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Elon Musk, who famously owns an electric vehicle company and has said he wants to move humanity to \u201ca sustainable energy civilization,\u201d<\/a> told former President Donald Trump during an interview on X that \u201cwe shouldn\u2019t vilify the oil and gas industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Musk interviewed Trump on his social media platform, where the livestream was delayed over 40 minutes due to technical difficulties<\/a>. After long, rambling discussions about immigration, inflation, and foreign policy, Musk and Trump finally came to the subject of energy and climate change \u2014 where Musk surprisingly came to defense of the fossil fuel industry. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry and the people that have worked very hard in those industries to provide the necessary energy to support the economy,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPeople that have worked very hard in those industries\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Tesla CEO, who described his views as \u201cpretty moderate\u201d on energy despite owning an EV and home energy company, claimed the economy \u201cwould collapse\u201d if oil and gas firms were forced to shutdown. Musk also said that the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in \u201c50 or 100 years\u201d \u2014 despite the scientific community warning that humanity is quickly reaching a tipping point on the climate. (Trump later changed it to \u201c500 to 1000 years,\u201d which Musk didn\u2019t correct.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s not like the house is on fire immediately,\u201d Musk said. \u201cBut I think it is something we need to move towards… It\u2019s probably better to move there faster than slower. But like without vilifying the oil and gas industry and without causing hardship in the short term.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But he quickly contradicted himself. Musk acknowledged that the air will become harder to breath with the continued use of fossil fuels, causing people \u201cheadaches and nausea.\u201d But that was no reason to quickly transition away from the use of planet-heating fuels. According to Musk, we can casually stroll into a more sustainable future. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe still have quite a bit of time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to rush.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump, who often sounded like he was slurring his words, quipped that rising sea levels means people would have more \u201coceanfront property.\u201d That comment was quickly blasted out by Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 campaign. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump then briefly touched on one of his favorite topics, electric vehicles, claiming that fossil fuel-powered energy generation is what powers Tesla\u2019s vehicles. \u201c[We] can\u2019t get away from it at this moment,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the EV discussion didn\u2019t go much further than that, despite Trump\u2019s vows to end subsidies for plug-in cars<\/a> that could seriously impact Tesla\u2019s sales. Trump urged Musk to put solar panels on the roof of his cars. (Tesla filed a patent for a solar panel-covered tonneau cover for the Cybertruck, but didn\u2019t follow through.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n