Poor people do not fly in aeroplanes and they do not consume much electricity either. In fact, they demand far less from this over-exploited planet than rich folk do. Shouldn't we all be trying to save this planet by reducing our carbon footprints? Just because you are rich should not give you licence to take more from the planet than your fair share.
When Trump was the president of the USA, he frequently flew south from Washington D.C. for leisurely weekends in Mar-a-Lago. I guess it never occurred to him that a president's job might be a seven day a week commitment. Clearly, it also never occurred to him that wasting aviation fuel like that set a very bad example to ordinary citizens. He was using up far more than his fair share and demonstrating a sense of entitlement, squandering fossil fuels like nobody's business.
At the top of this blogpost you have got a picture of Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbucks. Starbucks HQ is of course located in Seattle, Washington State but Niccol lives 1000 miles south of there in Newport Beach, southern California. He has refused to relocate and though some home working can be done in Newport Beach, he plans to fly up to Seattle on at least three days each week. This commute will be paid for by Starbucks.
What a waste of aviation fuel and what hypocrisy too - given Starbucks' declared environmental and sustainability policies! Maybe they were all just cynical window dressing.
Okay, I admit that I am no angel either. I have taken hundreds of flights in my life and compared with other earthlings, I exist in the richest percentile. However, as the years have passed and knowledge about the perilous position of Earth has grown, I have tried to be much more responsible about fossil fuel usage and recycling while seeking to shrink my demands upon the planet.
But it is easy to ask - what's the point if you have people like Niccol effectively wasting what belongs to all of us? I don't care how good he might be at corporate management. Earth matters more. Hopefully, spreading news of this will shame him and Starbucks into a rethink.
Just another in a long list of reason I avoid the Starbucks Cult.
ReplyDeleteMyself - I have never been in a Starbucks cafe though I once had a Starbucks coffee at an airport. It was okay.
DeleteStarbucks is a publicly traded company, so maybe the stockholders will revolt and hold him accountable. What a waste! My most recent blog post deals with our abuse of the planet.
ReplyDeleteOkay. I will come over and have a read Kelly.
DeleteI didn't realize that he lived in California. That's ridiculous! I do love my Sbux mochas although I rarely go there these days, having found a couple other local watering holes.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean bars?
DeleteNo, other coffee shops. Their mochas aren't quite as good as the one I make at home but it's fun to meet friends for a coffee date/chat. I do like Sbux mochas too and they are easy to find around here. :)
DeleteI do have to mention that I know many people who work for Sbux and this is what they tell me: the company treats them very well including full benefits even for part time, college reimbursement, flexible schedules, free coffee and drinks while working, discounts when not working. It's unusual here in the U.S. for coffee shop employees to get medical benefits, especially part timers. That said, staffing has been an issue lately--tough to find reliable and long term employees, possibly because of the sometimes nasty customers. One of my former students is a Sbux manager and has worked for them for 20 years.
DeleteThis guy has to be very, very good to waste that much on his transportation.
ReplyDeleteStarbucks are funding his commutes.
DeleteI'd say the corporate board that hired him was being irresponsible ... and probably stupid. Not to defend Trump -- because I don't -- but all the other politicos do the same thing -- flying all over the place for fun and profit, riding in limos or enormous SUVs, living the high life at the expense of the public and the environment..
ReplyDeleteYes. But none more so than Trump with his "Drill! Drill! Drill!" thinking about global warming.
DeleteAs the ancient proverb says, Every Little Helps. But looking at something like this story, I can't help wondering whether it really makes a difference that I don't have a car and walk nearly everywhere, and when it's too far too walk, use public transport. Or that I don't have children. Or that I don't eat meat every day. Or that I try to save energy at home and at the office.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Earth, it is the Big Picture that counts - but that big picture is a mosaic made of many, many tiny bits, and my personal contribution is one of them.
Yes. Niccol's overuse of aviation fuel negates the effort of many other people to reduce their carbon footprints.
DeleteA poorer person than you might say that you could take less flights. We all want somebody else to make the sacrifices
ReplyDeleteI do take less flights these days and I am evangelical about recycling and turning the lights off.
DeleteI don't use Starbucks so can't avoid it. But the heavy prison sentences for the 'Stop Oil' protesters tells you how the rich will deal with it.
ReplyDeleteQuite a contrast! Maybe it's people like Niccol and Trump who should be incarcerated for careless waste of aviation fuel.
DeleteThere's a LOT of cynical window dressing in the world of CEOs and their families. How I wish they could be made to live in the world of poor people for even just a few months with no access to their riches, just the government pensions we old people get. Would they "wake up and see the light"? Maybe, but they would soon forget once they were back in their own world.
ReplyDeleteIt's tragic that the rich are constantly put on pedestals by the media, making poorer people feel inadequate and starstruck.
DeleteThey don't even make decent coffee.
ReplyDeleteWhy? What is indecent about it? Is it what they draw in the milky foam?
