The Climate “Haves” and “Have-nots”

Including mentions of baseball, private jets, and egregious waste

Last week, one of the biggest events in sports showed off glamor and character across baseball. 

The broadcast featured on- and off-field interviews of stars and, overall, a group of highly paid sports players enjoying an exhibition game.  Featured activities for some reason heavily favored the American League stars.  Perhaps the producers failed to realize that there were stars on both teams.

One spotlight stuck with me more than the others, perhaps for the wrong reasons.

The “Big Papi en La Casa” segment showed famous former baseball player turned analyst David Ortiz (Big Papi) quickly chatting with players in the American League dugout during the game.  Based on the seemingly pointless questions for his mini interviews, the purpose of this particular interview activity continues to evade me.  

One question he asked two players was when they were planning on leaving Los Angeles.  Even though the viewers likely would not care at all, they replied about when they were leaving.  Big Papi followed up asking if they were flying private.  They were.

What struck me was not what was said but rather how it was said.  

Flying private seemed to be shown as prestige.  The only way to fly.  The ultimate.

It was a pointless anecdote for viewers.

This reminded me of the recent news of Kylie Jenner taking multiple flights of 15 minutes or less in duration.  Yet, it’s not just Kylie Jenner.  These trends appear with many celebrities and their jets.  Celebrity flight watchers are making waves reporting on the excess, the waste.  

Private planes, while certainly a hallmark indicator of wealth in novels, they are responsible for huge carbon emissions.  The trackers are being seen as a new form of climate accountability.  The more people know, the more pushback they can give.  

In the age of pointless space tourism, carbon emissions are essential to consider.  Carbon footprints represent a wide range of activities generally used to calculate an individual’s climate impacts through daily life.  As with many things, they are an imperfect tool.

Research already indicates massive impacts on worsening global economic inequality.  The climate impacts from using fossil fuels worsens the pre-existing historical disparities in energy consumption.  Basically, those that consume the most create the greatest negative impacts on those that consume the least.    

The trend continues across continents, by country, and within individual societies.  As with most things in life, money buys power, safety, and a way out.  The “haves” and “have-nots” gap continues to widen, with the “haves” disproportionately creating the impacts felt by the “have-nots.”  

The question remains as to the overall climate impacts of this celebrity athlete packed event.  Not only that three hours, but the culture around private jets appears pervasive.