That morning, before dawn, Jennifer Kowalski and Cole Macdonald found themselves at a celebrity private jet airport. While the security was dozing off, and no one thought to “take a look” at the surveillance cameras occasionally, the young activists, armed with courage, anger, and fire extinguishers filled with orange paint, painted two luxury jets.
They proudly posed for photos with the newly adorned jets in the background, and the announcement of this unusual event was soon posted on the Just Stop Oil movement’s page.
Before I attempt to answer whether painting the jets is vandalism or justified activism (or perhaps both), I would just like to say a few things about the controversial movement that birthed this and many similar events.
As the name suggests, Just Stop Oil is a climate movement that has taken on international proportions and now gathers numerous, primarily young, activists from various countries. Their mission is to prevent new oil projects and accelerate the closure of existing ones. The methods they use to express dissatisfaction and convey important messages cannot go unnoticed.
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Foreign media often report catastrophic traffic jams caused by activists sitting on the road. To prevent the police and angry drivers from physically removing them and clearing the way, activists often use superglue and other means to glue their hands to the road.
If you ask me, this is utterly crazy! Young climate warriors risk amputation and broken bones as drivers have less and less patience for these forms of activism. At the same time, traffic blockages primarily affect the working class, who are forced to drive petrol and diesel-fuelled cars, which emit even more harmful gases in such traffic jams.
Hence, the movement was criticized and advised to: “Leave the unfortunate working class alone and target those who pollute the planet out of sheer indulgence – the super-rich!”
This is exactly what Jennifer and Cole did, and unlike news of traffic blockades, the public received the news of the plane painting much better.
Some will say that it is never right to destroy someone else’s property, regardless of how it was acquired and what it is used for. Owning a private jet is not illegal, so where do young activists get the right to deface such an expensive vehicle?
Although I share the opinion that personal property must be respected, the facts about private jets somewhat justify the activists’ actions.
A 2021 European Federation for Transport and Environment report showed that private jets pollute up to 14 times more per passenger than commercial flights and even 50 times more than trains.
In 2023, 23,944 private jets were in operation worldwide, releasing significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while the rich lounged in them.
Jennifer and Cole decided to put a stop to this, at least temporarily until the paint was removed. What seems more important in this story is that they sent a message and held the wealthy accountable.
We must not live in a world where the working class pays additional taxes because they drive internal combustion cars, while at the same time, the rich ride freely in their planes, polluting the planet a hundred times more.
