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Elon Musk pledges $1 million to #TeamTrees viral tree-planting initiative
In May of 2019, popular YouTube creator “MrBeast” – real name: Jimmy Donaldson – reached 20 million subscribers. His followers quickly challenged him to plant as many trees as he had followers. In response, the YouTuber did what YouTubers do best: formed a collaborative effort of other well known YouTubers and legitimate foundations to crowdfund a viral challenge. The viral challenge has been so successful in just four days that it now has the backing of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Sounds cool. Where are the trees being planted & what kind of trees?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2019
With the help of multiple partners, Donaldson paired up with The Arbor Day Foundation to create a fundraising campaign that would plant 20 million trees. TeamTrees.org was created and went live on Oct. 25th following an announcement video posted to the MrBeast Youtube channel. As stated on the site’s FAQ page, the organizers have promised all donors that “for every dollar you donate, one tree will be planted in a forest of high need around the world.”
In just four days the TeamTrees.org official Twitter account has garnered nearly 12 thousand followers when the challenge first caught the eye of Musk. Donaldson posted an update that “almost 6 million” trees had been planted accompanied by a screencap of what just 5,000 trees appeared as in the popular online game “Fortnite.” Musk responded “sounds cool,” but wanted more information and asked, “where are the trees being planted & what kind of trees?”
Of course, it comes as no surprise that the prospect of planting 20 million trees piqued the interest of the billionaire that founded Tesla. Musk has long been a supporter of the premise that electric vehicles could help reduce emissions and preserve the earth of the future. Combining an initiative to save Mother Earth by planting trees and using Fortnite as a visual reference was as genius as it could get to guarantee to grab the billionaire’s attention.
The factor that really drove it home was an almost immediate response by the influential tech review Youtuber, Marques Brownlee. Brownlee, who has had the opportunity to interview Musk at a Tesla factory, responded by linking the billionaire directly to the TeamTrees.org website. Musk then, almost as immediately, pledged to “donate 1M trees,” in other words, donate $1 million to the cause.
Ok, sounds legit, will donate 1M trees— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2019
Musk’s promised donation quickly gained appreciation all over the internet. The official Youtube Twitter account soon confirmed the legitimacy of Musk’s pledge. Then, larger than life social media platform – owned by parent company Google – promised to match every one of the following million donations to keep the support of TeamTrees.org going.
While pledging to plant 20 million trees is surely an effort in the right direction of combating global climate change, it may be just a drop in a bucket. As suggested in a fortuitous and completely unrelated article, WIRED.com suggests that more than just planting trees would need to be done in order to really address the issue of excess carbon in the atmosphere. An overarching theme of the article is that “seedlings and fancy agriculture” won’t even make a dent in the issue if emissions aren’t reduced.
“It’s possible to imagine agriculture as a kind of geoengineering, of improving on nature’s yields and productivity. If it could also improve on nature’s ability to put carbon in the ground, that would be transformative. But there’s no evidence yet people can do it at a scale that it can by itself save the planet.” – WIRED.com
Perhaps it won’t completely save the planet from the destruction that has already been done but surely vowing to plant sustainable trees in forests of high need is a step in the right direction. Especially when the cause has gained the attention of thousands of internet users and some very influential creators including MythBusters’ Adam Savage and SmarterEveryday’s Destin Sandlin.
If you would like more information about the campaign backed by Elon Musk, you can view the announcement video below or visit TeamTrees.org to pledge your own donation.
Just hours after Starship Flight 13 achieved a successful soft splashdown of its upper stage in the Indian Ocean on July 24, Elon Musk announced an ambitious next step for the company’s next launch of the rocket.
“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on [the] next flight,” the SpaceX CEO posted on X on Friday.
That “next flight” is expected to be Flight 14. The plan involves returning the Starship upper stage, commonly called the “ship,” to the Starbase launch tower in Texas and catching it mid-air using the same mechanical “chopsticks” arms that have already proven themselves with the Super Heavy booster.
Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
A successful catch would mark the first time an orbital-class upper stage has been recovered this way, advancing SpaceX’s goal of full and rapid reusability for the entire vehicle.
SpaceX has already demonstrated the tower-catch technique multiple times with Super Heavy. The first successful catch came on Flight 5 in October 2024, when Booster 12 was plucked from the sky by the Mechazilla arms. Subsequent flights, including those involving Boosters 14 and 15, repeated the feat. Several of those recovered boosters were later inspected, refurbished, and flown again, proving the system’s viability for quick turnaround.
Traditional reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 or Blue Origin’s New Shepard, land on legs either on land or droneships. Rocket Lab has recovered its small Electron first stages by helicopter, but those are far lighter vehicles.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), completed a catch of its booster on July 10. They are the only entity besides SpaceX to attempt and complete the feat.
Flight 13 provided encouraging data. The ship executed a controlled reentry, flipped, and soft-landed intact in the ocean after deploying Starlink satellites, offering the first clear post-splashdown views of an undamaged heat shield. The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, experienced a harder splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk has previously stressed that ship catches would only follow multiple successful soft ocean landings to minimize risk of debris over land.
If Flight 14 succeeds, SpaceX would take a major stride toward routine, rapid reuse of both stages—critical for lowering launch costs and supporting ambitious plans for lunar and Mars missions. For now, teams are reviewing the Flight 13 data. Should everything check out, the next Starship flight could deliver one of the most spectacular recoveries in aerospace history.
In a move echoing its earlier commitment to open innovation, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced recently that the company plans to make the design and software of its Model S and Model X fully open source.
This follows the same approach Tesla took with its original Roadster, releasing all available design, engineering, and diagnostic materials in November 2023 so that “whatever we have, you now have.”
Just as Tesla made the original Roadster design & software open source, we plan to do the same with Model S & X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2026
The Model S, introduced in 2012, was Tesla’s first mass-produced vehicle and a groundbreaking luxury electric sedan. It offered impressive range, rapid acceleration, and over-the-air software updates that redefined expectations for electric cars.
The Model X, launched in 2015, built on that foundation as a high-performance electric SUV notable for its distinctive falcon-wing doors, spacious interior, and advanced safety features. Both models served as flagships that helped establish Tesla as a leader in the EV industry and popularized long-range battery-electric vehicles.
Production of the Model S and Model X was wound down earlier in 2026, with manufacturing ending in the second quarter. Tesla redirected the Fremont factory space previously used for these vehicles toward higher-priority projects, including Optimus humanoid robots and the Cybercab autonomous vehicle.
By the time of Musk’s open-source announcement, custom orders had closed and only remaining inventory was available.
Open-sourcing the designs and software offers several clear advantages. Owners of these aging but still capable vehicles gain better access to technical documentation, diagnostic tools, and software resources, making independent repairs and modifications easier and more affordable.
Independent repair shops and third-party specialists can support the large existing fleet without relying solely on Tesla’s service network. Enthusiasts and engineers can study real-world implementations of Tesla’s battery, powertrain, and software systems, potentially accelerating broader industry progress in electric mobility.
The step aligns with Tesla’s 2014 patent pledge and its overall mission to advance sustainable transport by sharing hard-won knowledge rather than locking it behind proprietary walls.
By releasing these materials now that the models have left production, Tesla ensures continued support for its early adopters while freeing internal resources for future technologies. The open-source release of the original Roadster already enabled simulations, community projects, and deeper technical understanding.
Extending that practice to the Model S and Model X should deliver similar benefits on a larger scale, helping keep these influential vehicles relevant and repairable for years to come
Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents.
During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said:
“First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.”
Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident.
0 notable incidents across over 380,000 miles traveled by Robotaxi
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla’s self-driving approach is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed.
“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”
The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors.
While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely, it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out.
The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively.
SpaceX wants to catch Starship for launch 14, Elon Musk says
Tesla to open source Model S and Model X designs and software