DeleteYou hit the nail on it's head, those that can, ignore all the warnings regarding the overuse of our earths resources, America is one of the worse countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet there are many thousands of Americans who are actively trying to do right by this exhausted planet.
DeleteWhile we humble people worry about what should or shouldn't be put into the recycling bin, the mega rich don't give a flying.....fig. I hate Starbucks and all it stands for. I am pleased Australians generally rejected the business and there aren't many left now.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that "fig" was the word you were looking for Andrew!
DeleteStart growing vegetables and stop sitting on arse drinking in coffee shops, don't go on holiday - stay at home and go for walks and talk to neighbours. Start being boring like me.
ReplyDeleteYou are not being boring Tasker. You are living a wholesome yet modest life. Nowt wrong with that lad!
DeleteI always find them too expensive now I see why.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Starbucks will see a drop in sales on the back of this news.
DeleteI can't stand SB's overpriced, burnt tasting coffee anyway. Every morning there's a line of cars wrapped around the building of our closest SB, and I shake my head at people wasting fuel and money to get inferior, sugary drinks in disposable cups. That adds up to a lot of wasted resources, too. I can make superior coffee in my percolator and take it to work with me, and I can't understand why so many other people don't do the same.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because they behave like automatons?
DeleteHere's my Starbucks story - not a place I go to often but I was a bit desperate to grab something quickly on my way to a meeting. I asked for a piece of their pumpkin loaf to go - instead of just putting one of the pieces already on display in the cabinet into a brown paper bag - she went to the back where I watched her take a piece out of a sealed plastic bag and then put it into a brown paper bag! When I asked her why she had done this and noted the waste - she just shrugged and said it was policy. Its all talk and just a sham. And while Trump is certainly guilty you should also include those like the Clooneys, Oprah, Beyonce and of course the "Markles" - all people who constantly lecture the rest of us on "Saving the Planet". Bill Maher actually has a very funny piece about this on Youtube.
ReplyDeleteYour Starbucks story reveals in micro-form, the hypocrisy at the core of that business. There are indeed many examples of blind entitlement when it comes to carbon footprints.
DeleteMy best friend's daughter opened up a sustainable ecologically friendly shop about a year ago. She doesn't give out receipts, just electronic ones. No plastic, everything she sells is environmentally friendly. Her store has blossomed and she has hired someone to help her with the store. She started her business as a "pop-up" going to local events. Eventually she found a vacant store front. It is amazing what she has done. https://www.livingecoinspired.com
ReplyDeleteI applaud her leadership.
DeletePerhaps this article didn't make the news over on that side of the pond. Traveling is not confined to just one president.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/politics/joe-biden-presidency-delaware-work-from-home/index.html
Thank you for educating me Ed. I am rather disappointed now.
DeleteThe majority of the staff at Starbucks have to go into work each day, the barista, cashier, roaster-operator, bagging machine operator don't have a choice to work remotely, or take on a 5-6 hour commute. Leaders should lead by example. Don't ask others to do, what you are not doing yourself. The staff are going to resent his "special treatment." If I were on their board, I would replace him. There are a lot of brilliant people who understand the basic principle of leading by example.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. Leading by example is healthy and really helps to get things done.
DeleteDoes he have his own plane? Does he fly commercial? I'm not sure how picking one rich dude to berate is going to do a bit of good for the planet. I look at all the campaigning our presidential candidates are doing here with these huge rallies and not only do the candidates and their aides and families fly to get to them, but thousands of people drive to attend. Of course we should all be thinking of how to reduce our carbon footprint but I think it's going to take a lot more than the small steps we're taking now. At least we are aware of the situation but again- that's not going to help much. We have to be willing to spend the money to develop alternative fuels and the big oil companies have no desire for this to happen.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way- I just don't like Starbucks coffee, plus I'm cheap. We make our own at home. And Lord knows what the carbon footprint of a bag of coffee is.
For his work commute the plane will be provided by Starbucks. Hypocrisy is certainly not in short supply. I had one Starbucks coffee in an airport a few years ago but I have never been in a Starbucks coffee shop.
DeleteI know what you're saying here. If he's flying a private plane or his own that frequently, I would be much more judgmental. However, if he's hopping on a commercial flight, that plane is already flying with more than just him as a passenger. There are a zillion flights from Southern California to Seattle and I've been on a number of them since one of my daughters used to live in Los Angeles.
DeleteOne-he's a dick for wasting time, money and fuel like that.
ReplyDeleteTwo-if I take a job someplace, I pay for my own commute, I don't expect my employer to pay for it.
Three-it should have been a condition of employment that he relocate.
Four-what the hell is wrong with Starbucks, that they think is ok.
Five-this is part of what's wrong with the world.
Your analysis seems spot on to me.
DeleteI can't imagine why they even hired him.
ReplyDeleteBack in the '90s I had a friend who lived in Florida but flew out to Oregon every week for a job. It was insane. He did this for years. Eventually he moved there, but it took a while.