Among the more frustrating parts of the holiday season is figuring out the best way to travel to see your loved ones.
Weather conditions might not be safe for driving, and getting stuck in traffic is a surefire way to extinguish any holiday cheer.
In Maui, Hawai'i, one person was stunned to see some folks had opted for a highly polluting method of transportation for their Thanksgiving journeys, with the local airport apparently ready to cater to the needs of the wealthy.
They posted a picture to the r/maui subreddit that showed 19 private jets ready for takeoff on Turkey Day.
In November, The Guardian reported that private jet usage is a significant contributor to planet-warming pollution.
A study from Linnaeus University in Sweden tracked over 25,000 private jets that had taken 19 million flights between 2019 and 2023. Some were used "like taxis," with almost half making journeys of less than 310 miles and 900,000 traveling less than 31 miles.
The rise in private jet usage has seen emissions from the form of transportation rise by 50%, and private flights, used by 0.003% of the world's population, created 15 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution in 2023 alone.
"The wealthy are a very small share of the population but are increasing their emissions very quickly and by very large levels of magnitude," professor Stefan Gössling, who led the study, told The Guardian. "The growth in global emissions that we are experiencing at this point in time is coming from the top."
Many of us do our best to reduce our polluting impact when getting around — such as by switching to an electric vehicle or riding a bike for short journeys — so it's frustrating to see that a handful of wealthy people are responsible for such a disproportionately high percentage of transportation emissions.
🗣️ Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics?
🔘 Giving me money back 💰
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🔘 Making it as easy as possible ⚡
🔘 Keeping my stuff out of landfills 🗑️
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"I am worrying so much about the environment that I spent a few days fixing a hybrid battery on my old Prius, and some people burn thousands of pounds of gas for private jet travel," one Redditor said.
"Someone is having a party," another commented.
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