“We need clean air, not another billionaire!”
Musk was never going to save the planet – and neither will any other billionaire. While Musk encourages Americans to buy Teslas, he jets around the world on a private plane. He has claimed climate change alarm is “exaggerated.” He partnered with a coal mining billionaire to elect Trump, and is now working with the latter to gut federal environmental regulations.
Like other billionaires, Musk’s fortune has come at the expense of everyday people, from abusing his employees to calling his opponents criminals. His billions could fund public transportation, housing, healthcare, and education. Instead, he’s taking a chainsaw to all of the government departments which provide those essential services.
The best way to reduce the climate impact of transport is with public transport. Elon Musk has always been anti public transport. The reason why he started hyperloop and boring company was to take away funding that otherwise would go to public transport.
Every car company is anti-public transportation. That’s their business model.
Public transport and walkability is really nice. Big changes are needed to level up the car-first spaces we built, and people don’t want to pay that debt. But that debt carries interest, and the longer we put it off the worse it’s going to get.
Probably not the most effective metaphor because humans are famously bad at long term thinking.