Elon Musk Is Not Your Savior

Climate change is not only an environmental problem. It's a multifaceted issue, with political, diplomatic, economic and social implications. It embodies so many of the evils of our civilization: Greed, ignorance, disrespect for nature... but, for me, its most fascinating aspect is inequality: The people who will suffer the worst consequences of global warming are very rarely the same ones that are most responsible for it.

That's why stopping climate change can mean changing the world for the better. We'll have to change some of the terrible things embedded in our current system if we want to survive. And we'll all have to work together.

In this article, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis take a critical look at a man who's good at doing things on his own: Tesla's founder, Elon Musk. The green car maker has recently fired hundreds of employees who worked at the company's facilities in Fremont, California. The layoffs came just a few weeks after a union action regarding poor working conditions threatened the plant's activity.

Klein and Lewis correctly criticize the set of "green policies" currently in place in the US. These (cap-and-trade, green taxes, carbon markets, etc.) usually provide economic incentives to cut down emissions, without addressing the systemic causes of climate change. This results in pollution not declining and inequality growing.

It’s tempting to imagine that men like Elon Musk can save the planet for us, that we just need to unleash the power of their innovation and wait for the magic. But as the workers in Fremont well know, the quest for profit very often comes at the expense of people—even when the product is green.

There are tons of good things to say about Musk. His drive to build futuristic enterprises that can make a huge difference against climate change can't be denied. But he's not our savior. Only we can save ourselves. And here's why.