The Lens: Celebrities like Taylor Swift have privacy rights, but must be accountable for private jet carbon emissions

Paco Leung Pak-to, 16, Hong Kong Tang King Po College

It is important to note that privacy is a fundamental right, regardless of one’s status as a celebrity or public figure. Just as fans stalking their idols is unacceptable and an invasion of privacy, so is the unauthorised tracking and disclosure of private information by individuals. Both acts infringe upon the rights of a person to maintain control over their personal lives.

As someone who values privacy and understands the importance of personal boundaries, I firmly believe that celebrities should not have their right to privacy diminished.

Seeing famous people as human beings with their own desires for personal space and solitude is essential. It is crucial to uphold the privacy rights of all individuals, including celebrities, while still maintaining the people’s right to access certain information that is in the public interest.

However, private jet owners should take accountability for the high carbon emissions their aircraft produce. They should be held responsible for the environmental impact of their planes. Implementing regulations like annual mandatory carbon emission check-ups for private jets can ensure that owners are held accountable.

By enforcing such measures, we can work towards a more sustainable and responsible approach to aviation and mitigate the environmental impact of private jets.

Catch up on last week’s The Lens!

As Japan prepares to mark the 13th anniversary of the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, a new poll indicates that opposition to the full resumption of operations at the nation’s atomic energy facilities is weakening.

The opinion poll, conducted earlier this month and published in the Asahi newspaper, shows that 50 per cent of Japanese are now in favour of restarting dozens of reactors around the country that have been shut down since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered the second-worst nuclear disaster in history.

Local governments have been reluctant to resume operations of Japan’s 54 reactors, spread across 17 nuclear power plants.

The Asahi has conducted a similar poll every year since 2013. For many years, it showed a stable 30 per cent of people who favoured the plants coming back online while up to 60 per cent opposed the move.

However, those figures shifted radically last year, with 51 per cent in favour and 42 per cent opposing. This month’s survey, in contrast, indicates that just 35 per cent of the public still want the reactors to remain shut down.

“There are many reasons why opposition is falling, but the major factor is the multibillion [dollar] international campaign by the global nuclear energy industry to convince the world nuclear is the answer to global warming,” said Aileen Mioko Smith, who is an environmental campaigner with Kyoto-based Green Action Japan.

“I also think these poll figures may be more positive because the operator of the Shika Nuclear Power Plant reported [there were] no problems following the Noto earthquake,” she said.
Staff writers

• Do you recognise the place in the photo? What happened there?

• What are the pros and cons of restarting the country’s nuclear plants?