A jetsetting entrepreneur insists he “couldn’t care less” about the environmental impact of spending $1 million (or nearly £800k) a year on flights, as he claims it keeps people in jobs.
American YouTuber Anthony Williams clocked up thousands of air miles during his seven holidays in 2023 in which he and his friends rented incredibly fuel-inefficent supercars for sightseeing. On top of this, some of the flights were by private jet – a choice which makes per passenger carbon footprints up to forty times greater than commercial flights, since the fuel is used to transport fewer people.
Experts have warned man-made climate change will probably lead to many wars and death as a result of the resulting food and water insecurity, as well as newly extreme weather rendering vast areas uninhabitable. Express.co.uk has released a map of UK areas which may not be liveable in the near future.
While Williams admits “climate change exists”, he isn’t concerned about the damage he’s doing to the planet – and therefore the lives of future generations. Meanwhile, despite having around 17,000 times the amount of money as the average citizen of Chad – a country to be seriously ravaged by the climate crisis – Williams says “it’s not my responsibility to save the planet”.
The Forex trader bravely said: “I couldn’t care less about my emissions”, before smartly arguing that his high-carbon lifestyle around the world props up the planemaking and car mechanic industries. “Should they all lose their jobs?” he asks.
Williams, who loves material possessions like supercars, said “the world’s putting so much [greenhouse gases] out there that I can’t see how ticking things off my bucket list by visiting new places is going to make any difference”.
Experts would agree that collective action from governments is needed moreso than individual action, they might also point out that the average annual carbon footprint from a resident of Mali – which is already suffering from droughts, floods and crop pests – is about the same as a British kettle This highlights that the areas set to be most impacted by climate change are often that countries that contribute the least towards carbon emmissions.
Nevertheless, Williams, who goes by the YouTube channel @anthonysworld, insisted that “for me personally, the whole (move towards minimising your environmental impact) is bull****t”.
He described “the whole argument is ridiculous… that’s why I am going to carry on regardless” – quite what argument he is specifically referring to is unclear.
The average British carbon footprint is around 11.7 tonnes, while the global average is closer to 4 tonnes. To avoid a two degrees rise – which already seems unlikely – from pre-industrial levels, the global average needs to be under 2 tonnes by 2050.