Climate activists are becoming more and more creative with their protests and, you’ve got to hand it to them, they are getting attention. From the pair who glued themselves under Van Gogh’s Sunflowers after throwing soup at it to another who threw mashed potatoes on a Monet painting, climate activists are hitting where it hurts.
Perhaps the most creative of them were the protesters in Amsterdam last week who literally sat on the runway to prevent private jets from leaving the airport, some of them even cycling around to escape the police — the icing on the cake being this hilarious music imposed on the chase.
So why are climate activists coming down hard on private jets? Join us in this week’s The Global Tiller to look at how private jets pollute the environment and what are some disproportionate ways in which their usage is impacting our world.
It’s not that hard to believe that private jets are bad for the environment. We know air travel in general has a huge carbon footprint, but at least, that load is divided among hundreds of travellers each flight. On a private jet, that emission is shouldered by a handful. It’s the same logic as driving a car versus taking the bus.
But just how bad are private jets? According to a study by Europe’s leading clean transport campaign group, private aircraft emit more than 33 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, more than the country of Denmark, and because they carry so few people they are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes, per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains.
What’s worse is that these disproportionately huge emissions are caused by a very small group of people. Just 1% of people cause 50% of global aviation emissions, and they’re not you and I. These are the likes of American socialite Kylie Jenner, who came under fire for taking a private jet for a mere 17-minute flight, or rapper Drake, who took an 18-minute flight in Canada. Or the global elites who don’t find it ironic when they fly private jets to attend the ongoing COP27 in Egypt.
North America tops the charts when it comes to the biggest private jet fleet in the world, with the US holding 89% of this fleet in 2022. But rest assured, other parts of the world can be blamed for their fair share. The next biggest fleets of private jets are found in Europe (where Germany leads), followed by Asia (where China holds the crown).
However, it seems that countries are realising that it cannot go on like this for long. Politicians in France are thinking of regulating or even banning the use of private jets, although resistance from the industry is forcing even the most vocal critics to tone down their demands.
But it may be harder to push back against climate activists who are using technology to prove their case. Thanks to flight tracking softwares, several bots are sharing live updates of private jets making ridiculously short flights and they aren’t shy to reveal the identities of the frequent flyers.
It’s the sheer inequality of this scenario that makes one understand why climate activists are being so disruptive. When ordinary people are being shamed into separating their trash, buying electric cars and carrying cotton tote bags, the rich can’t seem to let go of their extravagant lifestyles. We’re asking climate refugees to give up their entire livelihoods, Kiribati to give up its entire country, it seems more than fair that the billionaires be asked to park their jets.
Until next time, take care and stay safe!
Hira - Editor - The Global Tiller
Dig Deeper
Besides private jets, another obsession of the rich and famous is Superyachts. Here is a detailed account of how luxury travel habits are impacting our climate:
…and now what?
Often times, some topics are so obvious in their conclusion that I wonder what else should I say. I could just say: “tax the rich” or “take their planes away” and we should be done with it because who would reasonably argue for the status quo on this topic? I mean, besides those wealthy people.
One big question for me in this situation is: why aren’t they changing. Is it because they can afford not to? Or because they don’t care? Perhaps both. But maybe also because they are unable to look beyond their own lives, like most of us. Except that for them it’s much more obvious.
There is a systemic issue at play here: one that still makes people feel they deserve crazy privileges from their social status, one that makes people think that money can buy them everything or that they’re above every other social rule.
Many rich people may not even be aware, or be bothered, by the fact that they contribute highly to global warming while continuing to donate money for conservation, attending awareness events and, speaking at COP27 for that matter. Why? Because their status gives them the right to do it, and get away with it. Because money remains the social definer of our level of responsibility towards Earth. Even our natural ability for empathy gets impacted by how much money we make.
So this is not just about traveling, it’s about our social standards, it’s about how we define who’s successful, how we behave when we’ve reached the highest levels of society.
Climate change is telling us (in much the same way as the pandemic) that our system needs an update. The same way businesses can no longer ignore their social impact, successful people can no longer ignore that they owe more than they do and that success should no longer be the guarantee for individual-only wellbeing but instead a trigger for personal commitment to collective wellbeing. So, for the sake of our planet, and yours too, let’s rethink what it means to be rich, what it means to be privileged.
This will be much more efficient than any tax or law banning jets. It’s obviously a complex task as it will require to change mindsets. But that can start with kids, at school by changing competition-based education systems that favour individual success and the rewards that come with them. It can continue at work where bonuses are given according to collective successes and not personal ones. Let’s stop rewarding the boss who made profits only through massive layoffs.
It can eventually be done at the economic level by disconnecting our economic growth with the need for money. In that case UBI would be a key element to finally turn our focus away from money which, at the end of the day, is just a means to an end, an end that has to shift for the good of our planet, for the good of our organisations and for the good of ourselves.
That starts everyday through many acts like me trying to not gaze at wonderment at each passing jet…it’s hard to change but it’s for the planet!
Philippe - Founder & CEO - Pacific Ventury