How many house plants would celebrities need to offset their private jet emissions?

How many house plants would celebrities need to offset their jet emissions?

These have been rounded to the nearest billion. We used individual celebrities’ jet emissions, so discrepancies arise when accounting for scale. To see how we did the math, jump here.

 

Taylor Swift would need 30 billion house plants to offset her CO2 emissions.

The 30 billion prayer plants needed to offset Taylor Swift’s jet usage take up approximately 46 billion square feet (1,671 square miles)—bigger than Yosemite National Park.

 

Floyd Mayweather would need 26 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

That many plants take up ~39 billion square feet (1,426 square miles)—almost all of the Grand Canyon.

 

Jay-Z would also need 26 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

39 billion square feet (~1,406 sq mi)—more than twice the land area of Oahu.

 

A-Rod would need 19 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

30 billion square feet (~1,077 sq mi)—nearly twice the size of Greater London.

 

Blake Shelton would need 16 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

25 billion square feet (~905 sq mi)—about three New York Cities.

 

Steven Spielberg would need 16 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

25 billion square feet (~899 sq mi)—about eight Maldives.

 

Kim Kardashian would need 15 billion house plants to offset her CO2 emissions.

23 billion square feet (~860 sq mi)—two Hong Kongs.

 

Mark Wahlberg would need 14 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

21 billion square feet (~760 sq mi)—four Lake Tahoes.


Oprah Winfrey would need 13 billion house plants to offset her CO2 emissions.

19 billion square feet (~703 sq mi)—three Chicagos.

 

Travis Scott would need 11 billion house plants to offset his CO2 emissions.

17 billion square feet (~611 sq mi)—six Baltimores.

 

Total Plants Needed

186 billion house plants (~10,007 sq mi)—an area larger than Vermont.

 

Why does it matter?

Private planes emit 10–20× more carbon than commercial airline passengers, and the ultra-rich are responsible for a disproportionate share of aviation emissions.

 

Methodology

CO2 Absorption Formula

Number of plants = Jet emissions ÷ CO2 absorbed per plant
We used the Prayer Plant (absorbs 0.0002677 kg CO2/day).

Space Calculation

Plant footprint (1.5 sq ft) × number of plants → square feet → square miles.

 

Citations

  1. Institute for Policy Studies (2023, May 1). Report: High Flyers 2023: How Ultra-Rich Private Jet Travel Costs the Rest of Us and Burns up the Planet. Institute for Policy Studies. https://ips-dc.org/report-high-flyers-2023/
  2. Celebrity Jets (@CelebJets). Twitter. https://twitter.com/CelebJets
  3. Private Jets: Can the Super-Rich Supercharge Zero-Emission Aviation?. Transport & Environment (2022, September 30). https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/private-jets-can-the-super-rich-supercharge-zero-emission-aviation/
  4. Team, Y.D.P. (2023, January 19). Just Plane Wrong: Celebs with the Worst Private Jet CO₂ Emissions: Insights. Yard. https://weareyard.com/insights/worst-celebrity-private-jet-co2-emission-offenders
  5. SaveOnEnergy.com (2023, February 27). UK Energy. https://www.saveonenergy.com/uk/houseplants-offset-co2-emissions