Were we, perhaps, too harsh on Rolling Stone owner Jann Wenner, whose fondness for private jet travel is at odds with his calls to curb global warming? At first, we thought so.
Then we found out a few things—for instance, that Wenner's own use of the jet only accounts for a fraction of its total air miles. Just as often, it's ferrying around one of his celebrity friends, or a politician such as John Kerry, who borrowed it during his presidential campaign (and whose recent book This Moment On Earth is about environmental stewardship).
"Lending out the jet is a huge part of Jann's starfucking," says an insider. "It's half the reason he has the plane."
Moreover, according to another Wenner source, the Gulfstream isn't his only emissions-intensive vehicle. He also recently purchased a GMC Yukon Denali—an SUV whose fuel efficiency is on par with that of the Hummer—and also keeps a pair of snowmobiles at his place in Sun Valley, Idaho. Snowmobile engines are notoriously dirty, producing as much pollution in a day of use as a typical car does in 100,000 miles.
And Wenner isn't much better when he's in town, where he has a chauffeured Mercedes to shuttle him the 15 blocks or so between his apartment and his office. Even more wasteful is his lunch routine: a private chef prepares his meal at home, then staffers drive it down to the office, don black-and-white uniforms, and serve it to him on his personal china. "It's like a scene from Gosford Park," says the source. "He's the original limousine liberal." Employees also blame the scarcity of recycling bins in the office on Wenner's anti-clutter fatwas.
A Wenner spokesman declined to comment.
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