Hollywood legend Harrison Ford, now 83, may be best known for battling villains with a whip or a lightsaber, but this week he took aim at a far more controversial target: President Donald Trump. In an interview with The Guardian, Ford delivered a scathing rebuke of Trump’s approach to climate change, accusing him of everything from willful ignorance to criminal negligence.
“[Trump] doesn’t have any policies, he has whims,” Ford fumed. “It scares the sh** out of me.” He didn’t stop there, going so far as to call Trump “a greater criminal than anyone I know in history.” It was a fiery indictment from a man whose on-screen personas have inspired generations — and whose real-world activism is now earning nearly equal billing.
Ford, who was preparing to receive a conservation leadership award in Chicago, argued that the consequences of climate change are no longer theoretical. “Everything we’ve said about climate change has come true,” he said, expressing exasperation that public alarm still hasn’t translated into meaningful global behavioral change. His diagnosis? An entrenched status quo — and a president who’s part of it.
But Ford’s comments come at a moment when even some of the most prominent figures in climate advocacy are urging a shift in tone and priorities.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, once a vocal advocate of global climate action and author of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, is now calling for a more measured and pragmatic approach. In a letter ahead of the upcoming COP30 summit, Gates acknowledged that while climate change is a major concern, it is not the singular catastrophe many have made it out to be. “It will not lead to humanity’s demise,” he wrote, pushing back on what he termed the “doomsday view.”
Gates made the case that global leadership should focus more on human welfare in broader terms — including fighting disease, poverty, and improving access to innovation — rather than fixating solely on emissions reduction. In his words: “Climate is super important but has to be considered in terms of overall human welfare.”
It’s a strategic pivot that reflects the new technological and economic realities, especially as the explosion of AI has ramped up global energy demands. Microsoft, along with other tech giants like Meta and Alphabet, has publicly committed to aggressive sustainability goals — yet the surge in power-hungry data centers is now pushing those goals further out of reach. Microsoft’s own sustainability chief recently described the journey to net-zero as one where “the moon has gotten further away.”
This quiet reassessment from the tech elite contrasts sharply with Ford’s old-school activist fervor. While Ford lashes out at the Trump administration’s climate skepticism, Gates is pointing to a deeper recalibration — not abandonment — of climate strategy. His Breakthrough Energy fund has already cut staff and shifted focus, with one New York Times report suggesting the change is tailored to the political winds of the Trump era.
All of this plays out against the backdrop of Trump’s own climate policies. As president, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement — not once, but twice, across two terms — and has made no secret of his skepticism toward what he sees as globalist, anti-growth environmentalism. In speeches, he has derided climate mandates as job-killers and has repeatedly called out the hypocrisy of elite institutions that demand sacrifice from the public while expanding their own carbon footprints.
