This summer has been blazingly hot. I just spent a weekend in New York City suffering 100 degree weather. This is the kind of hot that makes people go crazy if they sit outside too long.
The heat doesn’t just provide sweltering discomfort and make you want to cancel your rooftop bar reservation, it’s a result of climate change. Shocker. With the amount of pollution going into our atmosphere, temperatures are rising at an alarming rate and displacing thousands of people due to the rapid spread of wildfires.
Our earth is becoming uninhabitable because of big corporations that care more about your money than if you live 10 more years. The UK reported their hottest day in history just last week: 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The London Fire Brigade claims it was the busiest day for firefighters since World War II.
World War II. People are dying at rates comparable to global warfare because the world decided they’d rather you buy more oil than survive. Let that sink in for a minute. The world’s on fire and people are fighting to survive heat waves that show no signs of ceasing if we don’t change.
Activists are pushing more now than ever for change. And while we’re over here trying to ban plastic and sipping out of disintegrating paper straws that barely make your soda enjoyable, Kylie Jenner is laughing.
Forget carpooling or walking to your destination, Ms. Kylie will wave to you from 10,000 feet in the air on her three-minute private jet ride.
Mine Or Yours ?
The Kardashian-Jenner collective has not had the best luck with relatability. It’s not surprising; literally no one can relate to a family of zillionaires who have a disgusting amount of money. So much so that they spend it on the most outrageous, trivial things and have completely lost touch with most of reality.
Kendall solving racism with a Pepsi, countless cultural appropriation accusations, you name it. Faux pas after faux pas, the Jenner/Kardashians have been going out of their way to remind us that they will never understand social causes that affect our lives as The Poor Folk.
In what Kylie thought would be a cute ode to her relationship with rapper Travis Scott, she posted a photo of their private jets with the caption, “you wanna take mine or yours ?” Because there is no greater issue in the world than choosing which unnecessary gas-guzzling airplane to fly for a duration of less than thirty minutes.
A forty-minute drive is not far. I actually enjoy being in the car, jamming out to my fave artists and gossiping with my friends. But Kylie couldn’t be bothered wasting time like that.
That fateful 17-minute flight Kylie took from Camarillo, CA to Van Nuys, CA gave off one ton of CO2 emissions.
This is about one fourth of what the average person in the United States emits in a year. For just one of Kylie Jenner’s useless plane rides.
It’s Not Just Kylie
While I agree that the Kar-Jenners can lack social awareness and really miss the mark, they aren’t the only ones who are contributing to the climate crisis. Kylie Jenner's carbon footprint isn't the only celebrity carbon footprint to do damage.
Celebrity flights on private jets aren't uncommon. Almost everyone has one it seems, so Kylie Jenner's private jet isn't a shock.
Recently, it was reported by Yard that Taylor Swift actually has the largest carbon footprint, taking flight 170 times in the first 200 days of 2022. That means her emissions were about 8,000 tons. While representatives of Swift claim she isn't the one taking all of these flights, there is certainly no excuse for that level of pollution.
This is 1,182 times that of an average person.
We can easily pinpoint Kylie Jenner and the rest of the Kardashians because the world doesn’t want to like them. And truth be told, they are even looking for reasons not to like them.
But we can’t point our fingers and cancel Kylie if we don’t keep the same energy for everyone else. That’s right, your favorite celebrity is probably doing the same thing.
Everyone’s favorite rapper, Drake, took an 18-minute flight this past month from Hamilton, Ontario to Toronto, Ontario. His five tons of emissions make Kylie look like a climate activist. That level of emissions is quite literally more than the normal person makes in a year.
Floyd Mayweather, Kenny Chesney, Mark Wahlberg, Kim Kardashian, and Jack Nicklaus all have taken flights under an hour that have released a heinous amount of CO2 into our atmosphere from June to July of 2022.
So while you’re doing your part, picking up plastic off the roads, walking to your destination, and using those damn paper straws, your favorite celebrity is taking an air conditioned PJ, not losing a wink of sleep.
Help Us Build A Future For Stormi, Kylie
I'm a fan of the Kardashians. I'm a fan of a raft of celebrities who've taken frivolous, tone-deaf flights amidst a global climate crisis in which millions of people are dying. However, it’s not without an internal battle. Everyone keeps posing the argument that “you'd do it too if you had the money.”
But I wouldn’t. I don’t know if it’s because I actually watch the news and know that we aren’t doing well as a planet. I don’t know if it’s because I couldn’t fathom having that kind of money to hop on my private jet for a ten-minute junket.
What I do know is that my life and personal convenience isn’t more important than the next person’s. So while I sure would love to beat traffic and save sitting in traffic for hours, I don’t think a private jet is necessary either.
Truth be told, it’s hardly about the private jet. We're all fighting for our lives to ensure this planet is still rocking when our grandchildren grow up, while the rich just keep dumping toxic fumes everywhere.
Because of course, this won’t affect them – they have the money and resources to survive. But we don’t.
I want a world where Stormi can run around in the summer without blazing heat threatening her health and happiness. Doesn’t Kylie?
Celebrities are supposed to set precedents. They make the trends, and some even use their platform to speak on issues happening around the world. However, far too many celebrities remain silent about the climate crisis which is a telling sign of who needs to work on this the most.