9 Hypocrite Environmentalist Celebrities With Huge Carbon Footprints

You know that a cause-celebre has reached “celebrity” status, well, when the world’s most well-known celebrities take it up as their own.  Such is the case with the crusade against global warming and its companion concept of each individual’s “carbon footprint.” 

Having a large carbon foot today is akin to running a Vietnamese sneaker sweatshop in the 1990’s, or blasting your railroad through and over a small town in the 1890’s.  Woe to the party-goer who can’t tick off five things he or she has done to reduce his or her carbon footprint; from driving a Prius, to leaving it “mellow” if it is “yellow,” you better have an idea of proactive steps you are taking to preserve and protect the environment, lest you not get invited to Gwyneth and Chris’ next soiree.

At this point, you may be feeling that your use or possession of a private jet will leave you in the cold amongst your environmentally responsible friends.  However, you can always point to the following celebrities who no doubt cut a bigger carbon swath through the environment than you:

Madonna.  The “Material Girl” hasn’t entirely forsaken the amenities of life on tour, despite holding a pennant for the cause of environmentalism.  Her stable of automobiles includes a Mercedes Maybach, two
Range Rovers, Audi A8s, and when she is feeling particularly fuel-efficient, a Mini Cooper S.  These gas hogs have nothing on the pollution spewed into the environment when she heads out tour, though.  The carbon dioxide produced from the travel of her private flights on her latest “Confessions” tour exceeded 440
tons (compared with the average CO2 emitted by an individual of 10 tons per year).  Once you add in the CO2 produced by the transport of the equipment needed for her show and the very fans she expects to attend, Madonna may be asking papa not to preach to her about her wasteful ways.

Al Gore.  Sure Al may be the poster child for global warming (we still think it is all a ploy to live down his “lock box” sound bite), but upon closer examination, Al appears to be a polluter above all others.  Gore’s 20 room, 8 bathroom mansion consumes more electricity in a month than the average American household consumes in an entire year.  His natural gas bill averages over $1,000 a month for his mansion and guest house.  Add in the private jet charters to accept various awards and attend debuts of his documentaries and Mr. Gore may have to denounce himself soon for his impact on the environment – right after he gets that patent for the little thing he invented called “the internet.”

John Travolta.  Although he is glad to appear at causes aimed at fighting global warming, the actor formerly known as Vinnie Barbarino also has an addiction to big, fast jets.  The licensed pilot owns five private planes, including a Boeing 707, three Gulfstreams and a Learjet.  During one of his intercontinental trips, Mr. Travolta landed his plane to refuel in Ireland and it was revealed that he was the only person onboard the 150 person capacity jet.  Maybe everyone else heard that Battlefield Earth would be the in-flight
movie.

Barbra Streisand.  While Babs offers her pipes to any cause seeking to rid the world of evil polluters, she made up for it during her 2005 tour of the United Kingdom by demanding 120 bath-sized towels upon arrival for her show (what – water is a resource?), the use of 13 tractor-trailers, four vans, 14 buses for the crew, and one limousine for Babs herself.

David and Victoria Beckham.  Becks and the Posh One own over fifteen cars between them, including a Lamborghini, two Ferraris and a Bentley.  Their international jet-setting tallies over 18 tons of CO2 per year. 
So much for Spiceworld being pollution-free.

Tom Cruise.  Dubbed “Emissions Impossible” by the eco crowd, Tom is notorious for using his fleet of private jets as family taxis.  Unless you are using your jet to pick up some groceries for your wife, you are ahead of Tom in guarding the Earth from pollution.

Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Far from “Fighting Like a Brave,” the Chilis may want to crawl under that bridge once their fans find out that their jaunts across the world in support of their 42 date, six month tour
produced over 220 tons of CO2.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  The Googlemeisters rewarded their takeover of the world with the purchase of a Boeing 767.  Unless they are planning on taking a small village with them on their trips, your private jet is spewing significantly less CO2 into the air than their ride.  At least they offer their employees a $5,000 bonus for buying a low-emission hybrid car.

Chris Martin.  The Coldplay front man logs over 100,000 miles a year in his private jet, zipping home between gigs.  The good – he ordered the planting of 10,000 mango trees to offset the carbon catastrophe
caused by the production of one of the band’s albums.  The bad – most of the trees died.

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