Prince Harry Passively Admits To Hypocrisy Over Saving The Planet
These past few weeks, Prince Harry has been criticized in the press for his hypocritical actions concerning climate change. The prince, a well-known environmental activist, was called out when he and his family flew on gas-guzzling private jets four times in just 11 days.
This did not sit well with onlookers, who pointed out that there was no reason for them to fly private when royal family members have often flown on commercial flights. After the backlash, Prince Harry decided to finally respond and shared his reasoning for using private jets.
Prince Harry explains he flew on private jets
At an event in Amsterdam, Prince Harry noted that he often does fly commercial for much of his life.
“I came here by commercial,” said he prince. “I spend 99% of my life traveling the world by commercial.”
However, Prince Harry shared that commercial flights do not cut it in some cases.
“Occasionally there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my family are safe,” he said. “And it’s generally as simple as that.”
This reasoning goes along with what Elton John had revealed amidst the backlash that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were facing. John shared that when the royal couple went to visit him in Nice, France, he provided them with a private jet for security purposes. The singer — a friend of the late Princess Diana — said: “I feel a profound sense of obligation to protect Harry and his family from the unnecessary press intrusion that contributed to Diana’s untimely death.”
Prince Harry told his critics that everyone can do better
While Prince Harry seems to be acknowledging that flying private was not the best move to make when it comes to fighting climate change, he did insist that he tried to “balance out” the effects of his flights. Though, he did not go into details as to how he did it.
“I’ve always offset my CO2,” the prince shared. “In my mind it’s the right thing to do… We could all do better. While no one is perfect, we all have a responsibility for our own individual impact.”
Prince Harry is launching an initiative to combat climate change
After Prince Harry received criticism for his private jet flights, he and Markle started launching an initiative under their new charity organization. The initiative, called Travelyst, works with popular companies like Bookings.com, TripAdvisor, and Visa to promote eco-friendly tourism.
Prince Harry said in a statement: “As tourism inevitably grows, it is critically important to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices worldwide and to balance this growth with the needs of the environment and the local population. Bringing companies, consumers, and communities together is our best chance to protect destinations and ecosystems for future generations.”
He also hopes that, if more people make conscious decisions to travel in a sustainable and responsible way, there could be a lasting effect for generations to come. “It can build schools, create jobs, strengthen safety nets – and it can create a virtuous cycle, as communities protect what promotes further tourism,” Prince Harry stated.
Some onlookers believe that launching Travelyst is a PR move for Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan to recover from the private jet backlash. But the truth is this initiative was in the works for years now.
In 2012, the Duke of Sussex met a young boy in the Caribbeans who had concerns about coral reefs in his country dying because of tourism from other countries. The experience “deeply affected” Prince Harry, who realized that he had to raise awareness for “the full impact outsiders can have on a community without even realizing it.”