airplane transportation account for about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, but it's possible that as demand for flight increases, this number will continue to rise. Based on calculations from various carbon offset providers, it looks like a round trip flight from LA to NYC gives off somewhere between 0.84 to 4.94 metric tons of carbon, with the average being somewhere just under 2 metric tons of carbon. A carbon offset allows a flier to purchase some sort of effort towards reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, from planting trees to funding new sustainability initiatives. In some cases, including long distance or full capacity flights, it is actually less carbon intensive to take a flight than to drive. Celebrities, though, definitely take flights far more often than the average person, and with far fewer people on these flights. 

There is no one answer solution to this celebrity culture of frequently flying around on private jets and helicopters. Some suggest carbon offset purchases; these are relatively inexpensive, and celebrities definitely have the money to pay for them. Another option is to simply fly commercially, but when celebrities have their own work and personal schedule to cater to, there might not always be flights available that work with their timelines. The last option available is to just stop flying as often. For a celebrity, though, when their income relies on tours, appearances, etc, this, too, seems unlikely - a plane is the fastest and most convenient way for them to get around. 

This calls into question a larger concept regarding wealth - does a celebrity really need to keep making more money? For the necessity of survival, probably not. Most celebrities have more than enough money to keep them in a good place for the rest of their life. A musician who finds fulfillment from creating music, touring, and meeting fans though, will probably continue to do so, with the aid of carbon-emitting forms of transportation. Until transportation via plane becomes less carbon intensive, the most likely option moving forward for celebrities who feel the need to fly privately and still make an impact on environmental change seems to be purchasing offsets, and perhaps donating to environmental organizations.