In the song “Last Kiss” off of her 2010 album Speak Now, Taylor Swift sings “I ran off the plane, that July 9th.” Nowadays, Swift likely finds herself running off the plane every other day of the year as well.
A recent study by the sustainability marketing agency Yard looked into the usage of private planes by celebrities in order to track carbon emissions and find out the worst celeb contributors to climate change.
At the top of the list when it comes to CO2 emissions from their private jets: music superstar Taylor Swift.
According to Yard, Swift’s plane took to the skies 170 times in the first 200 days of 2022, emitting 8,293.54 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s 22,923 minutes, almost 16 total days, of airtime. The CO2 released into the atmosphere courtesy of Taylor Swift’s private plane during these past 7 months is the equivalent to what 1,184 average people would emit in a year. The data came from the Twitter account, @CelebJets, which tracks celebrities’ jets.
In response to this information, which is now going viral online, Swift’s representatives say Swift isn’t responsible for all the flights.
”Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals,” said the pop star’s spokesperson in a statement. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
Still, it is Taylor Swift’s private plane! The fact that the list wasn’t topped by someone like Kylie Jenner with her 12-minute flights or her sister Kim Kardashian seems to have surprised social media users a bit. But, the Internet still delivered with some jokes. (And to be fair, it seems like it’s all just a variation of the same joke over and over again. But, damn, they’re all still pretty funny.)
Eve 6, the alternative rock band most well-known for their 90s hits “Inside Out” and “Here’s to the Night,” got a little creative and decided to crack a joke about the statement from Swift’s team.
And one Taylor Swift fan decided to make a compilation of times that the artist mentions flying, airplanes, or any sort of travel in the lyrics of her songs.
Some Swift stans are even jokingly playing damage control for Swift by posting photoshopped messages claiming the singer is donating to their (fake) environmental charity. It also might not be a joke, “Stan Twitter” can be quite unhinged at the best of times.
As for the rest of the list, boxer Floyd Mayweather comes in at number two. He’s followed by Jay-Z, Alex Rodriguez, and Blake Shelton. After the top 5, Steven Spielberg, Kim Kardashian, Mark Wahlberg, Oprah, and Travis Scott make up the rest of the list.
While these rich and famous celebs certainly deserve your scorn for their contributions to climate change, don’t forget that roughly 100 companies are responsible for the most significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions.
