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Billionaires are the only case where personal choices can affect climate change
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Billionaires are the only case where personal choices can affect climate change

Jezz Bezos and Elon Musk emit more carbon pollution in 90 minutes than the average person does in their entire lifetime. This according to a new report from Oxfam International, a British NGO fighting poverty.

the report, first view by The Register looked at the carbon output of the private jets, superyachts and investments of the world’s 50 richest billionaires and compared it to what the rest of us do. “Half of the world’s emissions come from the richest 10% of people. The richest 1% of income accounts for 16% of emissions, which is more than the poorest two-thirds of people in the world,” Oxfam International Director Amitabh Behar said in a statement. press release about the study.

The world’s billionaires fly 184 times in a single year on average, spending around 425 hours in the air. According to Oxfam, this generates as much carbon as the average person would produce in 300 years. Yachts are worse.

“Oxfam has identified 23 superyachts owned by 18 billionaires and estimates the average annual carbon footprint of each of these yachts at 5,672 tonnes, more than three times the emissions of the billionaires’ private jets,” the report said. “This is equivalent to 860 years of emissions for the average person in the world and 5,600 times the average of a person in the world’s poorest 50%.”

One of the biggest carbon emitters was the Walton family of Walmart fame. The Walton heirs own three superyachts that travel 56,000 nautical miles a year for a combined carbon footprint of 18,000 tonnes. “This is equivalent to the carbon emissions of approximately 1,700 Walmart store workers,” Oxfam said in its report.

According to the report, Elon Musk has at least two private jets that produce a combined total of 5,497 tons of CO2 per year. Jeff Bezos has two private jets that spent about 25 days in the air, emitting 2,908 tons of CO2. “It would take the average US Amazon employee 207 years to issue that much,” the report said.

As the planet has steadily warmed, there has been a push to use personal consumer choices as a way to fight climate change. While it’s good for your body and the planet to use public transportation or bikes to commute instead of driving, there’s a limit to how much it helps. A person who does not drive to work every day is a drop in the bucket in terms of global carbon emissions. There is simply no amount of flights you can avoid to offset the industrial carbon output of China or India.

It’s different for billionaires. People like Musk and Bezos can remove massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere simply by not flying. Heck, even half-flying or selling a superyacht would be nice.

We know Musk and Bezos are concerned about climate change. Musk invested in Tesla because he saw gasoline cars as a major contributor to global warming. Bezos has a charity that billion pumpss in food inequality and climate research.

But both men try to leave the planet. As they accumulated more wealth, Bezos and Musk spent a lot of time and money on Blue Origin and SpaceX. Neither is shy about why. They want to leave the planet and its sick climate behind. As the rockets leave Earth, they will release thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Those without the money to buy a first class seat will be left to fix the problems these billionaires have helped.

Unless, of course, you’re willing to sell your future to Musk for a chance to win big in colonies outside the world.