SquantoZ posted...
Tesla popularized e-vehicles (Elon trying to save the planet)
Trains, buses and trams are better for the environment. They are safer. They cut down on traffic which makes commuting faster and easier while reducing the need for massive highway structures that eat up tons of land. Land which can be reclaimed for nature to produce better green cities or land that can be converted into homes.
EVs are terrible for the environment. About as bad as regular cars. As others have pointed out the strip mining for rare earth metals is neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly. The electricity demanded and consumed by the cars is still coming from coal / gas power plants.
SquantoZ posted...
SpaceX (finding a place for humanity if the world shits the bed)
This is nothing more than science fiction. It's not real and isn't possible. Colonizing Mars would require more time than earth has left, even if it were possible. But since Mars doesn't have much atmosphere, is constantly being bombarded with radiation and meteors don't burn up, and is far too cold thanks to its dormant core there's really not much hope in ever colonizing it in the first place. It would be easier to invent a new piece of miracle tech that solves global warming without systematic change in our society than it would be to reheat mars.
But Elon doesn't care about that. This is just a billionaire vanity project.
SquantoZ posted...
Other ultra billionaires not doing anything for the future of humanity
Actually they are! 'nt. Tons of billionaires around the world are going forward with their own versions of Save the World tech that doesn't rely on them giving up anything of their own. Remember that "Line" city? The one that's supposed to solve urban development by building in a giant straight line the size of 1,000 New Yorks or some shit? Yeah every Billionaire has a vanity project that they're using to "save the world"
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/saudi-arabia-the-line-city-scli-intl/index.html
Just such an incomprehensibly stupid idea. "Look it's a green city. This will save the planet if we all build these!" No, no they won't. They're just some billionaire's wetdream. A desperate attempt to leave behind a legacy so they're remembered after they die. Because they all know this money won't offer them comfort in the grave.