Lets’ Ban Private Jets

private jet during sunset

A forward-looking individual decided to start a campaign to ban private jets and it’s gaining steam. The movement to get rid of private jets is growing and now celebrities like Elon Musk and Taylor Swift are getting lambasted in the press about their planet-destroying transportation options. Given how much damage the air industry does to the planet, focussing on banning private jets, which are used by a very tiny percentage of people, should be socially acceptable by everyone.

Maybe we should start championing private trains instead 😉

The argument in favor of banning private jets is a simple one. If you were trying, for whatever reason, to have as large of a carbon footprint as possible, the first thing you would do is fly in a private plane. You would especially do so for very short flights, because taking off is the most energy-intensive part of any flight. A common model of a private plane burns 226 gallons of jet fuel an hour on average. And jet fuel—which is typically not taxed—emits more toxic gasses than gasoline.

Not only is flying in a private plane just about the worst thing one can do for the planet, it is also one of the habits with the easiest substitutes. Private jets emit approximately seven times as much greenhouse gasses as a business class ticket on a commercial airliner, 10 times as much as an economy seat, and some 150 times more than an electric train journey. Although “ban private jets” sounds like a radical argument, it is really quite modest, since rich people would still have any number of ultra-luxurious alternatives at their disposal and plenty of money to hire security guards to ensure the privacy they say flying private ensures.

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Celebrity Climate Criminals Get Called Out

private jet during sunset
While the average person has reduced their meat consumption, switched to paper straws and are more conscious of their energy use, celebrities have been outputting carbon at an offensive rate. People are finally turning on the outrageous planet-killing lifestyle of these wealth celebrities. The turning point seems to be when one famous person took a three minute flight to avoid a 45 minute drive, and locally in Ontario the performer Drake flies the short distance between Toronto and Hamilton.

It’s good to see people holding celebrities to account for their deplorable actions.

In a now-viral video, TikTok user Eryn broke down the data from Celeb Jets to uncover some startling results. She found that, based off the figures provided, between the dates 11 and 18 July 2022, there were 15 celebrities who flew by private jet. In total, these celebrities took 48 flights; that amounts to an average of 3.2 flights within a week. Eryn revealed that Kim Kardashian took three flights in that time period, giving off  23 tons of CO2 emission. “To put that in perspective for you,” Eryn says in the video, “the average American gives off 16 tonnes a year”.

“The more I looked at the numbers, the more I realised this is something that needed to be shared,” Eryn says. “It was mind-boggling to me that us ‘normal people’ are trying to reduce our waste and consumption by driving less, using paper straws, and saving up for solar panels while the celebrities dump 130 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in one week without consequence.”

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Leaded Gas for Cars Impossible to Buy Globally

small car

After decades of effort by environmentalists leaded gasoline for use in automobiles is impossible to buy anywhere on the planet. Last month Algeria ended sales for leaded gasoline which marked the end of the dangerous fuel for consumers according to the UN Environment Programme. All gas burning is bad for people and the planet, but leaded gasoline use was the worst.

The next step in getting rid of leaded gasoline is to ban it’s use in airplanes.

Petroleum containing tetraethyllead, a form of lead, was first sold almost 100 years ago to increase engine performance. It was widely used for decades until researchers discovered that it could cause heart disease, strokes and brain damage.

UNEP cited studies suggesting that leaded gas caused measurable intellectual impairment in children and millions of premature deaths.

Most rich nations started phasing out the fuel in the 1980s, but it was still widely used in low- and middle-income countries until 2002, when the UN launched a global campaign to abolish it.

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France Banning Short Flights to Reduce Carbon Output

birds

Flying isn’t so popular right now due to the pandemic and many airlines are financially hurting, and in France they are helping the Air France. Due to ineffectiveness in the private company the French government stepped in and doubled it’s stake with one key condition: the airline eliminates some of its routes. Short flights of 2.5 hours or less will no longer be permitted in France as the carbon output of one of those flights is 77 times that of a train. Train service in the country is good, but with the additional passenger load the service will improve with expansion.

Given how horrible plane travel is for the environment all of use should be grateful for France leading the way on this smart transportation policy.

The measures could affect travel between Paris and cities including Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux.

The French government had faced calls to introduce even stricter rules.

France’s Citizens’ Convention on Climate, which was created by President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 and included 150 members of the public, had proposed scrapping plane journeys where train journeys of under four hours existed.

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NASA’s All Electric Airplane Looks Neat

NASA loves researching and their newest aviation project is no exception. The X-57 plane is an all-electric propeller driven design to test and demonstrate that such a plane can exist. They also went a step further by testing new engines and arrangement of them on the wing to try and create the most effect short range plane possible with current technology. Without a doubt it has been a success! Their plane currently has 500% design efficiency over comparable aircraft on the market, these design solutions can be applied to the next generation of airplanes.

According to the space agency, this final configuration with its bespoke skinny wings will boost efficiency by reducing drag in flight. Propulsion for takeoff and landing is provided by the 12 high-lift electric motors on the leading edge of the wing that allow the X-57 to reach cruising altitude. Then the two wingtip propellers take over as the smaller motors deactivate and their propellor blades fold into the nacelles to reduce drag. For landing, the motors reactivate and centrifugal force opens the blades again.

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