Celebrity Carbon

Fame—what you like is in the limo
Fame—what you get is no tomorrow

• David Bowie, “Fame”

By now many of you will have heard that celebrity singer Katy Perry went on a space flight with an all-woman crew aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin spacecraft.

I promise not to dwell for long on the People Magazine-style, gossipy aspect of the story. There’s actually a meaningful layer to this story beneath the dreck, if you’ll bear with me.

Before starting, though, let me highlight some context to bear in mind. Wealth and celebrity are both powerful tools, especially in the US and the rest of the “West.” Money and fame:

• Are highly correlated and they share some features with currency: one can generally be traded for the other, although an exchange rate will apply.

• Both tend to command public attention, and confer public credibility and influence on matters of public concern, sometimes without any logical connection to it, and they can be deliberately manipulated to this end.

• High levels of wealth are correlated with high levels of climate-disrupting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which means that—to some extent—a high degree of fame is, too.

All of which means that fame and fortune give individuals and outsized impact on the environmental polycrisis, for good or ill, and therefore confront those individuals with a choice between supporting the status quo (which has benefitted them personally, but threatens all of us) or militating for change (which might cost them personally in lost income and opportunities, but can potentially help preserve life-sustaining conditions on Earth).

1. “Leading by example from high-status individuals: exploring a crucial missing link in climate change mitigation,” Westlake, et al. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 1292 (2024). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03787-8

2. “Shift the focus from the super-poor to the super-rich,” I Otto, et al. Nature Climate Change 9, 82–84 (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-019-0402-3 [Sci-Hub link, use at your own risk.]

3. “The outsized carbon footprints of the super-rich,” Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 2021, Vol. 17, No. 1, 316–322 DOI: 10.1080/15487733.2021.1949847

4. “The role of high-socioeconomic-status people in locking in or rapidly reducing energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions,” Nature Energy, September 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41560-021-00900-y

A type of inter-celebrity verbal combat that's more familiar from WWF rivalries and hip hop beefs than hot-white-girl Hollywood

Okay, the entire thing took 11 minutes, of which only 4 were spent in sub-orbital space, but it was important because—well, it wasn’t. It was an all-female crew, but they didn’t actually control the vehicle in any way, so it might be better to say it was all female passengers. They did no research and broke no new ground.

What they did do was attract a lot of criticism for pumping a huge amount of greenhouse gasses (GHG) into our atmosphere for a joyride. The scorn was aimed especially at Perry as the passenger with the highest public profile.

5. “Impact of Rocket Launch and Space Debris Air Pollutants Emissions on Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate,” Robert G. Ryan et al. Earth's Future, 10, e2021EF0026, DOI: 10.1029/2021EF002.

In a kind of inter-celebrity verbal combat that's more familiar from WWF rivalries and hip hop beefs than hot-white-girl Hollywood, Emily Ratajkowski, Olivia Wilde, and Olivia Munn all weighed in. Actress Jessica Chastain called the vapid supposed-female-empowerment and women-in-stem aspect of the flight the “utter defeat of American feminism.” Even ex-con Martha Stewart and burger chain Wendy’s took shots at Perry.

Per Ratajkowski:

“That space mission this morning? That's end-time shit. Like, this is beyond parody. Saying that you care about Mother Earth and it's about Mother Earth, and you're going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company [Bezos’s Amazon] that's singlehandedly destroying the planet? Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space... For what?

6. “Why Katy Perry’s celebrity spaceflight blazed a trail for climate breakdown,” Steve Westlake. The Conversation, April 17, 2025.

7. “Emily Ratajkowski Low-Key Just Said What We Are All Thinking About That Bizarre Katy Perry Space Mission,” Stephanie Soteriou. Buzzfeed, April 15, 2025.

8. “Jessica Chastain slams Katy Perry's all-female space mission amid growing backlash: 'Utter defeat of American feminism’,” Santanu Das. Hindustan Times, Apr 18, 2025.

9. “Martha Stewart savagely trolls Katy Perry with epic ‘Firework’ jab after Blue Origin space flight,” Nicki Gostin. Page Six, April 18, 2025.

