Can an environmentally minded fan enjoy Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour as its long trail of carbon footprints strides into Vancouver this weekend?
The megastar’s Eras Tour has included almost 150 shows on five continents in front of millions of fans — and generated millions of kilograms of fossil-fuel emissions. Swift’s estimated jet emissions alone are equal to that of driving an average gas-powered vehicle more than 2.1 million kilometres — about the same as flying between Vancouver and Halifax 475 times.
According to the Greenly Institute, the merchandise and fast fashion surrounding the shows is a notable contributor to a concert-goer’s carbon footprint.
By its calculations, if 25,000 attendees at each of her tour shows bought one T-shirt, it would equate to 19,370,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions. And that doesn’t include all those plastic rhinestones and strings of beads.
So, as the state of climate change becomes more dire, can the average show-goer enjoy their Taylor Swift ticket? Must they do it …