Why is No One Afraid of Climate Change?
The first time I learned about climate change was in 1st grade. I remember watching a movie in school and learnings that the polar ice caps are melting and that there is a hole in the ozone layer. Since then I have continued to hear about climate patterns shifting, increasing, especially in the past few years when we hear about climate issues nearly every day.
Despite this being a blog about physics I thought it might be important to talk about this issue. If you are on some social media or even if you just watch the news, you may have heard of the recent celebrity pollution article. This tracked how many times celebrities used their private jets, which created large amounts of carbon emissions. ONe article claims that Taylor Swift took 170 private jet flights in the past year, beating out other celebrities like Jay-Z and Beyonce for the most flights in the year. However, these flights emit a lot of carbon dioxide. One estimate is that 170 flights is equivalent to the average American’s carbon dioxide byproduct if they lived 450 years!
Now of course this is bad for the environment, but you might be asking why this is getting such a strong reaction and backlash from the public. This is because these types of celebrities go online and preach to their fans to go green and emit less carbon and to use less plastic. However, the celebrities themselves do the complete opposite. I think that people are really mad because of the hypocrisy of celebrities and the fear that has built up in everyone over the past few years.
Photo by Li-An Lin on Unsplash
limate change is a BIG problem. it is so big and overwhelming that it feels like on an individual level we can do nothing. This causes a lot of people to simply ignore it, which is why it feels like no one is afraid of climate change. Each year the climate data seems to escalate, including the Arctic region melting at a faster pace, the significant uptick in several weather patterns, and even the persistent hot weather this summer, particularly in Europe.
At an individual level, it is important to be conscious of our emissions and to start using greener and more sustainable products. Thankfully, more people and companies are actually moving in this direction. This takes me back to the point of why people are so pissed off at celebrities. Celebrities make so much money and have so much influence, that they individually can make a large difference to the climate crisis. Celebrities have the opportunity to react to this problem in a way most people can not, yet they are doing nothing and they are even causing the climate crisis to get worse.
I don't want these celebrities to get canceled, however I think the fact that they are getting called out by lots of people is a good thing. This is an opportunity to see this as a wake up call. These celebrities really can make a massive difference, I just hope that they learn from their mistakes.
