The Wealthy Contribute More to Climate Change

On July 12th, Kylie Jenner posted an image on Instagram of herself and her boyfriend Travis Scott hugging one another on an aiport runway. In between them were two private jets. The caption read “You wanna take mine or yours?”

After the photo was taken she and her boyfriend hopped onboard one of the planes and flew from Van Nuys, Ca. to Camarillo, Ca. The trip took 17 minutes. By car, the distance was about 39 miles and with traffic would have taken roughly 45 minutes. To save themselves 28 minutes she and her boyfriend emitted 1 ton of CO2, about a quarter of what the average person emits in an entire year.

Aviation enthusiasts are quick to point out that flying only emits about 3.5% of the world’s CO2 and that private flights make up only 4% of that. However, that’s just because so few people in the world fly. According to the CEO of Boeing, more than 80% of people in the world have never been on a plane and according to a study published in Global Environmental Change just 1% of the global population is responsible for half of the emissions associated with flying.

But it gets worse. A study of 20 famous billionaires revealed that their average footprint came in at a whopping 8,190 tons per year, mostly because of their yachts and private planes. Compare that to the average American who emits 14.4 tons and the average world citizen who emits 4.2 tons.

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-wealthy-contribute-more-to-climate-change/

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