WTF WWF: World Wildlife Fund Shuttles Funders Around The World in Private Jet

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has long been known for their dedication to the conservation of species across the world, working hard to ‘protect the future of nature’. The organization has spent the past 45 years working in 100 countries toward preserving the diversity and abundance of life.  That’s why it makes absolutely no sense that the WWF is ferrying uber-rich donors around the world on a private jet that will spew tons of carbon into the air during the 25-day journey (which costs a whopping $64,950 per person).

From the WWF website:

Join us on a remarkable 25-day journey by private jet. Touch down in some of the most astonishing places on the planet to see the top wildlife, including gorillas, orangutans, rhinos, lemurs and toucans. Explore natural and cultural treasures in remote areas of South America, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa.

To reach these remote corners, travel on a specially outfitted private jet that carries 88 passengers. World-class experts – including WWF’s director of species conservation – will provide a series of lectures en route, and a professional staff will be devoted to making your global adventure seamless and memorable.

Come on, WWF. Surely you can secure funding without going against one of your very own goals: “promoting more efficient use of resources and energy and the maximum reduction of pollution.”  One is forced to ask, how can you fly people around on a private jet and still use resources efficiently and reduce pollution? You can’t.

The WWF’s website details the plight of endangered animals around the world, and the fact that each year, 25 million acres of forest are slashed and burned.  The organization entreats us to help them preserve the natural world, so this whole private jet thing reeks of hypocrisy. Sad, because it undermines all of the good work WWF has done. FAIL!

Link [WWF] via [Wired]

Poor Diddy Flying Commercial Due to High Gas Prices

Okay, people.  Now’s the time to get really serious about the energy prices and start doing everything we can to lower them.  The situation has gotten so dire, the unthinkable has happened.  A great and powerful man has been affected.  Despite his fortune, P. Diddy (oh, my bad, he’s just calling himself DIDDY now) has reached a point where he can no longer justify flying in a private jet due to the price of gas. He’s flying commercial, and he’s pissed.  After all, why should America hip hop royalty be forced to mingle with us commoners, sitting in first class with regular, non-famous rich people?

He’s so upset, he’s taken to YouTube to express his feelings and beg his ‘Saudi brothers and sisters’ for free oil.  Yep.

“Right now, I’m actually – can you believe this? – I’m actually flying commercial.  That’s how high gas prices are.”

Let’s all scrape our pennies together and send them to Diddy Douchebag, cause he’s hurting so much that he can no longer afford to fly around in a private jet.

Link [Huffington Post] + [YouTube]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Jet Sharing: For Celebrities Who Don’t Want to Try Too Hard

Gee, it must be hard to be a celebrity. You have to deal with annoyingly adoring fans, are inundated by free stuff at every turn and get flak from us peons about flitting around in private jets. Cause, as we all know, there are so many good reasons why you can’t fly commercial. Like the fact that you’re accompanied by a truckload of baggage and multiple employees who wait on you hand and foot. So, even when you have all these dumb environmentalists telling you it’s really bad for the planet when you fly a private jet, you just aren’t going to stop, no matter what. Well, guess what, your highnesses: now you can share a private jet with other celebs, so you can tell people you’re ‘green’.

Treehugger has it:

If you look at Madonna, her carbon footprint in 2006 was estimated to be 1,018 tons - or 100 times the average British citizen’s. Not only do celebs fly a lot, the more famous they get, the more likely they are to want the convenience and luxury of a private jet. So now you know why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt never look jet-lagged!

London-based Private Jet Club has launched a service to pair up different jet-setters going to some common cities to reduce their costs and (incidentally) their per-person carbon footprint - and calling it jet pooling. While jet pooling may sound like a ridiculous bit of greenwash, the CO2 load of flying solo in many jets is astronomical, making jet pooling better than nothing.

Sure, it’s better than nothing. I’d much rather hear about, say, all of those LA-based actors flying to Cannes in one private jet than all of them flying separately. So, there’s that. Here’s hoping that some of them will actually do it!

Link [Treehugger] + [Private Jet Club]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons