Here’s how I would spend Elon Musk’s 6 billion dollars
Elon Musk is a forward-thinking innovator — there’s no denying that — but even great leaders need some guidance when it comes to understanding the complexities of global crises. This week, the tech titan now worth $300 billion tweeted to the UN saying he would sell Tesla stock and donate the money if there was a proposal showing how the funds would be used to save lives. He was alluding to a statement made last week by the director of the UN’s World Food Programme, claiming a $6 billion donation from one of the world’s wealthiest people (i.e. Musk) could help stop world hunger.
Musk wasn’t convinced, he seemed weary of corruption within charitable giving channels. He asked for transparency, or “open source accounting” on where and how his money would get invested.
Well, I have some ideas.
Donating billions of dollars — even donating billions of pounds of food — won’t “end world hunger.” That’s true. There are systemic issues that negate our progress, and a whole is the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, a substantial investment can advance the right infrastructure and policy to counter food insecurity.
From my perspective, there are four main areas we should focus on to improve the food system and they go hand in hand:
1. Repurpose food waste with food recovery services: One-third of all food produced gets wasted — that’s a value of $1 trillion dollars annually. This contributes to climate change and overlooks an opportunity to repurpose our resources and address the problem of hunger. Food recovery services like Replate, use technology to enable surplus food from vendors to be donated and redistributed to the community. They also provide important metrics for source reduction and social impact. By investing in food recovery services, and upcycled food products we can build a regenerative cycle for food, and extend its lifecycle. We can utilize what already exists without having to produce more, and save space on the Earth. Right now, with the food that gets wasted, two billion people could be fed — more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe. This is also important because there’s not enough arable land left to grow the amount of food necessary to make a similar difference. The UN predicts we will need to increase food supply by 50% to feed the world population by 2050, yet agricultural productivity recently decreased by 21% due to conditions caused by the climate crisis. Without food recovery infrastructure, the problem escalates. We need to invest now.
2. Support community service organizations that break the cycle of poverty: To tackle any problem, you search for the source. Sometimes, there are a few, and often, you have to dig. When it comes to world hunger, the fact that people don’t have enough to eat is not simply because there’s no food in front of them. Placing a meal on the table alleviates an urgent need, not long-term circumstances. We need to ask: why doesn’t someone have access to food? It could be there’s no budget or no store nearby. In some neighborhoods, the only outlet for groceries may be a 7–11 or McDonald’s. But the problem doesn’t end there. Why does anyone live in a community without a proper grocery store? What are the financial conditions that limit their ability to buy the meals they need to survive? Marginalized communities like these tend to be BIPOC, those historically disenfranchised and without opportunity. They may not be able to find work, many come from single-parent homes or have relatives in prison. Their social power is limited, thus they are neglected. All this creates a space where they are hungry. We need to invest money in programs that uplift and empower our forgotten communities, particularly the youth. Help them get an education. Support job training and guidance. Teach them what a healthy meal is and how to budget their income. One day, you won’t need to offer them a plate.
3. Invest in conservation and prevention tools: By wasting food, we are escalating the climate crisis and heightening world hunger. Let’s look at the cycle of the food system first. Farmers produce our food, it’s manufactured and distributed, a portion gets eaten, a portion gets thrown away. What’s thrown away then rots in landfills, taking up space that could be used for farming and subsequently emitting 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This also wastes 45 trillion gallons of water every year used to produce that food. Heatwaves move in, drying upland and leading to drought. Wildfires destroy even more terrain. Blistering snowstorms and floods ruin a season’s worth of crops. Across the board, food production takes a hit, and now we’re also struggling to find land and water to make more. The consequences tend to affect BIPOC communities more than others and add even more to their cycle of poverty. The connection is undeniable. We need tools that manage our food inventory and monitor where and how we spend this resource. Put some of Elon’s money in that direction.
4. Incentivize businesses to reduce waste: Providing better tax incentives or discounts on utility bills encourages any business to invest more in food recovery and other waste prevention and source reduction services. We can not rely on volunteers to fix a global humanitarian crisis. We need efficient and successful services, and we need to support them. That comes at a cost. With better policies and laws, we can achieve these goals. And to make those gains, we need financial support for our platforms and funding to assist businesses in moving the need in a positive direction.
No one solution will end world hunger, and to Musk’s point, throwing billions of dollars into the tank alone won’t provide the answers. But I think we can work together and come up with a comprehensive approach that will.
