Oh, the hypocrisy.
A gaggle of A-list celebrities flocked to a posh Italian resort this week for Google Camp, described as a major summit on climate change.
Of course, they did so in the only way liberals do: They flew in on at least 114 private jets, whipped around in gas-guzzling helicopters, motored up in $200 million yachts with 2,300-horsepower engines. Once there, they were ferried around in huge Maserati SUV’s that get 15 miles per gallon.
The three-day event — which reportedly cost $20 million — was super secret. Former President Barack Obama was supposed to attend but no one knows for sure if he did. Even the attendance of Prince Harry — who reportedly delivered an impassioned speech about climate change while barefoot — was never confirmed by Buckingham Palace.
But the Daily Mail reports that a jet was “chartered to bring the royal to Palmero airport, before a helicopter whisked him onwards to the luxury resort of Verdura for the summit, all paid for by Google.”
If Harry did travel via private jet, it would have put around three tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere — ten times more than going via commercial airliner.
In order to offset just the one-way plane ticket, Harry would need to plant around 190 trees, environmental group Trees for the Future said.
When pressed whether Harry had flown commercial or private the CEO of Palermo airport Giovanni Scalia said: ‘Being royalty you can guess which.’
Other big celebrities were there, too, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio, singer Katy Perry, actor Orlando Bloom, singer Harry Styles, actor Bradley Cooper, singer Nick Jonas, actor Priyanka Chopra, TV personality Gayle King, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, supermodel Naomi Campbell, designer Diane von Furstenberg, and media mogul Barry Diller.
“Furstenberg and Diller reportedly arrived via their $200 million yacht Eos; Dreamworks founder David Geffen is said to have given Perry and Bloom a lift to the event on his $400 million yacht, Rising Sun,” Fox News reported.
Perry, meanwhile, “arrived with fiance Orlando Bloom on board a £330million super yacht owned by Hollywood mogul David Geffen. She was reported to have been spotted in a Maserati SUV that does only 15 miles to the gallon,” the Mail reported.
The whole affair drew scorn and contempt on Twitter.
“[W]hat is conference going to achieve, other than a glamorous knees up for the rich? Also, and I may be out on a limb here, but I do believe there are scheduled flights and ferries to Sicily,” wrote BBC presenter Andrew Neil.
“Wow, just wow. Has google not heard about video conference?” wrote another on Twitter.
“Wow…if it’s so bad, why did all the Google execs, rich folks & celebrities fly 114 private jets, yachts, & limos to the climate change summit in Italy? Hypocrisy? Climate hoax?” wrote still another.
And said another: “The hypocrisy of all these celebrities and billionaires that are travelling to a climate change summit in their private jets! The fact that Google spent $20bn on this initiative just shows that they’d rather look the part than be the part! Put that money INTO ACTION! not a parade!”
The New York Post, meanwhile, said it had “crunched the numbers and found that 114 flights from Los Angeles to Palermo, Italy, where Camp guests landed, would spew an estimated 100,000 kilograms of CO2 into the air.”
For reference, this website says you’d have to plant 15,000 trees over 75,000 acres to offset 98,000 kilos of CO2.
When will all those celebrities plant all those trees?
Don’t hold your breath.