Taylor Swift. A record breaker. A revolution. A revered icon, with a success story to match. Not to mention her football star boyfriend, Travis Kelce. With so many fans holding her in their highest regard, and loving support from the majority of the big names in music, she truly is a one-of-kind, even among celebrities. But with great fame comes great responsibility, and critics wonder if her groundbreaking tour is causing complications, not for patrons, but for the planet.
It all began when a student at the University of Florida began tracking the carbon emissions created by Taylor Swift’s private jet flights. Swift’s travels took her far and wide throughout the 2023-2024 football season as she followed many of Kelce’s games across the country in between tour dates. Two of these included her flight to Buffalo, New York for the Chiefs game on January 21, 2024, where they played the Bills, and a week later to Baltimore Maryland for the Ravens vs. Chiefs game. The Florida student, Jack Sweeney, was able to legally record and publish the carbon footprint of the musician’s flights because the flight patterns of celebrity owned jets–along with all other commercial fights–are public information. In order to maintain legality, he posted the stats on the Instagram account @SwiftJetNextDay the day after her flight. In December 2023, Sweeney received a cease and desist letter from Swift’s legal team.
However, the fourteen time Grammy Award winner’s consistent flight habits drew suspicion from other parties as well. A study by the UK marketing agency concluded that Swift was the #1 celebrity CO2 producer in 2022, producing a total of 8,293 tons of the compound, which is around 1,800 times the average person’s yearly emissions. Unfortunately, the study’s exact numbers are not entirely credible and cannot be used to determine her true footprint. While the information may have been collected by professionals, the information was gathered from available data on Twitter, and was not verified or fact checked by true scientists.
Speculations have been made that the cause of the in-depth investigations and harsh criticisms of Swift’s private jet activity are based on biases against the singer, whether it be disagreement with her unprecedented fame, annoyance with her constant attention, or simply a dislike of her music, there is reason to believe that those who are looking to tarnish Swift’s reputation are gathering facts that fail to show the full picture. While Taylor Swift’s private jet flights did in fact have the greatest carbon emissions of any celebrity in 2022, that doesn’t account for the entirety of each celebrity’s footprint. Additionally, each study measures different celebrities at different times, and because this data is ever changing and highly circumstantial, it’s difficult to accurately name one “highest producer” of carbon emissions in a year. In Taylor Swift’s case, she was on a worldwide tour in the years she was accused of having exceedingly high emissions and yet American singer Blake Shelton–who hasn’t toured since 2019–had higher emissions from his private jet flights.
So what is Taylor Swift doing about it? Carbon offsets are purchased typically by large companies or individuals with an above average footprint to make up for the emissions they produce. Offsets come in different forms, one of which is a fee, with a cost that is determined based on the amount of carbon the individual is responsible for. On the other hand, buyers can put their money to work by supporting tree planting initiatives, which actively remove CO2 from the air because trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Swift’s publicist told the Associated Press that prior to March 2022 when her tour kicked off, the pop star bought double the amount of carbon credit necessary to make up for the amount of carbon she produced in her private jet flights.
However, professionals are calling for a stronger push for environmental change. Leah Thomas is the author of The Intersectional Environmentalist and studies the connection between environmentalism and privilege. She told BBC Travel, “It’s okay to hold celebrities to a higher standard, because sustainability is so much more accessible to them.” She suggests that to further compensate for her emissions, the star could use her influence to make a difference. “Swift could course-correct by blatantly speaking about the climate-crisis, promoting sustainable initiatives or donating proceeds of her concerts to environmental organisations.”
Other inputs on her efforts are more supportive. “When Swift flies on her private jet, it isn’t her intention to spew tons of carbon,” says Scott Keyes, an air travel expert who founded Going, formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights. “Carbon offsets can counteract otherwise hard-to-eliminate emissions. Many carbon offset projects are highly valuable – money to plant new forests or grow carbon-capturing algae.”
Swift’s controversial emissions have created a stir among environmentalists and critics alike. Her case is creating a cause for more celebrities to uncover their ideas about climate change and their ambitions toward its reversal. More and more people are learning about carbon offsets and unique ways to help keep Earth clean.
The greater fame one receives the more scrutinized their actions will be, and Swift found that out the hard way when she rediscovered the spotlight during The Eras Tour and after her and Kelce’s romantic debut. Environmental detriment is one of the most debated worldwide struggles of our time. Holding celebrities accountable for their contributions is a part of the natural cycle that is created by such a heavy topic. All in all, despite Taylor Swift’s many titles, she can most notably be described as a top contributor to modern day society. With the highest grossing tour of all time, and a billion-dollar net worth on her resume, it’s impossible to deny that she has a large influence on this millenia of young people.
There are plenty of ways that anyone can help prevent further climate damage. Commercial flying is considered a much more climate friendly option than private jets, and walking or biking wherever you can is also a much more sustainable choice of transportation. Apart from that, utilizing community recycling programs, decreasing use of single use plastics, and planning vacations that offer eco-friendly tourism options.
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