Pirate's Cove

I’m actually surprised this didn’t come sooner. There were some Warmists who linked the death of a Swiftie to climate doom, but, this is certainly the worst. And Clean Technica asks an interesting question

Climate Change Killed A Swiftie — How Will Taylor Swift Respond?

Yesterday, we learned that Ana Clara Benevides died as a result of extreme heat while attending a Taylor Swift concert in Rio De Janeiro last month. The incident happened November 18, and the investigation by the coroner concluded yesterday that the cause of death was the insane heat that blanketed much of Brazil that week. And when I say insane heat, I mean a heat index of ~60 degrees C, ~139°F. (Heat index is a blended measure of temperature and humidity — basically how it affects the human body.)

The concert venue did not help the situation, doing a poor job of heat management. They could/should have built more shade structures, provided water refill stations, and allowed people to bring their water bottles. But those are “normal” concert venue management practices these days. What’s not normal is a heat index of 60°C/139°F.

I’ve been to hot ones. The Grateful Dead down in DC back in the late 80’s at the old RFK stadium was a nightmare. DC is a swamp, it was summer, it was super humid, and there was no airflow. I actually got near enough to the stage to see Garcia’s eyes, and then backed away because it was sweltering. Things get warm in Brazil in the summer during a Holocene warm period. Now add in all those fans and all the lights. But, it’s a cult, and in their world everything is because Other People took fossil fueled vehicles. How many took them to the concert?

And now, I wonder how will Taylor Swift respond to this announcement? Swift has something special — a charisma that few others have. She has a legendary following. I honestly had to google it to find out why she is so popular. (Hey, I’m a middle aged man without kids … Swift might as well be some ancient Russian author without an English translation — I would know similar amounts about both of them. The only reason she’s even on my radar is that she’s dating Travis Kelce, one of pro football’s best players.) Among the things I found in my curiosity journey was an NPR podcast where one of the co-hosts explained, oftentimes through tears, Swift’s lyrics, the history, and Swift’s personal journey. The TLDR version is that Swift is an incredible songwriter who has managed to capture every essence of the experience of being female in the modern age.

My thought, though, is that Swift has a power that few others have. Will she use that power to help us solve climate change?

Well, let’s consider

(Breitbart) 1) She’s a climate change proponent but she’s also a jet-setting elite who flies her private aircraft to visit her NFL boyfriend.

Taylor Swift has promoted herself as a climate activist but her private jet habits are so infamous that there is an Instagram account devoted to tracking her plane’s comings and goings. The singer regularly uses her carbon-spewing aircraft to rendez-vous with her paramour, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

By one account, Swift’s flights to see Kelce created 138 tonnes of emissions in just three months. The average person creates four tonnes per year. Swift’s flack has claimed the singer has purchased carbon credits to offset her emissions.

What’s the carbon footprint for each concert, as she travels around the world? All those lights, all those people, all that electricity? She took lots and lots of private jets even before Kelce. How many unnecessary items do her Swifties purchase? How many bought the same album rebranded as “Taylor’s Version” that they already owned?