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Journalism of Courage
Taylor Swift’s legal team has threatened legal action against Jack Sweeney, 21-year-old University of Central Florida student who runs social media accounts sharing publicly available information about private jet landings and takeoffs.
In a cease and desist letter sent to Sweeney in December, Swift’s lawyers said that his social media accounts cause “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress,” and that unless he stops the “stalking and harassing behaviour,” the artist would “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies,” The Washington Post reported.
Sweeney and other critics of Swift, however, have pointed out that this is an attempt to stifle criticism about the pop icon’s massive carbon footprint. Sweeney told The Post that Swift’s threat came amidst growing criticism over her polluting ways. “Her team thinks they can control the world,” he said.
Private jets, on a per capita basis, are amongst the biggest polluters in the world.
A 2023 report by Transport and Environment, a European climate NGO advocating for cleaner transportation systems, estimated that private jets were 5 to 14 times more polluting, per passenger, than commercial planes, and 50 times more polluting than trains.
The report said that private jets could emit about 2 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every hour, roughly a quarter of the yearly carbon emissions of an average European. A report by British media outlet Yard estimated the average amount of CO2 produced by celebrities and billionaires — only by their private jets — to be roughly 3376.64 tons each in 2022.
Nonetheless, private jet use has consistently gone up over the years. A Reuters report from May 2023, quoting a Greenpeace study, said private flights in Europe had increased by 64 per cent in 2022, and emitted more than 5.3 million tonnes of CO2.
Taylor Swift, often hailed by fans as an ‘ethical billionaire’, has routinely copped criticism for her widespread use of private jets, even for distances that could easily be covered by road without much fuss.
Take, for instance, her January 30 flight from St Louis to… St Louis. She took off from the St Louis Downtown Airport in Illinois, and landed 13 minutes later at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Missouri, only 45 km (and 40 odd minutes) away by road. The trip emmitted as much as 2 tons of CO2, more than the average per capita annual emmissions of an Indian.
In 2022, Yard carried out a highly influential study listing celebs with the worst private jet CO2 emissions using data collated from Sweeney’s Celebrity Jets Twitter (now X) page. Despite not being on tour at the time, Swift came out on top, amassing a whopping 22,923 minutes, or 15.9 days, in air. This, Yard estimated, resulted in CO2 emissions of 8,293.54 tons — 1,184.8 times more than the average person’s total annual emissions.
Other famous persons on the list are boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather, hip-hop legend Jay-Z, baseball star Alex Rodriguez, country singer Blake Shelton, director Steven Spielberg, socialite Kim Kardashian, actor Mark Wahlberg, media-personality Oprah Winfrey, and rapper Travis Scott.
Private jet travel is but one example of how the rich and powerful disproportionately contribute to CO2 emissions and climate change. As the world begins to suffer from global warming’s catastrophic effects, there has been an ever-increasing focus on the question of culpability.
The United Nations’ website on climate change says: “Our lifestyles have a profound impact on our planet. The wealthiest bear the greatest responsibility: the richest 1 per cent of the global population combined account for more greenhouse gas emissions than the poorest 50 per cent.”
At the level of nations, this can be seen in the vast gulf in carbon footprints between the rich and the poor. Analysis from The New York Times found that 23 rich industrialised countries are responsible for 50 percent of all historical emissions and more than 150 countries are responsible for the rest.
This gulf persists even today. For instance, the US records a per capita annual carbon emissions of 15.32 metric tons, while India reports only 1.89 metric tons annually (Global Carbon Atlas, 2021).
At the same time, it is the poorest who are bearing the brunt of global warming’s impact. “People who have contributed least to the climate crisis are right now suffering its worst impacts,” Elizabeth Wathuti, a Kenyan climate activist, told Oxfam.
This is why climate justice is intrinsically linked to socio-economic justice. The announcement of the ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ in last year’s Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in Dubai is aimed towards addressing this issue. But more needs to be done.
