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No, but not everyone is, or will be an American Millionaire, and if they were the American Millionaire will do something different to signal their wealth. In V
by benj111 7y ago
No, but not everyone is, or will be an American Millionaire, and if they were the American Millionaire will do something different to signal their wealth.
In Victorian times richer house holds had lots of knick knacks, they wore voluminous clothes. Clothes and knick knacks were expensive so they signified wealth. Through the 20th century these things got cheaper, so the rich went for other things to signify wealth, cars, travel, minimalism. Now we're at the point where the masses can afford those, so its 'experiences', au pairs and other things that require human labour, which is now relatively expensive.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that a millionaire lifestyle doesnt necessarily have to be high carbon. Just whatever is expensive/unattainable to the masses.
- makerofspoons 7y agoTravel is very much high carbon, at least in the way Instagram influencers and their copycats do it (by airplane).
- magduf 7y agoFlying in economy on a superjumbo isn't that bad. I haven't seen any really good articles about the carbon footprint of foreign travel, but remember, most Americans drive 3-5000lb cars around every day just for 1 person to go to McDonald's or work, sometimes with very long commutes. For vacations, most Americans probably drive, frequently very long distances. With airplanes, a lot of the fuel is actually burned in takeoff, so intercontinental flights with large planes are significantly more efficient (in passenger-miles-per-gallon) than shorter (regional) trips. And finally, most people don't get that much time for vacations, so they only take such trips once or maybe twice per year. So yes, travel is high-carbon, but compare that to the everyday lifestyle most middle-class and up Americans live every day at home.