"I would like to think that we both work pretty hard for the rights of indigenous people and for the rights of conservation of the Amazon rainforest, but we do need to get around."Well, yes. But getting around to Trudie Styler (Mrs. Sting, photo at left) means creating a carbon footprint about 30 times bigger than the average Briton's. After all, maintaining 7 homes around the world does have its environmental costs. One might naturally suppose that a couple engaging in such a lavish, eco-damaging lifestyle would refrain from posing as green crusaders and wouldn't dare pontificate about environmental issues.
Ah! Never underestimate the capacity for hypocrisy of modern celebrities.
In this Daily Mail (U.K.) piece, the reader is treated to a few snapshot descriptions of just how dramatic is the hypocrisy on these matters shown by Babs Streisand, John Travolta, Leonardo Dicaprio, Madonna, and others.
Here's just a couple of excerpts:
* Regarding Trudie Styler's public campaign for people to eat more locally grown vegetables (and thus reduce the carbon footprint caused by transport), the story relates "that a tribunal last year heard how she ordered her personal chef to travel over 100 miles to make a bowl of pasta for her youngest child and has sold olive oil and honey from her Tuscan estate, Il Palagio, 1,000 or so miles away, in Harrods in London.
* John Travolta has been vocal about everybody doing "their bit" to reduce global warming and has argued for the necessity of developing alternative fuels. But as the Daily Mail reports, Travolta owns five planes (a Learjet, 3 Gulfstreams, and a customized Boeing 707 designed to carry 150 passengers) which he flies from his own runway. "When he was flying himself back to the U.S., the staggering scale of his environmental vandalism was revealed when he landed the 707 in Ireland to refuel and it was reported that he was the only person on board."
* Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are among the most outspoken of celebrities demanding simpler lifestyles from the citizenry. They have helped finance the building of "eco-homes" in New Orleans; Pitt narrated a segment of the documentary, e2: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious; and have repeatedly said such things as, "There's a lot of problems in the world right now because of our dependency on oil."
Nevertheless, the star couple's transportation goes way beyond their hybrid Prus, "In fact, Pitt and his wife are massive consumers of oil thanks to their addiction to private jet travel. In 2007 they took literally dozens of such flights between them around the world. In August, Pitt flew from Chicago, where he was watching his wife work, to LA to perform jury duty and then flew back to Illinois the same day. Recently, the couple touched down at Nice airport aboard their own 'PJ' -- burning an estimated 11, 000 gallons of fuel on the trip from America. Pitt would have to drive his Prius to the moon to offset that.""
Read the rest here.
