Scrutiny over pop star Taylor Swift’s private jet use and associated carbon emissions has been increasing this past year alongside her fame, attracting attention to her global image and impact. Her celebrity status has exponentially inflated following successful album releases and high-grossing Eras tour, which has required her to travel around the world for the past year.
For last weekend’s Super Bowl, she flew on one of her luxury jets from her show in Tokyo to Las Vegas to catch the game, stirring social media commentary once again and spawning discourse and memes. Fans of Taylor Swift, including Swifties on Trinity’s campus, are navigating how to respond to the reaction towards Swift’s environmental impact.
Chris Medeiros, a junior communication major, appreciated the absurdity and humor that comes from a lifestyle unimaginable to most, which allows for Swift’s traveling habit. “It’s funny; I can’t stop laughing at those memes, but at the same time, she needs to stop using her private jet so much,” Medeiros said.
Medeiros spoke to their disappointment over the ridiculousness of her shorter flights, calling on her to employ moderation while still supporting her music. In reaction to this scrutiny, Swift’s legal team recently pursued legal action against Jack Sweeney, a college student at the University of Central Florida who has been running an account tracking the flights of celebrities.
“I feel like she should just make a public statement and stop flying her private jet so much instead of sending a cease-and-desist, especially since flights are public information,” Medieros said. In a statement to the public, Swift’s lawyers referenced her history with dangerous and invasive stalkers as context for their concern over the interest in her various flight locations and times. Concern over safety as a highly public figure makes sense; however, many are citing this anxiety as a rationale for private travel, as opposed to a justification for serving legal papers to a student with much less comparable power.
EJ Jamieson, senior environmental studies major, suggested that the current conversation around Taylor Swift indicates a larger, structural issue with the wealthiest classes and their ability to significantly contribute to carbon emissions while advantageously avoiding the harmful effects of climate change. “I do not understand why the same energy is not being given to other people who are doing the same things,” Jamieson said.
Rather than an isolated problem unique to Swift and her character, this structural issue reveals ethical questions about the status of billionaires. A 2018 analysis conducted by DW, a German media company, revealed that the top 20 billionaires emitted an average of 8,000 metric tons of CO2 per year, compared to the average person’s seven metric tons of CO2. A majority of the emissions from private flights are due to the high frequency of short trips.
“I am aware that Taylor Swift is a billionaire, and I would never expect her to be a good person the same way I would never expect Jeff Bezos to be a good person … I appreciate the figure of Taylor and her musical genius. I don’t think any celebrity is worth worshiping the ground they walk on,” Jamieson said.
Bailey Silverman, political science and psychology double-major, spoke to why it is important to be critical of the people you support. “Whenever celebrities do things that are problematic, it’s important to call them out,” Silverman said.
The conversation about private flights and the environmental and legal impact of those with extraordinary power and wealth has been expanded by fans of Swift. The outcome of Swift’s legal dispute over flight tracking may speak to this growing concern over celebrities’ environmental accountability and privacy.