California wildfires have ravaged the homes of many Hollywood elites, including Leonardo DiCaprio. Some critics have been quick to point out the hypocrisy of DiCaprio using a private jet to flee to another home in Mexico after he had spent considerable time and resources advocating for environmental causes.
The Reddit community at r/popculture had a wide range of reactions.
"That.....actually seems kind of smart," said one user. "I mean whats the alternative? Use the car and get stuck in traffic with a million other drivers while the jet sits idle? If i had to flee a natural disaster and my choices were super fast zoom zoom in the empty air and slow gridlocked putt putt with many other scared and angry people......ummm....id go zoom zoom."
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Never 👎 This drives at one of the key issues with climate disasters: emergency response is much more costly than preparation. This is often framed as adaptation versus mitigation. Estimates vary, but one suggests that every dollar invested in built environment disaster mitigation today avoids $13 of adaptation costs tomorrow.
People will do what they need to do to survive when a disaster looms, and generally the rich will have the tools to adapt more readily than the poor. DiCaprio is a rather pointed example, but the dynamic applies more broadly too. In general, the global north is better equipped to deal with increasingly violent weather patterns than the southern hemisphere. Monetary costs aside, emergency response is also harsher on the environment than preparation. DiCaprio's private jet spews loads of pollution. Similar criticisms have been levied against Taylor Swift, which was alluded to in another Reddit comment.
"It is ok for wealthy people to use their private jet in an emergency situation. It's actually one of the few times that it is appropriate and the right thing to do (his entourage would only contribute to more traffic, had they been on the roads). What is not ok is when celebrities use their private jet to travel to another city, just to watch the football," they said.
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