Earth Crisis

May 6, 1:20 PM EDTbyVictor Tangermann

Elon Musk’s Urgent Concern: That the Earth Is Going to Get Swallowed by the Sun

So that’s why he wants to move to Mars?!

/ Off World/ Climate Change/ Donald Trump/ Elon Musk

Image by Getty / Futurism

Billionaire Elon Musk seems to be far more concerned about delivering humanity to Mars, a planet that’s incredibly hostile to life, than ensuring we have a place to call our home over the next 100 years.

Instead of meaningfully addressing a growing climate crisis, he’s pursued the stripping of environmental regulations, actions that could have devastating consequences for humanity in the short term.

In a new interview with Fox News, Musk attempted to justify his long-held plans for making humanity “interplanetary” by establishing a self-sustaining presence on Mars.

“Mars is life insurance for life collectively,” Musk said. “So, eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the Sun. The Sun is gradually expanding, and so we do at some point need to be a multi-planet civilization because Earth will be incinerated.”

But what Musk failed to mention was that this grim fate won’t happen for another six billion years — making it an incredibly un-compelling reason to give up on the Earth now. After all, the Earth is currently only about 4.5 billion years old.

In other words, the looming environmental crisis is far bigger deal, happening vastly sooner, than billions-of-years-off concerns about the cosmic destruction of the Earth.

But while he played a major part in driving the popularity and adoption of electric vehicles, Musk has increasingly contributed to the dismantling of rules designed to curb emission levels, indicating a disregard for ensuring the longevity of humanity’s original home.

SpaceX has also flouted environmental rules, repeatedly dumping toxic wastewater into or near bodies of water in Texas. Its Starship launches have proven incredibly harmful to nearby vegetation and protected wildlife.

Musk has also thrown his weight behind president Donald Trump, who has called for the US to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels. In his first 100 days in office alone, greenhouse gas emissions have soared, according to a recent analysis.

Put simply, has Musk given up on Earth? Experts have long rung the alarm bells, warning that the climate crisis is nearing a point of no return.

Instead of acknowledging the issue, Musk is still pursuing his dream of building a city on Mars.

In a tweet last month, the CEO promised that his space firm’s gigantic Starship rocket will “hopefully depart for Mars at the end of next year with Optimus explorer robots!” referring to his car company Tesla’s humanoid robots.

Of course, whether Musk’s proclamations — which tend to be massively overconfident — will be realized that soon is as dubious as ever.

For one, the company has yet to successfully launch a Starship into space and return it safely to the ground.

Now that Musk has gathered a huge amount of influence in the White House, chances are NASA could soon move mountains and free up untold sums in funding to realize his plans to send humans to Mars.

In the Trump administration’s recently announced proposed budget for next year, the White House is looking to increase NASA’s space exploration budget by roughly $1 billion in “new investments for Mars-focused programs.”

Put it all together, and Musk has seemingly little interest in ensuring humanity’s survival on planet Earth — even while he’s hellbent on establishing a new city on an extremely deadly and unforgiving planet.

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