Pirate's Cove

Even though this piece by Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash at Forbes is taken from the Warmist point of view, and is rather silly, it actually makes an interesting point

Taylor Swift And Climate Change: Is The Youth “Shaking Off” Or Embracing Carbon-Intensive Lifestyles?

Climate change has emerged as an important issue for the younger generation—that is, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996). Public opinion polls suggest that these cohorts are more worried about climate change and more supportive of climate policies.

Youth groups have been active in the Friday for Future demonstrations. Across the world, young plaintiffs are suing governments for what they perceive as relative lethargy on climate issues. Young activists are disturbing sporting events, stopping traffic at major highways and vandalizing museums—all with the objective of focusing media attention on climate issues. (snip)

Swift has embarked on a world tour that includes 131 shows across five continents. Tickets to her concerts are (very) expensive, with substantial resale markets. Along with concert tickets and records, Swift sells a range of merchandise on her website from clothing to jewelry.

“It’s simple Taylornomics,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “When Taylor Swift comes to town, Swifties go on a spending spree.” Her fans fill hotels, pack restaurants and crowd local bars.

“Fans who did get tickets spent hundreds of dollars on outfits for the show, hiring designers to recreate looks Swift wore on the red carpet or in music videos,” the WSJ’s Joseph Pisani wrote. “At the concerts, they traded beaded friendship bracelets that spelled out song titles.”

So, basically mass economic activity. The youts take fossil fueled trips to see Taylor, who uses vast amounts of fossil fuels and energy to travel and put on the shows. The kiddies spend lots of money on Fast Fashion, and contribute to capitalism, which they say they despise

We are delighted that the younger generation is having fun. After depressing Covid-19 lockdowns, this is a welcome change. But much of the entertainment seems carbon-intensive, and we find this “consumption as salvation” approach to be disturbing (apart from the moral issue surrounding conspicuous consumption, who can really afford to purchase Swift concert tickets and paraphernalia, especially in Seattle with burgeoning homeless population?).

Bummer.

This raises questions such as whether the climate ethic of the younger generation is any different from that of boomers. Instead of OK-Boomers type of performative environmentalism, it is time to ask the tough question: how to confront our carbon-intensive lifestyles.

Remember, lots of these cult youts complain that it was the older folks, boomers, their parents, their grandparents, Gen X, who brought on the era of global boiling. So, if the kiddies are doing their own thing…how much energy and gas is used so they can travel somewhere to take selfies and do their TikToks in fossil fueled vehicles?…but it’s the same, what of their responsibility? Fast fashion, immense streaming, constantly ordering delivery food, etc?

Some might claim that climate problems are structural and suggest any talk about personal responsibility constitutes “soft denial.” We beg to differ. Individuals have a choice when it comes to entertainment. Why is the younger generation gravitating toward celebrities with very high carbon footprints who flaunt their consumption-oriented lifestyle? Consumption divas such as Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have among the highest number of Instagram followers (397 million and 363 million respectively). Greta Thunberg, in contrast, has only 15 million followers. What does this reveal about the climate priorities of the younger generation?

But, the article just misses, in that they’re trying to call out the Elites, like Swift, who have massive carbon footprints. But, fails to ask why the followers are not practicing what they preach? The article mentions that Seattle stores ran out of plastic beads to make bracelets as Swift came to town. They want Swift to talk about how bad this is, but, what of the kids buying them? They yammer about plastic pollution (which is an environmental issue, unfortunately taken over by the Climate Cult) but are more than will to engage in it.