10. “Wendy's Restaurant Bashes Katy Perry After Blue Origin Space Flight: 'Can We Send Her Back',” Moná Thomas. People.com, April 15, 2025.

11. “See the Surprising Shade, Harsh Rants and Taylor Swift-Inspired Memes from Gayle King and Katy Perry's Flight to Space,” Sam Gillette. People.com, April 15, 2025

12. “One Giant Stunt for Womankind, Blue Origin’s all-female flight proves that women are now free to enjoy capitalism’s most extravagant spoils alongside rich men,” Amanda Hess. New York Times, April 14, 2025.

anyway, that's enough about that. This part of the story means pretty much nothing.

Katy Perry has bad judgment—well, duh. She did once marry Russell Brand.

Some of the celebrities involved may actually give a damn about the environmental polycrisis, while others may just be cashing in on an event that got a lot of media attention, and it’s not at all clear which is which.

But that's just standard celebrity fare. If any of these tweets turn out to have come from a celebrity’s management rather than the actual celebrity, it won't surprise me at all.

And Wendy’s? Unlike the others, who at least pretend to have a reason for hating on Perry, Wendy’s doesn't bother.

Despite the calculated snideness of its post, it's just marketing. Some corporate flunky was dispassionately pursuing Wendy's long-running social media campaign in which it slings shade at anyone and everyone as a way of drawing attention to itself. They don't give a damn one way or the other—it's about a genuine as a corporate “thoughts and prayers” message. Acting like a brat gets the company laughs—and likes and retweets—which keeps them in the public eye in an annoying-smartass kind of way.

13. “On being roasted, toasted and burned: (Meta)pragmatics of Wendy's Twitter humour,” Marta Dynel. Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 166 (2020), p.1-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2020.05.008.

Let me jump to another train of thought for a moment, and then I’ll try to bring it all together.

The indie pop band AJR consists of three brothers, one of whom (the bassist) is Adam Met, the “A” part of AJR.

I’d never listened to them—until now, because there’s nothing I won’t do for research—and they're good at what they do. If that seems like damning them with faint praise, it’s really more that they just aren’t to my taste. I will say that there was definitely some imagination that went into the music, which I really appreciate. And let me be the first to point out that they have millions of fans while my latest album, Lucid (an art pop tribute to surrealism on its 100th birthday) has one fan that I know of, so when it comes to music, what I think of them doesn't mean much—and what they think of me is nothing, because they don't know I exist.

Besides playing bass in a multi-platinum band with two Billboard top-ten albums, Adam Met has a PhD in International Human Rights Law. He’s an adjunct professor at Columbia University, an environmental researcher and activist, he has a book coming out, and he founded the non-profit Planet Reimagined. In 2024, he was named one of Time Magazine’s Time100 for climate. Plus he’s Batman (not really, but it seemed like the only place to go after that list).

14. Time100 Climate 2024, Adam Met, Time.com, November 12, 2024.

If he sounds too good to be true, that's a fair question. I have criticisms and concerns, but his research (and his willingness to try to parlay that research into actual change) matter, so I won't launch into a long diatribe.

My main critical point is that he seems to be a fairly mainstream centrist with an affinity for the Democratic Party branch of the duopoly (which is better than the the Trump faction or the trad GOP, but it's still part of the duopoly)—although he's been expressly inclusive of Just Stop Oil. I think he's oversold Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act. In the one interview I've heard—on Ologies, with Alie Ward, a freaking gem of a podcast—he's more upbeat than I think is warranted. And as far as I can see, he doesn't have any academic publications yet apart from his thesis. He's only 34, with a PhD minted in 2021, so it's not like he's falling behind or anything if he hasn't published yet. It's only relevant because, unless I've missed something, his work hasn't been peer-reviewed yet, and it might be very helpful to see how it would be received by others in the field.

15. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-169)

16. Ologies With Alie Ward, Climate Fervorology, April 19, 2025. Transcript.

17. “Stakeholder approaches to human rights and development in the commercial context,” Adam Metzger, (2022).

