A conversation between former United States president Donald Trump, who is also running in the 2024 presidential election, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn condemnation from a notable climate activist.
Bill McKibben, who founded the first global grassroots climate campaign 350.org, described the discussion on X (formerly known as Twitter) — which Musk owns — as "careless," adding the pair ended up "spreading the most absurd and dangerous misinformation."
Musk and Trump repeatedly played down the climate crisis and pledged their support for the continued use of planet-warming dirty fuels. The Republican candidate also said rising sea levels were not a concern because it would lead to "more oceanfront property."
"This is of course offensive and ridiculous," McKibben said on his Substack of Trump's quip about ocean levels. "Right now people around the Gulf are trying to figure out how to pay skyrocketing insurance bills, and it's not much help to them to point out that the guy two streets back will have a better view when their house topples into the sea."
As the Washington Post observed, that's not even a factually accurate silver lining.
We have long known about Trump's support for the fossil fuel industry, but Musk's attitude toward one of the world's biggest polluters is a little confusing. In fact, as CleanTechnica noted, the 53-year-old's beliefs have seemingly shifted in recent months and years.
In 2018, in a post on what was then known as Twitter, Musk criticized oil companies for betting against scientists regarding the climate crisis, adding, "Why not go renewable now and avoid [the] increasing risk of climate catastrophe?"
Indeed, Musk has actually benefited from planet-conscious initiatives introduced under the Biden administration, with the Inflation Reduction Act — allowing individuals and businesses to access discounts and tax credits for sustainable technologies, including solar panels, heat pumps, and electric cars — helping to boost sales of his Tesla electric vehicles.
For the Tesla CEO to then turn around and say in conversation with Trump that "if we were to stop using oil and gas right now, we would all be starving and the economy would collapse," is a remarkable change in tack.
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Heated also fact-checked that claim, noting that it was a "straw man argument and misdirection tactic," as no Democratic politician has outright called for a complete ban on fossil fuels, rather a phasing out of these energy sources to mean 2050 net-zero targets.
"Why is Musk doing this?" McKibben asked. "Who knows? After all, the success of Tesla has been mostly driven by government subsidy that grows out of the effort to slow the growth of carbon in the atmosphere. My only conjecture is that he hopes the world will become barren enough that we simply have to pony up for his big trip to Mars."
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