Taylor Swift was the number-one female artist of 2022, but she was also the top-ranking celebrity in CO2 jet emissions. Unfortunately, she is far from the only celebrity guilty of making unnecessary expenses to get to places fast. It makes sense that when you’re rich, you want to reap the benefits of it, but these people taking 25-minute flights to get to places easily accessible by car are harming our planet in significant ways. 

Not only this, but people will also tirelessly defend these stars just because they idolize them and place them on pedestals apart from the rest of society. People will often excuse these actions rather than face the fact that the celebrities they look up to are human and make bad decisions just like the rest of us. If we keep letting them off the hook for the things they do just so their pristine images aren’t tainted, we will continue to pay the consequences for their actions. Celebrities emitted 3,377 metric tons of CO2 on average from private-jet use last year, which is 482 times more than the average person’s annual emissions according to a report by Yard. With these unsurmountable numbers, continuing to casually brush off offenses such as these will prove worse for both us and future generations.

According to Brookings, global greenhouse gas emissions for 2022 were at the largest annual level ever recorded, and it’s only continuing to rise. Over the course of the last few decades, CO2 emissions have increased considerably, and with the rapidly declining state of our planet, these unnecessary emissions will cause serious issues. With climate change being an ever-present and persistent issue, we as a society must look at ways to cut back on greenhouse gas emanations to preserve the already decaying ozone. 

The increase of CO2 in our atmosphere directly affects our lives and the people around us. If it continues to advance with the excess carbon dioxide we produce, global temperatures will rise. If we continue to treat celebrities as first-class citizens whose opinions and choices matter more than others’, many of these things will continue as the offenders of the problems at hand leave unscathed. The access to private jets and travel that are so negatively affecting us should be limited, and the users and root of this problem need to be punished or fined in some sort of way. If people continue to face no consequences for the air pollution and damage they cause, the troubles will only worsen.

When people endlessly defend celebrities over arbitrary and significant issues, it brings about unnecessary arguments and takes away focus from the real problems. We live in a world where we can spare no expense in trying to protect our planet, and if these excess carbon emissions continue to increase, we’re going to face some serious problems. We cannot keep defending celebrities over issues anyone else would be attacked over; status should not determine how accountable you are for your actions.