I'm going to put that stuff aside, though. I haven't looked at his work in enough depth to be sure of some of these points. Maybe he's not so much a centrist as someone who’s simply a lot more diplomatic than I am. Maybe he’s upbeat strategically, to motivate people. And maybe he hasn't published because he's still pretty young for a PhD and he does seem to have his hands full with other things. More to the point, though, there's his research focus, which seems strategic and practical and worth talking about.

That research tested the hypothesis that seeking active practical engagement with environmental issues at live public events in the context of fandom—for example, by seeking specific, concrete participation in local environmental initiatives at AJR concerts in various cities—will allow artists of various sorts to leverage their platform, their celebrity, to mobilize grassroots action.

Planet Reimagined’s Amplify project asks a simple question: can artists and performers who are concerned about climate change be effective messengers for focused climate action?

We did the research. We partnered with Ticketmaster, Live Nation, iHeartRadio, REVERB, and Climate Outreach to conduct an unprecedented study of thousands of live music fans.

Nearly three out of four fans told us they care about climate change and are ready to act — especially when asked by their favorite artists.

And we put the research into action. In the summer of 2024, the multi-platinum indie-pop band AJR partnered with Planet Reimagined (our co-founder Adam Met is the band’s bass player). AJR promoted specific local environmental policy actions across their sold-out nationwide tour. The result: 35,000 fan actions, including signing letters, leaving voicemails for their representatives, joining local advocacy groups, and stepping up in other ways in support of local climate solutions.

Now, Planet Reimagined is sharing this action research with artists and the entertainment industry with proven advice for artists including:

• Use the stage to speak directly to fans through pre-show videos or brief conversations between the songs.

• Use positive language to highlight climate solutions.

• Encourage fans to participate in social and civic action instead of focusing on personal lifestyle changes.

And according to Planet Reimagined’s report on their work, Amplify: How To Build A Fan-Based Climate Movement, the hypothesis appears to hold.

18 Amplify: How To Build A Fan-Based Climate Movement, Caleb Johnson & Li-Ya Mar. New York City, Planet Reimagined, 2024.

I have three main observations.

First, this isn't a route to the kind of structural change in our political economy that we need for a comprehensive solution to the polycrisis. It's a way to try to improve current policies, especially at a local level.

But that's no small thing. A thousand modest victories on policies, land use and zoning, habitat preservation, public transportation, and livable cities, to name just a few issues that can be addressed locally, would be a significant achievement.

And the activation of thousands of ordinary people who, despite their environmental anxiety, perhaps aren't sure what to do or feel too beaten down to participate actively, would have meaningful effects in environmental education and empowerment that have the potential to outlive whatever projects initially get people involved, or to take them into more fundamental activism.

Second, the idea and it's initial realization don't have to remain static. If there are flaws at first, which there are bound to be with any ambitious project, that should simply be the foundation for a process of learning and adaptation.

Finally, I have to give credit for the emphasis on action, which distinguishes Planet Reimagined from problematic celebrity activist projects of the past that had their focus on fundraising, like Live Aid, and ended up wallowing in a mire of smarmy white saviourism, celebrity ego, and artist promotion rather than on the ground activism.

19. “Cruel to be kind?,” David Rief. The Guardian, June 24, 2005.

20. “Feeding the World a Line?: Celebrity Activism and Ethical Consumer Practices From Live Aid to Product Red,” Louise Davis. Nordic Journal of English Studies, Vol. 9 No. S3 (2010): Special Issue: Popular Culture.

21. “Live Aid led to the patronising ‘save Africa’ industry. We don’t need a musical about it,” Moky Makura. The Guardian, October 10, 2023.

22. “Live Aid the musical: what really happens when celebrities get behind humanitarian causes,” Glenda Cooper. The Conversation, March 8, 2024.

Celebrity, performance, and other aspects of media culture normally distract from the polycrisis (they are the “circuses” part of the American Empire’s bread and circuses) or play host to PR-crafted slogans and empty gestures. All the while, they contribute to the profit-obsessed machinery that has played such a huge part in creating the that crisis in the first place.

Putting them to work addressing the dangerous clusterfuck in which we all live, and in which we may die, with the focus on action, would be a welcome change.

And it's a night and day contrast with the empty, elitist, profit-first, anti-environmental project that Bezos et al created and for which Katy Perry caught so much flack.