"Climate Criminals" - celebrities and private jets

“There are plenty of alternatives to private jets and wanting to avoid traveling with the hoi polloi isn’t a good enough reason for excessive pollution. These short flights have emissions that are small in relative terms but per person they are staggering. Aviation emissions are growing exponentially year over year and private jet pollution is growing more than general aviation.”

Nikita Pavlenko, fuels team lead at the International Council on Clean Transportation.

An interesting story and phrase that emerged in the last week or so, developing from some recent stories where people tracked the flight records of private jets owned by celebrities. You can also follow some of these on the Celeb Jets twitter feed which takes data from the location sharing that needs to be enabled for air traffic. These aren't necessarily flights taken with the celebrities on board, but are part of the logistics of moving around in a way which removes them from the practicalities that us non-celebrities have to put up with, like driving places...

This is an interesting use of the sort of data that can be accessed using sites such as Flight Radar 24.

There are several stories around this which have emerged, referencing certain 'celebrities'. The discussion around why some of these people earned their celebrity status is also worth discussing, along with the psychology around why 'we' are so fascinated by them. It seems to me like distraction from the real news that we should be getting more concerned about...

The Guardian has also picked up on the story more recently.

Any criticism is unlikely to have any impact on the behaviour of these individuals however. They will move between air conditioned locations and be untouched by any price rises in the basics of energy, food and other household items. 

They could even move between houses to suit annual changes in climate to ensure the optimum comfort for themselves and their inner circle of advisors.

There are some very obvious steps that could be taken here, given the crisis facing the planet.

Ban private jets.

And — while we're talking about this — ration all flights in line with science-based targets for decarbonization in a fair and just way. https://t.co/SDKO0sclCP

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) July 21, 2022

An interesting discussion topic with students for the new academic year. 

It's important to discuss how individuals have been made to feel responsible for their emissions, something which was followed through in a poor question on a recent pointless debate.