Bogus
Environmentalism
Hollywood Loves the Toyota Prius
By Daniel Muniz
I love it when movie stars try to take the moral high ground when
it comes to global warming. Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Leonardo
DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and quite a few others tool around Hollywood in
environmentally conscious hybrids like the Toyota Prius while George
Clooney opts for the Tango electric car.
Yes, the Prius sips gas since it gets a whopping 60 miles to the
gallon. And electric cars consume absolutely no gasoline although
the electricity has to come from somewhere.
As to the big picture, the incredible fuel efficiency of hybrids
does lessen our dependence on foreign oil while limiting the
so-called carbon footprint but it can only be effective if a large
enough segment of the population discards their ordinary vehicles
and opts to drive these kinds of cars on a daily basis. So in order
to accomplish that goal while saving the planet, movie stars adopted
these hybrids for their personal use as a way to raise publicity and
to encourage people to change their lifestyles.
But are Hollywood celebrities truly doing their part to save the
environment and stop global warming or do they really have a bogus
set of values that makes them feel good because of their enormous
hypocrisy when it comes to pollution.
For instance, the private jets that movie stars zip around the
country in and throughout the world are such thirsty gas guzzlers
that they make a green Prius look like a Hummer.
A one-way trip from Los Angeles to New York City is about 2500
miles. In that one-way flight, depending on the model, a private jet
consumes approximately 2750 gallons of jet fuel. Now imagine how
many Hollywood celebrities fly around the country and around the
world in private or chartered jets instead of simply using
commercial jetliners like the rest of us common folk. And now
imagine how often they take such flights.
Yes, a Prius is definitely energy efficient but let’s analyze a
single one-way trip Jennifer Lopez did take from L.A. to New York
City on a private jet. For the amount of jet fuel that her gas hog
guzzled for that one-way trip, J-Lo would have to drive her Prius
more than twice around the Earth. Yes, it takes quite a bit of
effort for to compensate for the 45,000 miles that her fuel
efficient green Prius would have gotten in exchange for one gas tank
of 2750 gallons of jet fuel.
By the way, Jennifer Lopez was actually sued by a private jet
company for skipping out on a gas bill. Her publicist insists that
the legal action was simply a misunderstanding because she thought
that she was not supposed to be billed. Perhaps J-Lo thought that
jet fuel was free.
Now Brad Pitt loves hybrids and he has quite a few of them but
lets examine a one-way trip he took to Namibia. The 9400 mile flight
on his private jet consumed approximately 11,000 gallons of jet
fuel. In contrast, Pitt could have driven his Prius to the moon in
order to compensate for the amount of jet fuel he burned while on
his way to Africa.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit different than other Hollywood
celebrities because he claims that he actually flies on commercial
flights although he admits that he only uses a private jet because
of how his time is scheduled.
Now I don’t buy his concession because ordinary people do not
have access to private jets and yet they are still able to get from
point A to point B. It just takes the rest of us a little bit
longer. Besides, isn’t saving the planet supposed to be more
important than shaving off a few hours in a day?
To be blunt, there is absolutely no fuel efficiency involved when
using a private jet. These types of aircraft are gas hogs and they
waste an enormous amount of fuel when celebrities choose to use them
as private transportation. If a Hollywood celebrity is trying to
save the planet by driving hybrid cards, then there is really no way
to justify the use of these jets for such personal use especially
when they are zipping around Hollywood in a Prius.
But what really bothers me is that environmentalists love to
castigate SUV owners, especially when they drive their vehicles
alone, yet they have absolutely no inclination to criticize the
lavish wasteful lifestyles of the rich and famous movie stars. Yes,
Hollywood celebrities do love to drive their hybrids but their gas
guzzling private jets negate whatever goals that they are trying to
accomplish. And worse, they end up contributing even more pollution
to the environment instead of reducing their carbon footprint.
Yet, private jets are absolutely not on the radar screens for
environmental activists because they know full well that their
Hollywood supporters incessantly use them and rely on them for their
private transportation needs. What is most bothersome is that the
same activists have no problem demanding that local and state
governments spend huge amounts of taxpayer money to fund fuel
efficient public transportation networks for the masses but they
have no inclination to criticize the celebrities that use gas
guzzlers for their own private travel.
Overall, the Toyota Prius and other electric cars do make the
movie stars feel good even though they are consuming more fossil
fuels and creating more pollution than what they want everyone to
know. And by participating in this trendy crusade, it allows them to
escape any criticisms over their own shortfalls while they criticize
the public for still using polluting automobiles.
Perhaps the public ought to take Hollywood seriously about
hybrids if and only if their movie stars give up their gas guzzling
private jets and begin traveling the same way that the rest of us
ordinary people do.
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