The pop musician and noted expert on the environment will.i.am attended a meeting with climate change experts at Oxford University.

He flew there from London in a private helicopter.

Apparently the conference hadn't yet reached the point where one's "carbon footprint" was discussed.

To file under "can't make this up": The rapper named his helicopter the "hip.hop.copter". According to the Telegraph, the 286 mile trip used 71.5 gallons of fuel and released three quarters of a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere — about as much as most people do in a month.

Not that he was entirely irresponsible with respect to carbon output. Once his helicopter landed at Oxford's University Parks, will.i.am used a bicycle to travel the last few hundred yards.

One of the climate experts that met with will.i.am, Myles Allen, commented on the rapper's helicopter ride as follows: "The irony didn't escape everybody. But he's committed to the issues and he's written songs about it."

Brief translation: "Sure, he looks like a hypocrite. But he means well."

Understandable. What could be better for the environment than writing songs about it?