Prince Harry’s speech on climate change points to massive hypocrisy

COMMENTARY:

“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, and there is no more perfect illustration of how true his words are than a quick look at what the 1 percent think they are. passes as “normal”.

From London’s Mayfair streets to New York’s Upper East Side to Paris’s Avenue Montaigne, when it comes to the homes of the super-rich, inclusions like wellness studios, meditation rooms, and vast multimedia spaces Households have become a swamp standard.

Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, joined this elite cadre in July this year when it was confirmed that they had purchased their first home (in fact, the first home either of them have owned) in the exclusive Montecito neighborhood. in Santa Barbara, with two saunas, a movie theater, game room, 13 bathrooms, and a Japanese-style tea house.

After all, they are wealthy and can easily afford such an expensive joint given their recent $ 130 million deal with Netflix.

But Harry and Meghan aren’t just rich; They are wealthy folks building their post-royal brand as change makers and thought leaders and that is why, especially for the Duke, the Sussex’s first home choice is deeply problematic.

The point is, there is a huge gulf the size of the Grand Canyon between what the Prince proselytizes while building a career as a climate change activist and how he lives his life.

This week, Harry grabbed the family’s now-famous beige couch for another video interview, this time to help launch Water Bear, a new documentary streaming service. Speaking in his capacity as director of African Parks, the royals called for action on the words, saying, “For me, it’s about putting the two behind the says … There are a lot of people who say, but this it’s about action. “

In recent years, tackling climate change and tackling impending environmental catastrophe has become a growing focus of royalty and for which the 36-year-old should be thoroughly commended.

Given his position, his turbulent personal history, and the fact that he has already served two terms on the front lines of a war, if the man wanted to lie down on one of his expensive couches plowing his way through Dan Brown’s work and sipping smoothies forever. , it would be justly deserved.

And yet, instead, it has spoken out time and again about the global threat of climate change and last year partnered with Booking.com, Skyscanner and Visa to launch Travleyst, an ecotourism initiative.

All of which is to your undying credit. However, the big unsolved problem here is the inconsistency between your words and your choices.

In March 2019, he took a private $ 10,000 helicopter ride to attend an official engagement in Birmingham just two days before delivering a climate speech.

Months later, Harry traveled by private jet and helicopter to attend Google’s ultra-exclusive annual summit on climate change in Sardinia, according to the Daily Mail.

Then, already facing criticism in the media for his trip to Google, he, Meghan and Archie proceeded to take four private jet flights in the space of 11 days while flitting around Europe basking in the sun in Ibiza and southern France.

(In July this year, former UK MP and current Privy Council member Norman Baker stated that based on his calculations in the 12 months to January 2020, the Sussexes’ carbon footprint could be up to 26 times greater than the of the average Briton thanks to taking 53 international flights, including 18 by private jet).

In March this year, the audio of a phone call between Harry and Russian pranksters posing as climate activist Greta Thunberg was released, revealing the intensity of his personal sentiment and sense of urgency: “I think the mere The fact that Donald Trump is pushing the coal industry so big in America, his hands are stained with blood. “

Weeks later, he and Meghan are reported to have flown from their Vancouver Island hideaway to Los Angeles in Tyler Perry’s $ 200 million private jet that can reportedly carry up to 124 people before moving into his mansion. fake Beverly Hills tuscany set on a 14 acre farm. .

In June, Prince Harry said, “We are currently going through an extinction crisis,” and then the following month the Sussexes were photographed leaving a Los Angeles dentist’s office and getting into a heavy-duty six-liter Cadillac Escalade SUV. gasoline with safety equipment.

The problem here is the profound disconnect between Harry’s professional stance and the decisions he makes in his personal life.

This incongruity extends beyond anything ecological. Take his growing vocalism on racism in recent months. In July, he said the Commonwealth needed to confront its history in fighting racism, while in October, he said during an interview that it had taken him “many, many years” to realize that there is unconscious racial prejudice in society.

However, he has never publicly referred to the fact that in 2005 he dressed up as a Nazi for a costume party or was caught in a video posted in 2009 that caught him calling a fellow Sandhurst cadet “our little friend P * ki.” and joking that another looked like a “raghead”. (Harry apologized both times).

The problem here is not your youthful transgressions or past mistakes, but the fact that now, as an informed and passionate adult who is clearly committed to making a difference, you have failed time and again to acknowledge your mistakes.

Similarly, being rich and able to pay for dozens of bathrooms shouldn’t mean that a person is automatically disqualified from caring about the planet or trying to do something about the threat of global warming.

However, the public is also not willing to wholesale the racial and environmental justice lines Harry is pushing while gleefully ignoring his own troubled past when it comes to these areas.

(Perhaps not surprisingly then, a poll published in July this year found that 66 percent of British adults thought the Sussexes were “hypocrites on air travel.”)

What makes Harry’s blind spot in all of this so disappointing is that we can all relate to this particular tension between wanting the comforts of modern life, we all want Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and lots of international flights, while at the same time. time we want to test and prevent environmental Armageddon. His is just a more extreme and pronounced version.

Let’s face it: no one expects Harry and Meghan to move into a solar powered yurt, recycle their gray water, and just outfit Archie with recycled hemp. The problem here is that Harry, as far as I know, has never truly recognized the contradiction between his own lifestyle and his work.

However, truly becoming a leader requires trust and trust requires honesty. I know, I know, that sounds like something sprouted by some kind of Brene Brown dime store, but that doesn’t change the fact that for Harry to really make his mark on his post-royal activist career, he needs to make amends with his past. and with the contradictions of its existence in California.

I’m not talking about some kind of self-flagellation exercise, it’s not about punishment. It is that if you really want to take charge and assume a position of authority, you can no longer stick your head in the sand.

None of these issues will go away and if the world starts to open up in 2021 and we revert to our old habits in terms of international travel, this will only become a thorn in Harry’s side.

What’s so disappointing about all of this is that there has never been a member of the royal family, other than perhaps his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, with the potential to have a profound impact globally like Harry. William might be king one day, but outside of Britain, does he really have any royal influence or is he widely viewed as a leader? Exactly my point.

Harry does it.

But he will never fully achieve what he is capable of as long as his detractors can so easily point out the glaring cognitive dissonance between his words and his actions.

So I hope the next time Harry is sitting in his Japanese-style teahouse reflecting on life, he decides it’s time to step up. Not just for your sake, but because right now, the world needs you.

• Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with over 15 years of experience working with several of Australia’s leading media outlets.