How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
I loved Melinda Gates’ ‘Moment of Lift’ and thus my expectations were pretty high given that this book would also touch upon the work of the Gates Foundation (and yes, the couple is getting divorced, but the foundation isn’t going anywhere:-)
So – is it full of dying polar bears and high waters across the globe? No, not at all. Nor is it a preachy book where Gates tells you to stop doing this or that, and he is smart enough to know that most people will not stop flying or eating meat.
This is a book that accessibly lays out how farming/cows/meat are affecting the climate, and how we, i.e. the world, need to invent technologies that can help us make these activities carbon neutral. He also makes it clear that we are headed for disaster if we don’t do anything and keep going as per usual.
Getting to zero greenhouse emissions won’t come for free, and Gates is good at looking at both the public and the private game.
We need meetings like COP21 as they serve as a mechanism for pressing national governments to do their part, and especially invest heavily into R&D and innovation for solutions.
The private game is what YOU (yes, you, the reader…) can do – like switching to LED lightning, insulating your windows, looking for a green pricing program whenever possible, etc. etc.
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is a readable, friendly book that will help you think about the options and possibilities for changes.
Gates also points to asking the right questions, like ‘how much power can we generate per square meter?’, and the economy playing out behind the climate disaster, so why not start talking much more about the Green Premiums that compare clean and dirty solutions.
The book is full of hope and innovative ideas, and it’s a book that could easily be read twice a year to remind oneself of why this is so important. Gates wrote the book to spark more conversations, and hopefully he will succeed – you, me, and the rest of world, need to have more conversations about what to do.
Happy reading!
Lotte
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