When Taylor Swift announced her three hour and now over a year-long Eras Tour back in March of 2023, fans were beyond excited. The prospect of seeing over two decades of music by the country-turned-pop star at one of her 152 tour dates led many to spend thousands of dollars on tickets for one of the many shows she played in 22 countries.
With a celebrity of her status, it’s nearly impossible for Swift to fly commercially, which is why Swift has preferred a private jet to travel to her many tour locations all around the world, with tour dates in 5 of the 7 continents. However, her use of a private jet has angered much of social media because of its harmful impact on the environment.
“Currently, Taylor Swift flies on a Dassault Falcon 7X, which is registered as N621MM,” According to JetSpy, “this aircraft has flown a total of 59 flights this year, accumulating 159 total flight hours. These flights have utilized just under 60,000 gallons of aviation fuel.”
“Airplanes burn fossil fuel which not only releases CO2 emissions but also has strong warming non-CO2 effects due to nitrogen oxides (NOx), vapor trails and cloud formation triggered by the altitude at which aircraft operate,” reports Save Vermont Airspace.
Co2 is a Greenhouse gas. Co2, or Carbon Dioxide, is a byproduct of energy consumption and industrial manufacturing, such as fuel for airplanes. Greenhouse gasses are a main contributing factor to climate change and global warming because they trap the sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere causing our planet to become hotter.
Amidst all this controversy surrounding Swift and her carbon footprint, people are quick to blame her and paint her as the only villain contributing to climate change. However, Swift is not even close to being the leading cause of carbon emissions in celebrities. The top celebrity carbon emissions in 2023 at 6,061,300 KG of CO2 was Travis Scott, followed by Kim Kardashian (5,857,600KG), and Elon Musk (4,564,700Kg). Taylor Swift creates much less than them, (1,200,000Kg) but is the main focus of the public’s sudden scrutiny of celebrity carbon footprints.
Before the discussion of Taylor Swift’s emissions, celebrity carbon footprints were not a topic of discussion on social media. However, once Swift is brought into the picture, people are quick to judge.
If these ‘activists’ want to call out Swift for her emissions, they need to also call for that from the other celebrities at fault. It’s disheartening to see that the only time that the public cares about the environment and the well-being of our planet is when it involves Taylor Swift. The same people calling her out are also the same people who don’t recycle, purchase clothes from fast fashion companies, and vote for a candidate that has dismissed climate change as a hoax.
Not only that, but activists are judging Swift for her environmental impact without acknowledging her contributions to improve it. According to AP News, Swift has purchased over double the amount of carbon offsets that she has consumed by traveling for her tour. This means that she helped participate in activities that lower the Earth’s amount of Co2, planting trees would be a prime example of this. Also, Swift has publicly supported political figures, such as Kamala Harris who has enacted policies to encourage clean energy.
It’s important to hold celebrities accountable for their actions and effects on the environment, but it’s more important to hold ALL celebrities accountable, not just the ones that you hate.
