Private jets - are they really as bad as people say?

Hello everyone,

On social media, they will be an uproar every few months because some celebrity used a private jet to get somewhere. Today, I'll be talking about whether these flights really are as bad as they seem or whether social media is just making a big deal out of nothing.

Emissions: private jets vs public flights

Private jets are 5 to 15 times worse than commercial flights per passenger. Also, private flights are normally not 4 hours long, some of them are only 20 to 30 minutes! These flights are worse because taking off and landing emit more greenhouse gases. With a flight that's only 20 or so minutes, you've only got 10 minutes at the most where you're actually flying 'normally'.

So when it comes to emissions, private jets are very bad for the environment.

Morals

You can't talk about private jets without talking about the morals involved. The first moral problem with private jets is the people who use them. People who can afford private jets are usually part of what is known as 'the super rich'. That in itself is not a problem. The problem is that a lot of these people publicly say that they are going to invest so many millions of dollars towards the climate crisis. This however is clearly not on their minds when they get into their private jets.

The second thing is again to do with money. Basically, private jets can cost up to 90 million US dollars. That money could easily be put towards things like refugee centres, children's education, starving children in poorer parts of the world and so on.

We can conclude, private jets are indeed very bad for the environment, in terms of CO2 emissions as well them being a simple waste of money that could be put into something else. This is not to say that long flights with hundreds of passengers are good, but owning a private jet is by far worse.

My personal opinion:

I would say in conclusion that private jets are just generally terrible, especially for flights under an hour. They are just another thing that's destroying our planet.

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Image:
This image, owned by Istvan (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Sources:
https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2022/8/4/23287843/everything-you-need-to-know-about-private-jets-cost-gas-emissions-mileage
https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/private-jets-can-the-super-rich-supercharge-zero-emission-aviation/

Comments

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

Photo Essay || Iceland Series (part 1)

Hi Everyone! I recently went on a school trip to Iceland! It was such an incredible experience (and I'm going to sound cheesy now) but it was also incredible to do it with some of my closest friends! I saw so many incredible things and learnt so much, so I couldn't resist sharing a little Iceland mini series of posts, all about Iceland, both my experiences there and what I saw, but also the way it uses geothermal energy, and the animals, natural landforms and plants that are there. Today I'm sharing some photos of my trip. These are all photos I have taken, and are also the highlights so please bear that in mind as you browse these! I hope it is interesting and inspires you to book a trip to Iceland! The blue lagoon <33 landscapes.... Lost little farmhouses a...

Greta Thunberg's Speech at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019

Hi Everyone! I thought I would share the transcript of Greta Thunberg's inspiring speech from the UN Climate Action Summit. The phrase we remember is 'How dare you!'. But what did she really want us to take away from it? She wanted us to act, so watch the video using the link below and take action because the world isn't just going to heal itself. Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN Climate Action Summit video "My message is that we'll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic g...

Ways to help make your household environmentally friendly

We have told you a bit about the problems that the environment is facing in previous posts but we haven’t told you how to help the environment around the house. You don’t even need a garden to make a difference! Ways to help stop global warming Tip 1: Turn the lights off when you leave a room. Tip 2: Walk or cycle on short journeys. Tip 3: Don’t have the windows open and the heaters on at the same time. Tip 4: Never leave your engine running Tip 5: If you can, buy an electric car as these produce less Co2. Ways to help stop plastic pollution Tip 1: Buy a water bottle. It seems simple but every year the UK uses an estimated 13 billion plastic bottles. Tip 2: Use a bar of soap and a bar of shampoo instead of shower gel and bottled shampoo. Some say soap can dry your skin out but if you do your research you can find plastic-free high-quality soap, perhaps at a price but it depends on where you get it from. Tip 3: Make...

Coral reefs

Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim...

January 2021 Factfile - a bit of news from the past month and more!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the first monthly fact file! We are going to share a news article from last month as well as animals and more! News You might have heard that the UK has authorised the use of a pesticide harmful to bees. It has been authorised for use on sugar beet with their excuse being to do with the virus yellows disease. But bees are in serious decline and this is not going to help. It is authorised for emergency use and only in specific conditions but, in our eyes, that doesn't make it okay. Farmers need bees to pollinate crops and now they are killing them with a horrible pesticide. What do you think? We would love your opinions below! For more information on bees in our honey bee post click here . We have also found an article about some Indonesian monkeys from the island of Bali who steal anything expensive, that tourists have because they know they will get a reward! They know which items have the most value and wi...

The environmental impact of the paper industry - is paper really the solution?

Hello everyone, First of all: Merry Christmas or Hannukah! I hope you are all enjoying your holidays and this special time of year. Today we'll be looking into the paper industry because lots of people are arguing about whether paper bags are better than plastic ones. We looked into it for you, enjoy! Acid rain In the production of pulp and paper, nitrogen oxides (NO X ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) are produced. Both of these are contributors to acid rain, which is not quite as terrible as it sounds but still quite bad. Acid rain is rain, fog, snow or hail that is acidic. It's formed by NO X & SO 2 reacting with water and oxygen which will turn them into nitrous acid (HNO 2 ), nitric acid (HNO 3 ) & sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ), meaning that instead of rain being formed from just water, it is instead also mixed with acid. While acid rain won't harm you, it can harm aquatic ecosystems and forests. When the rain falls on water, it w...

10 Animals on the edge of extinction, You did not know about no.1 - Yangtze Finless Porpoise

The first animal of this series is the Yangtze finless porpoise, a dolphin living in fresh water in southern China in the Yangtze river. It is one of the very few dolphins living in fresh water and the only species left in the Yangtze river. Unfortunately, the porpoise is facing extinction. What is it? The Yangtze finless porpoise is a dolphin species living in the Yangtze River in southern China. It is one of the very few dolphin species that live in freshwater, and the only one that survived in the Yangtze river after the Baiji Dolphin was declared functionally extinct in 2006. It characteristically is about 2 meters long, has no fins -as the name suggests- and no beak. Its mouth however is curved upwards like a smile, giving the Porpoise and cute and friendly face. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Sadly, the Yangtze finless Porpoise is considered "critically endangered" as there are only about 1000 of them left. Why i...

Announcement: Galápagos Islands

Major ocean currents and how they affect global temperatures

Hi everyone, This week we're talking about ocean currents. Ocean currents are part of the ocean's circulation system and influence local and global weather patterns. They are produced by gravity, differences in water density, winds on the ocean surface and Earth's rotation on its own axis. They cause the movements and exchanges of different ocean properties such as salinity, temperature and nutrients. Ocean currents can flow at speeds of up to 4m per second however most flow at speeds between 5cm and 50cm per second. Weather patterns and ocean currents constantly influence one another. Ocean currents follow similar paths as global wind do, transferring heat from the equator to polar regions. They create and influence ecosystems worldwide, especially marine ones. However they also spread plastics and microplastics around the world far from their original source. This system of ocean currents is often referred to as a global conveyor belt. Today w...

Green World

Search This Blog