‘Spreading the most absurd and dangerous disinformation’

A conversation between former American president Donald Trump, who is also running in the 2024 presidential elections, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn condemnation from a notable climate activist.

Bill McKibben, founder of the first global climate campaign 350.org, described the discussion on

Musk and Trump have repeatedly downplayed the climate crisis and pledged support for its continued use planet-warming dirty fuels. The Republican candidate also said rising sea levels are not a problem because it would lead to “more oceanfront properties.”

“This is obviously offensive and ridiculous,” McKibben said on its Substack of Trump’s joke about ocean levels. “Right now, people around the Gulf are trying to figure out how to pay rising insurance billsand it doesn’t help them much to point out that the man two blocks away will have a better view if their house falls into the sea.

Like the noted the Washington Postthat’s not even a factually accurate silver lining.

We’ve known about Trump for a long time support for the fossil fuel industrybut Musk’s attitude toward one of the world’s biggest polluters is a bit confusing. In fact, if CleanTechnica noted, the 53-year-old’s beliefs have seemingly changed in recent months and years.

In 2018, Musk said in a post on what was then known as Twitter criticized oil companies for betting against scientists on the climate crisis, adding: “Why don’t we go for renewables now and avoid (the) increasing risk of climate catastrophe?”

Musk has actually benefited from planet-conscious initiatives introduced under the Biden administration Inflation Reduction Act – giving individuals and companies access to rebates and tax credits for sustainable technologies, including solar panels, heat pumpsAnd electric cars – to help boost sales of his Tesla electric vehicles.

To the CEO of Tesla then turn around and say telling Trump that “if we stopped using oil and gas now, we would all starve and the economy would collapse,” this is a remarkable change of direction.

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Heated also fact-checked that claim and noted that it was a “straw man argument and deception tactic” as no Democratic politician has outright called for a complete ban on fossil fuels, rather than a phase-out of these energy sources to achieve a 2050 mean net zero. goals.

“Why is Musk doing this?” McKibben asked. ‘Who knows? After all, Tesla’s success is largely due to government subsidies resulting from efforts to slow the growth of carbon in the atmosphere. My only suspicion is that he hopes that the world will become so barren that we simply have to prepare for his great journey to Mars.”

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