Photo: Instagram / Bill Gates
Many want to be influencers as long as that doesn’t turn them into role models. Role models have a responsibility toward everyone else, which influencers don’t, and that means getting called out at every misstep or when they fail to live up to their word.
Microsoft co-founder and passionate environmentalist slash activist Bill Gates knows all about that. He’s often been called out for what people believe is the best example of hypocrisy: his large carbon footprint that clashes with everything he’s been saying we need to do in order to stop climate change and ultimately save the planet. If you want people to stop flying or buying cruise tickets, maybe it would be best if you didn’t do it in between private jet flights or from the deck of a gigantic, luxurious superyacht.
This extended intro is necessary to understand the latest hubbub around Bill Gates, usually the least controversial of all the billionaires in the world. Gates was in Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26 Climate Change Conference this week, to urge leaders to be more active in supporting and implementing greener policies that could, within 20-30 years, hopefully yield a positive result in stalling climate change, or even overturning the damage already done.
On the same occasion, Gates pledged $315 million (through the Gates Foundation) to develop crops that are resistant to climate change, a move that is vital in helping small farmland owners survive. Otherwise, “we will lose the global battle against hunger and poverty,” Gates wrote on Twitter after his appearance.
Now for the hypocritical part: just before COP26, Gates was cruising around the Aegean Sea for extended birthday celebrations, having just turned 66. He’s been partying it up on LANA, the spectacular and world-famous Azimut-Benetti superyacht that charters for $2 million a week and is described as one of the most luxurious in the world.
LANA, according to the New York Post, which cites local Turkish publications, isn’t traveling alone: it’s accompanied by the Incat Crowther-designed Wayfinder, the luxury catamaran that serves as supply ship/shadow yacht, and which Gates reportedly owns. On this particular occasion, it served as the base for Gates and his guests’ security teams, a most-fitting purpose since, due to its size, Wayfinder is classified as a megayacht.
Superyachts and cruise ships are among the biggest polluters in the world. In the most simplistic terms, the carbon footprint of a single-person 7-day cruise (so not on a superyacht, because not everyone is a billionaire like Gates) equals that of a single person’s on land, over a period of 18 days. Not only does Gates’ vacation include two superyachts, but the party was joined by a third at one point, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sailed in on The Flying Fox to join him for his birthday dinner.
In the eyes of the environmentalists, that makes Gates three-times sinner. It also adds fuel to the outrage that comes with learning that, while partying with his 50+ gang of close friends and family members, Gates has been shopping for farmland off the coast of Turkey. He’s been looking for land to build a new, sustainable farm, according to reports.
At the very least, this confirms that Gates is serious about the need to change agricultural approaches to meet current challenges. At worst, it paints a very sad picture of the reality of everyday man (and woman): the world’s richest people will talk high-and-mighty about the need to go carbon-neutral, but they will never do the same. Granted, Gates has previously acknowledged his hypocrisy on the issue, saying the only way he could think of mitigating this contradiction was by carbon offsetting. Due to his job, he said, he had to travel by private jet, so he bought carbon credits to offset his flight emissions.
But the latest trip wasn’t for business. It was also excessive to the utmost, which is perhaps the most grating part. As The Independent wrote earlier this year, Bill Gates operates under the assumption that he is the hypocrite the world needs, the one who gets to say “do as I say and not as a I do,” even though small sacrifices are well within his power.
“Gates has publicly admitted that he’s a hypocrite on climate change,” climate expert Richard Wilk at the University of Indiana’s Department of Anthropology tells the Post. “On the one hand, he’s been doing a lot of outreach on the state of the world, but then [his actions show] he’s not going to give up his lifestyle. It’s a real contradiction.”
It would be easy to say, yes, but at least he is doing something to help the planet, and it would be accurate. At the same time, this apparent complete disregard and lack of consideration for everyone else isn’t helping with the mission. The message might be the right one, but who will listen to it if the bearer doesn’t inspire confidence?
This extended intro is necessary to understand the latest hubbub around Bill Gates, usually the least controversial of all the billionaires in the world. Gates was in Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26 Climate Change Conference this week, to urge leaders to be more active in supporting and implementing greener policies that could, within 20-30 years, hopefully yield a positive result in stalling climate change, or even overturning the damage already done.
On the same occasion, Gates pledged $315 million (through the Gates Foundation) to develop crops that are resistant to climate change, a move that is vital in helping small farmland owners survive. Otherwise, “we will lose the global battle against hunger and poverty,” Gates wrote on Twitter after his appearance.
Now for the hypocritical part: just before COP26, Gates was cruising around the Aegean Sea for extended birthday celebrations, having just turned 66. He’s been partying it up on LANA, the spectacular and world-famous Azimut-Benetti superyacht that charters for $2 million a week and is described as one of the most luxurious in the world.
LANA, according to the New York Post, which cites local Turkish publications, isn’t traveling alone: it’s accompanied by the Incat Crowther-designed Wayfinder, the luxury catamaran that serves as supply ship/shadow yacht, and which Gates reportedly owns. On this particular occasion, it served as the base for Gates and his guests’ security teams, a most-fitting purpose since, due to its size, Wayfinder is classified as a megayacht.
Superyachts and cruise ships are among the biggest polluters in the world. In the most simplistic terms, the carbon footprint of a single-person 7-day cruise (so not on a superyacht, because not everyone is a billionaire like Gates) equals that of a single person’s on land, over a period of 18 days. Not only does Gates’ vacation include two superyachts, but the party was joined by a third at one point, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sailed in on The Flying Fox to join him for his birthday dinner.
In the eyes of the environmentalists, that makes Gates three-times sinner. It also adds fuel to the outrage that comes with learning that, while partying with his 50+ gang of close friends and family members, Gates has been shopping for farmland off the coast of Turkey. He’s been looking for land to build a new, sustainable farm, according to reports.
At the very least, this confirms that Gates is serious about the need to change agricultural approaches to meet current challenges. At worst, it paints a very sad picture of the reality of everyday man (and woman): the world’s richest people will talk high-and-mighty about the need to go carbon-neutral, but they will never do the same. Granted, Gates has previously acknowledged his hypocrisy on the issue, saying the only way he could think of mitigating this contradiction was by carbon offsetting. Due to his job, he said, he had to travel by private jet, so he bought carbon credits to offset his flight emissions.
But the latest trip wasn’t for business. It was also excessive to the utmost, which is perhaps the most grating part. As The Independent wrote earlier this year, Bill Gates operates under the assumption that he is the hypocrite the world needs, the one who gets to say “do as I say and not as a I do,” even though small sacrifices are well within his power.
“Gates has publicly admitted that he’s a hypocrite on climate change,” climate expert Richard Wilk at the University of Indiana’s Department of Anthropology tells the Post. “On the one hand, he’s been doing a lot of outreach on the state of the world, but then [his actions show] he’s not going to give up his lifestyle. It’s a real contradiction.”
It would be easy to say, yes, but at least he is doing something to help the planet, and it would be accurate. At the same time, this apparent complete disregard and lack of consideration for everyone else isn’t helping with the mission. The message might be the right one, but who will listen to it if the bearer doesn’t inspire confidence?
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says Washington needs to show leadership in the fight against global warming. @annenbcnews spoke with him at the UN climate conference in Scotland. #TODAYClimate pic.twitter.com/OnYbZnCAM2
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 4, 2021
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