Plug Your Ears, Elon: Prince William Takes Not-So-Subtle Dig At Space Tourism

Prince William's inspiring Earthshot Prize project aims to change history by providing millions in funding for innovations that will help make the world a better place. Five winners each year will be awarded a £1 million grant to support their work in one of five areas: "protect and restore, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world, fix our climate." And if the future awards ceremonies are anything like the past ones, we'll get to see Catherine, Princess of Wales in an amazing outfit — Kate was stunning in green for the 2022 Earthshot Awards in Boston.

In support of the Earthshot Prize, Prince William partnered with Sorted Food, a popular British YouTube channel, to create and serve veggie burgers made using former Earthshot Prize winning technologies. As he talked about the Earthshot initiative, Prince William poked some fun at himself, noting that it's taken years for the Earthshot Prize to get off the ground: "I had hair when it started," he quipped. Then, Prince William threw some not so subtle shade at those who think that humanity's future isn't on earth.

The Earthshot Prize got its name from President John F. Kennedy's idea of putting the man on the moon; with the phrase "moon shot" becoming synonymous with an idea so big it seems impossible. But despite the name's inspiration, Prince William doesn't so much see the point of trying to figure out how to colonize the moon; rather, he wants to focus on solutions here on earth. As he talked to the hosts of Sorted Food, he said the Earthshot Prize was all about "saving the planet, not taking us to the moon." William also joked, "And there's many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already, and I'm like, 'Hang on, let's not give up on this planet yet. We've got a good thing going here. Let's not give up on it just yet!'"

He doesn't name anyone specifically, but Prince William was talking about people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who have been advocating for establishing space colonies on the moon and Mars. It's not the first time that Prince William has gotten in a dig at the idea of space tourism. In an interview with BBC Newscast in 2021, he said, "We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."