To encourage sustainability, we must remember we are apes, not angels

TAYLOR SWIFT often tops the charts, but her most recent number one has drawn more censure than acclaim. Because, at 8293 tonnes of carbon emitted so far this year, she has been judged the world’s most polluting celebrity in terms of private jet use – easily beating Kylie Jenner, who infamously took a 17-minute flight in hers.

For many of my fellow environmentalists, this carbon-spurting excess reinforces disgust at our celebrity-obsessed, conspicuous-consuming culture. The only thing that will save the world from a greed-triggered apocalypse? Sweeping it all away.

This is a tempting idea, but it has one major snag: when …