While talking with Trump over the phone, Musk made an effort to inform the former President about greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and the prospects for renewable energy. Appearing to act like Trump’s tutor, the X owner said that there are two motives to embrace renewable energy — the depletion of petroleum supplies and the health risks associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) buildup.

“People don’t realize this: You start getting headaches and nausea if you go past a thousand parts of CO2 per million in the atmosphere,” stated the Tesla CEO. So it’s not a comfy location even in the absence of global warming, Musk stated, suggesting Trump to avoid approaching that number too closely.

The Republican leader downplayed climate change, arguing that rising sea levels would only lead to more opportunities for real estate.

He surprisingly told Musk that the “biggest threat” is not global warming, where the ocean levels are set to increase one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years.

“You’ll have more ocean front property, right? The biggest threat is not that. The biggest threat is nuclear warming, because we have five countries now that have significant nuclear power, and we have to not allow anything to happen with stupid people like Biden,” he added.

Billionaire Musk, who has always been outspoken about the climate change and his intention to use Tesla to combat it, notably remained silent in response to Trump’s statement. The SpaceX CEO’s failure to counter Trump over his remarks has raised questions about his present position on climate change issues.

Also Read: Donald Trump ‘feels this election slipping away from him,’ ex-aide says

Musk’s CO2-level tutorial to Trump dubbed as ‘dumb’

Musk’s CO2-level tutorial to Trump has prompted sharp reactions from various renowned personalities, with Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman and venture capitalist, and veteran climate activist Bill McKibben calling his theories about CO2 ppm (parts per million) levels and their effects “dumb.”

Regarding Trump’s claim that the temperature is rising in some areas and falling in others, Khosla stated in a thread on the social networking platform X that “you know as well as I that’s a dumb way to look at it.”

Khosla mentioned that the aggregate macro trends are indisputable and the earth is warming.

The venture capitalist remarked that he does not expect Trump “to know the nuances of various CO2 ppm levels and their consequences, and him reaching out to the person who has arguably done more for climate than anyone else is pretty sensible.”

“You had a responsibility that I think you largely abdicated by downplaying the reality of things,” he told Musk.

Khosla countered that it is “totally off” to concentrate on 1,000 ppm because that is when human starts feeling “uncomfortable” by experiencing headaches and nausea.

“At 500 ppm, the likelihood of catastrophic climate impacts, such as large-scale disruptions to ecosystems, accelerated ice melt, and extreme weather events, becomes much higher. Some have warned that exceeding 500 ppm could lead to irreversible damage and tipping points in the Earth’s climate system. You know this,” he told Musk

“We’re at 420 ppm so even at the pace of 2-3 ppm increase per year. we could be 25-40 years away from a climate disaster. Which brings me to my next point — we absolutely should be vilifying oil and gas companies. They have been hiding research on climate, and rather than engaging transparently on what’s needed for a 30-year transition (while opposing electric mind you!) they’ve been behaving in bad faith despite knowing full well what they’re doing,” Khosla added.

Meanwhile, McKibben said that Trump’s conservation with Musk about the climate catastrophe “spelunked down into entirely new levels of stupidity.” He went on to label it as “the dumbest climate conversation of all time”.

He added, that it is unfortunate that Musk has turned into a denier of climate change, but added, “that’s what he is”. He is essentially rejecting what the science says in this instance, the co-founder of 350.org said.