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Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

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Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#3
post #2

I believe that anyone that travels a lot on airliners will easily surpass this so nothing to be smug about for a lot of people.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-peo...

"A lot of people" is a bit of a stretch.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#4
For extra context, his trip is roughly 3 years of the average American's emissions (21 t/yr) [0] and 7 years of the emissions of an American in the bottom 50 percent by income (9.7 t/yr) [0], which is where many of Bezos' employees fall. [1] If the 250 tons figure is correct, those become 12 and 26 years.

Americans who fall in the bottom 50 percent already emit less than necessary to hit the 2030 Paris Agreement targets [0]. If Bezos emits the typical amount for someone in the top 0.01 percent globally (2531 t/yr) [2], he'd have to slash his emissions by 99.6 percent.

[0]: https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-6/#tab_61b433da73d0e

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-salary-pay-m...

[2]: https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-6/#tab_61b433da73d06

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#5
Calling it a joyride seems like typical rage bait du jour. Space is a worthy project. Projects need goals to rally around, and this was a goal being accomplished. Who cares who was on the ride?

Furthermore, making it all about the richest few people misses the point. More useful to focus on the goal (regain U.S. space capability, and expand human space capability overall) and remember that there are tens of thousands of people involved in this.

Further-furthermore, you could make this same argument about any major development being a waste of resources if you just ignore the ever-expanding light cones of benefit that the whole human race gained from them.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#6

For extra context, his trip is roughly 3 years of the average American's emissions (21 t/yr) [0] and 7 years of the emissions of an American in the bottom 50 percent by income (9.7 t/yr) [0], which is where many of Bezos' employees fall. [1] If the 250 tons figure is correct, those become 12 and 26 years. Americans who fall in the bottom 50 percent already emit less than necessary to hit the 2030 Paris Agreement targ…

I think you’re basing this on the 75 tonnes estimate, while 250-1000 tonnes was suggested to be more likely.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#8
post #2

I believe that anyone that travels a lot on airliners will easily surpass this so nothing to be smug about for a lot of people.

It really wouldn’t. I tried a few calculators and flying Auckland to London return (you can’t fly that much further) comes out somewhere around 3000kgs.

To get to the amount Bezos uses (maybe 75 tonnes, but likely 250-1000 tonnes), that one hell of a lot of flying.

https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/loyaltymodule/form/carbon-em...

https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset/P...

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#9

For extra context, his trip is roughly 3 years of the average American's emissions (21 t/yr) [0] and 7 years of the emissions of an American in the bottom 50 percent by income (9.7 t/yr) [0], which is where many of Bezos' employees fall. [1] If the 250 tons figure is correct, those become 12 and 26 years. Americans who fall in the bottom 50 percent already emit less than necessary to hit the 2030 Paris Agreement targ…

I think you’re basing this on the 75 tonnes estimate, while 250-1000 tonnes was suggested to be more likely.

The first set of figures are based on 75 tons and the second set were based on 250 tons.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution

#10
post #2

I believe that anyone that travels a lot on airliners will easily surpass this so nothing to be smug about for a lot of people.

You will have to travel a lot more, over a really long period of time, to get to the 75ton/250ton numbers. Technically, anybody who eats hamburgers can eat enough burgers to hit that number - the point is that JB did that for a small, largely unnecessary spaceflight.
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