The Dark Side of Taylor Swift - Her Jet Emissions
The numbers behind the Taylor's private jet use
Ladies and Gents,
Welcome back to the Random Thought of the Week, and this one is going to be a bit dicey. Much like writing about politics, I have a feeling this will alienate a good portion of my readership. Why? Well, the Random Thought of the Week is all about Taylor Swift (and it’s not a good thought). So my friends, let's strap on our parachutes, jump out of that plane, and skydive right into the controversial private jet debate.
Celebrity Emissions
Celebrities are notorious for private jets, large houses, and luxurious cars, all of which come with extreme carbon emissions, and Taylor Swift is no exception. The average celebrity jet emits about 3 thousand tons of carbon dioxide in one year. That may seem like a lot, but oh boy, just you wait.
Digital Marketing agency Yard analyzed the flight lengths and patterns for major celebrities (all of which is public record) within the first 200 days of 2022. Notable celebrities on the top ten jet emissions list were Travis Scott, Alex Rodriguez, Oprah, and Blake Shelton (who is somehow still famous? Don’t know how considering he’s currently the flop of the country music industry).
Pollution (Taylor’s Version)
Topping the list, at number one, was the queen herself - Taylor Swift. She emitted about 8,294 metric tons of carbon dioxide. For those American readers who use the standard system, that’s 18.28 million pounds of carbon dioxide, just in the first 200 days of 2022. In the first 200 days, she nearly tripled the emission of the average celebrity jet.
To put that into perspective -
Taylor Swift’s jet produced more CO2 in seven months than 400 average Americans produce in their lifetime.
Her jet produced more CO2 in 200 days than 1800 cars produce in a year.
Her jet produced more CO2 in 200 days than the entire country of Greenland emitted in 2016.
I can go on.
To quote the great Taylor Swift, “People are going to judge you anyway, so might as well do what you want”. Taylor! You are so right! I’m going to do what I want and greatly contribute to the impending heat death of the entire planet.
Is that lavender haze? No Taylor, that’s the vast amount of smog your jet produces.
She really must be fearless of the climate crisis.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought someone could produce that much CO2.
Ok, ok, I’ll stop with the stupid puns.
Time in the Air
In the first 200 days, her jet took 170 flights. That totals almost 23 thousand minutes of airtime, or 15.9 days just in the air. Her longest flight totaled a few hours while her shortest was about 36 minutes.
In the first 200 days of 2022, if she watched The Office only when she was in the air, she could watch the whole series nearly 4 times over.
Hold Up Cowboy
Before we all get angry at Taylor, we must keep in mind that Taylor herself did not take as many flights as the data may have suggested. When asked about her flight use, a rep for Taylor said, “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
You know they’re telling the truth when the use the word “blatantly”.
And while the factuality of this statement is up for debate, it seems absurd for Taylor to be the only one using her plane that much.
Still though, her jet - her emissions. C’mon Taylor.
My friends, I hope you enjoyed this week’s random thought. If you did, please share this via the button. Send it to someone you think would also find this interesting. Talk about it with your family and friends. I spend hours researching, writing, and editing, and the Random Thought of the Week is always free. In order to keep it going, we all need to share. Thank you all so much!
Truly Random Shower Thought of the Week
Theme parks can snap a crystal clear picture of you on a roller coaster at 70 mph, but bank cameras can't get a clear shot of a robber standing still.
My Friends,
Stay tuned for next week’s post - Tuesday at 10:04 AM CT. If you would like to contact me to talk about it or suggest a topic for a future week, don’t hesitate to reach out.
I’d like to leave you with a thought from two great philosophers, Bill and Ted. “Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!
All the best,
H.R. Berry