Trudie Styler: Worth the airlmiles?
Why we posted this: There’s much fun to be had at the expense of Trudie Styler and the helicopters and private jets she uses to defend the planet and its people. But suppose she’s worth the airmiles? Or is she barking up the wrong tree?
The original story:
“Trudie Styler: Saving the world one jet at a time”
Marina Hyde
The Guardian
15 May 2009
Summary of the story:
Ms Hyde is making something of a profession discussing the absurdity of celebrity conscience and here’s a good installment in the saga. It’s a tale of extravagant flying in jets and helicopters by a woman with lots of homes and a mission to save the planet.
livingissues comment:
Ms Tyler responded to the piece with an interesting assessment of the trade-offs to be made. Every square mile of rainforest that’s saved, saves a good deal of greenhouse gas and so a bit of jet fuel to save a lot of forest is a good deal.
I have no idea how much rainforest Trudie Styler has saved and how much her flying was indispensable to her saving it.
In principle, she could be right. Similarly, the airmiles of a person like Sir Nicholas Stern might well be worth it, if what he achieves needs face-to-face contact.
In her response, she mentioned her part in the campaign against Chevron and its supposed involvement in destroying Ecuador’s wildernesses. It happens the Economist had a little piece on the background to this saga and it’s well worth a look. One way of looking at things is to say that the Ecuadorian government squandered its own assets and it’s far from sure that any US company has much to blame itself for.
