Essay by Eric Worrall
A bizarre online argument has erupted between Bill Gates and Elon Musk, over who has done the most to prevent climate change.
Bill Gates says he’s given more to climate change than Elon Musk, who replies: ‘Sigh’
Ryan Hogg
Jun 5, 2022, 7:09 PM
- Bill Gates told YouTuber HugoDécrypte he gave a lot more money to climate change than Elon Musk.
- Musk said he refused philanthropy from Gates because of a ‘multi-billion dollar’ bet against Tesla.
- The Tesla CEO replied “sigh” to Gates’ defense on his climate change record and Tesla bet.
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“I give a lot more to climate change than Elon or anyone else,” Gates said. “I give a lot of philanthropic dollars, I back companies – you know electric cars are about 16% of emissions, so we also need to solve that other 84%.”
He added: “But somebody shorting the stock doesn’t slow him down or hurt him in any way.”
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Musk said he refused a philanthropic donation from Gates because the Tesla CEO heard he had a $500 million “short”, or bet, against the company, which Musk said meant Gates wasn’t serious about climate change.
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Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-shorting-tesla-wont-hurt-musk-says-sigh-2022-6
Imagine people were working to plug a crack in a dyke or dam wall, to prevent an imminent threat of catastrophic harm. Would the heroes working flat out to fix the problem pause to have an argument over how many bags of sand each hero has hauled? Or would they put necessity ahead of ego, and simply get on with saving people?
My question – how seriously do both of them take the alleged climate emergency?
Out of curiosity, I wonder if Musk actually knows how much raw material will have to be mined from the Earth for EV lithium-ion batteries and the phasing out of ICE automobiles. Has anyone actually asked him? Is that a forbidden question? Does he know the answer? Does he actually think he and other EV makers can phase out ICE cars anytime in the foreseeable future?
CAGW and environmental virtue signaling has become so popular today, it is in process of dumbing us down as a species. When even the rich and famous would rather be riding the virtuosity bandwagon rather than addressing pertinent questions and looking critically at today’s popular beliefs, there is something seriously missing from all the attention they get.
At least Gates is putting serious R & D money into his 4th generation nuclear reactor company, but his belief in the CAGW narrative likely means that he is doing so for the wrong reason. With all of their wealth, Gates and Musk would be getting far more respect from me if they were doing all the right things for the right reasons.
CD in Wisconsin: “I wonder if Musk actually knows how much raw material will have to be mined from the Earth for EV lithium-ion batteries and the phasing out of ICE automobiles.”
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I’m actually reasonably certain he does know. But he’s not about to stop making EVs because of that.
A few years back, there were a few articles here, with photos, of acres and acres of undelivered Teslas. I forget the reason (I don’t really care) but just like the Energizer bunny, Musk will keep going and going regardless.
The next opportunity for
Mush** Musk is lithium mining. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that’s one of his next ventures.–
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**That was an honest typo I made and spotted in time, but it was too good to just correct and move on.
According to the IEA (May 2022) the price of lithium has increased 250% since the start of the year meaning in total its price has rocketed by almost 750% since Jan 2021.
I’m sure Musk and others will be thinking they need a piece of that!
Didn’t Gates invest in nuclear technology in
recent years? That might be productive.
only to virtue signal
Don:
Gates’ nuclear tech development company is called TerraPower:
https://www.terrapower.com/
The word is out that TerraPower will start building its first reactor in Wyoming, ironically in a coal-mining town:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/17/bill-gates-terrapower-builds-its-first-nuclear-reactor-in-a-coal-town.html
An African American car builder and a pie taster walk into a bar
How about a Social Credit Score like the Communists implemented in China, with the added inclusion of ESG? Then we’d know who has the most climate virtue.
I guess that highlights the difference between the two. Bill Gates throws money at companies and then tries to take credit for their (possible) success. Elon Musk rolls up his sleeves and starts his own companies to tackle the issues he thinks need fixing. Neither of which will fix the non-issue of climate change…
“Elon Musk rolls up his sleeves and starts his own companies”
Musk was the 4th CEO of Tesla. He sued the board to be called a founder. The company was started by the engineers who created the Tesla car and company after they left GM. Most of his other products are fake or hype to boost stock price.
See a wonderful list of Musk’s BS here at Elonmusktoday
The problem here is that there is no crack in the dam, but they persist in trying to plug the non-existent hole. What a waste for both of them.
So two of the riches individuals on the planet are arguing about who does the most to control the climate. Money does indeed seem to come with a negative impact on common sense. As far as I can tell neither Elon nor Bill control the sun, the movement of the planets, volcanic eruptions, ocean and wind currents, cloud behaviour or the Earth’s albedo. If Bill has indeed spent more on efforts to control the climate than Elon then I would would short Microsoft before Tesla and maybe invest in some other company that isn’t pretending to control the universe.
And the winner of the “Sucker Trophy”, is…
What bloody climate change are they talking about?
Good question. It’s all in their feverish minds.
We are witnessing a huge mass delusion encompassing millions of people. All the Voices of Authority in society are leading this charge into CO2/Climate Change delusion. Some because they are truly deluded and some because they see political/monetary reward in following this path.
The one thing they don’t have is evidence that CO2 is a problem. Their demonization of CO2 is unjustified.
During previous glaciations, CO2 change followed temperature change. Since about 1850 CO2 has been increasing with hardly any temperature change. Water vapor has been increasing at 1.44% per decade and can explain all of the climate change attributable to humanity. The WV increase is faster than possible from just temperature increase which rules out that CO2 has caused any warming.
When are we getting summer?
This summer is cold 🥶
Yes, it is a cool June so far.
I kind of like cooler weather in June around here. Usually we are in the 90’s around this time of year heading for the 100’s. We love La Nina.
Neither has done anything to “prevent climate change”, because it can’t be prevented.
Musk is as we say in Britain ‘a bit of a nutter’, isn’t he?
We also say “It takes one to know one”.
until hes next to billy then musk looks pretty sane
Musk says he is going to start voting Republican so I guess he is wising up after the radical Left started attacking him over his Twitter bid. Musk’s eyes have been opened.
It’s never too late to come to your senses. It is beneficial to do so. And if you are the world’s richest man, it is beneficial to a lot of people.
Bill “Gain of Function” Gates. We won’t forget.
Gates did not believe the Internet would catch on, hence the scramble to provide Windows with a third party browser in the nineties. He also believed effective digital rights management to be more important than his earlier pronouncement that he would provide true computer power to the masses when the ill fated Vista was launched. The many ills of earlier Windows versions just never seem to go away no matter what name or number is more recently attached.
What does he know about climate change? It keeps him rich and the same could be said about Musk. If either of them truly believed humans are really doomed by climate change then they would be pushing nuclear and gas to world political leaders at every opportunity rather than cheering on more and more intermittents and closures of vital baseload dispatchers.
Bill Gates only cares about Bill Gates making money and having power.
Just a case of “My schwartz is bigger than your swartz”
Gate is Musk’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
What does that make them?
Absolutely nothing!
As much as I admire each of them for their achievements (even though I have specific criticisms of certain activities/products), neither of them has done anything to “prevent climate change”. No amount of money from Bill Gates, or electric cars from Elon Musk will ever have even a theoretical affect on the climate. They are both acting like preening peacocks and I wish they’d just stop it; it makes them look so foolish.
Why use peacock for comparison when you can use Al Gore?
MS is only scaling down operations in Russia and well after others.
Vast majority of problems of this world is easy to fix.
who cares what billionaires do. They do not have a clue about what ordinary people go through. If co2 is so bad lets ban private jets and huge yachts that spew more co2 tan the average American in a year.