--- title: "Elon Musk Mocks Concern Over SpaceX Obliterating Baby Birds in Their Nests" description: "Elon Musk chose to mock a new investigation into SpaceX's damage to the environment by making a really dumb joke." date: "2024-07-12" modified: "2024-07-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-mocks-spacex-environmental-concerns" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Mocks Concern Over SpaceX Obliterating Baby Birds in Their Nests ![Elon Musk chose to mock a new investigation into SpaceX's damage to the environment by making a really dumb joke.]() *\Image: Richard Bord / WireImage via Getty / Futurism\* ## Conservative Conservationist Erstwhile [environmentalist]() Elon Musk appears to have no remorse for the damage his SpaceX Starbase facility in Texas has wreaked on local habitats after a [stunning *New York Times* investigation]() revealed the sleight of hand he used to build the facility. In a [deeply Boomer-coded tweet]() featuring a very grainy screenshot of someone else's post and some highlighted text, the owner of X-formerly-Twitter mocked the *NYT*'s coverage of SpaceX's environmental degradation. The [original post in question]() took a crappy photo of the *NYT*'s physical front page to express outrage that the newspaper led with the SpaceX story earlier this week. That report was, presumably, the result of months of investigation [corroborating the trickery]() Musk used to open the Boca Chica, TX Starbase facility situated in the middle of a federal wildlife preserve. It also zoomed in on one of the article's lesser details — that a recent Starship launch resulted in the destruction of the nine total birds nests that had been documented nearby. "To make up for this heinous crime," Musk joked in his screenshotted post, "I will refrain from having omelette \[sic\] for a week." https://www.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1810887584232657026 ## True Colors From the [low-resolution screenshot]() to the [cheap dad joke](), nothing about this would-be clapback is at all surprising. It does, however, highlight how the multi-hyphenate billionaire treats not only investigations into his alleged wrongdoing, but also the federal regulations he's said to have broken, too. As the *NYT* revealed in its investigation, Musk very much got away with tricking the federal government into thinking he would only be testing out the less-powerful Falcon 9 rockets at Starbase instead of Starship, which is much larger and inflicts much more damage on the surrounding wildlife. Naturally, the billionaire has chosen to take a victory lap in the only way he knows how — with low-rent tweets making fun of his current political enemies, even if he would have agreed with their sentiments [before deciding to go anti-woke](). **More on SpaceX:** [*Leaked SpaceX Video Shows Head of HR Teaching How to Spank Employees*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()