In a recent Twitter thread, Disney heiress and Emmy-winning documentary producer Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) slams private jets, calling them a "cancer" and targeting uber-wealthy individuals that frivolously use such luxury modes of transportation.
It all started when Abigail Disney retweeted climate scientist Rose Ambramoff's post about the global campaign to ban private jets and end luxury emissions, the harmful gas air pollution created by non-essential activities.
Yes yes yes yes yes. https://t.co/ZqwJ3CQK1V
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) January 1, 2023
Support for banning private jets from someone like Abigail Disney — a grandniece of Walt Disney and shareholder in the media giant with a self-reported net worth of $120 million — seemed hard to believe for some. One user comments, "there is no way in the world Abigail doesn't use private jets."
Disney replies, "It's not that hard NOT to fly a private jet," sparking a thread about the harms of private flying.
"Private jets are a cancer … I also occasionally fly biz class and I fail to see what is so hard about that," Disney tweets.
THREAD// I'd like to just elaborate on the private jet thing for a moment. Private jets are a cancer. I'm sorry and I know and love lots of people who ride around in them. But I also occasionally fly biz class and I fail to see what is so hard about that. 1/ https://t.co/idWU3etPlr
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) January 8, 2023
Though Disney writes that she sympathizes with A-list celebrities and affluent figures attempting to preserve their privacy in public airports (or avoid us low gly commoners), she ultimately criticizes their unwillingness to make accommodations for the health of our planet.
"Get in line like a regular person," she writes.
Luxury emissions have long evaded policies to reduce airplane pollution. Call-outs from big names like Abigail Disney might help bring necessary attention to the issue.
The problem with private jets is the excessive pollution they release to accommodate just one person. Just as carpooling is better for the planet than multiple people driving to the same destination in individual cars, commercial flying is better than private flying.
Annually, the average billionaire's generation of harmful carbon air pollution is a million times higher than that of an average person in the bottom 90% of the world's population.
Carbon pollution in our atmosphere traps and releases heat from the sun, causing average temperatures to rise to dangerous levels in a process known as the greenhouse effect.
This phenomenon creates serious issues for us, like extreme weather events becoming even more intense than they already are.
Most users in Disney's comments supported her sentiment.
One individual comments, "[private jets] are such a waste of resources.
"Another mentions the comfort of commercial flying, especially during turbulence, "[Flying in a large commercial plane is] much better than bouncing around in a gilded tin can!"
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