With a now-Grammy Awards count of 14, Taylor Swift is an international superstar continuing to take over the music industry. She has built an empire for herself with millions of devout fans and listeners. However, like many other billionaires, Jack Sweeney has tracked her private jet’s carbon emissions. Sweeney is a junior at the University of Central Florida and utilizes social media as well as public records of flights to track and record the insane amount of carbon emissions from private jets.
Many of us remember the idiotic 14-minute private jet flight Kylie Jenner rode about two years ago. According to Greenpeace. an organization dedicated to spreading awareness about environmental issues to the public stated that private jets alone contributed 573,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2022. The CEO of The Change Climate Project spoke with Vice recently and estimated an astronomical 8,000-10,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from Taylor Swift’s private jet alone. They further explained people in first-world countries typically emit 20-30 tons of carbon emissions a year.
Ever since the news about Swift’s legal threat towards the college student her representatives have attempted to soften the narrative. One stated that the estimates are incorrect as the jet is loaned or borrowed to others and not every flight has Swift on board. Nevertheless, many environmentalists negatively view private jets as their carbon emissions are insanely high for a service for such a small amount of people. Criticisms towards the threat that Swift’s legal team has been trending on social media and continue to follow her as she continuously uses it for her tours and performances. Although many of Swift’s fans don’t agree with the legal threat and believe Swift can lower her carbon emissions during this critical time and state of the environment, they continue to support her and her music.
We are still waiting for more updates from either Sweeney or Taylor Swift’s legal team to see where this situation goes but many hope Sweeney is left alone as he utilizes public information and is undoing it to spread awareness regarding climate change. Whether you view Sweeney as a king for informing the public or a college student with too much time on their hands, I think everyone should agree we all need to be more vigilant and self-aware of our carbon emissions regardless of what tax bracket we fall in.
My beautiful academic weapons,
Listen to whatever music your heart desires, but
Please keep in mind the environment!