How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
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4.2 • 66 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this urgent, singularly authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid an irreversible climate catastrophe.
Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help and guidance of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, he has focused on exactly what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only gathers together all the information we need to fully grasp how important it is that we work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases but also details exactly what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.
He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. He describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions; where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively; where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.
As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but by following the guidelines he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gates (The Road Ahead), Microsoft cofounder turned philanthropist, is optimistic in this cogent guide to avoiding "the worst effects of climate change." Gates's goal is to get from the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gasses added to the atmosphere annually to zero. This is possible, he writes, by making use of existing technologies and developing new ones to remove emissions: transportation's "zero-carbon future," for example, will mean using "electricity to run all the vehicles we can, and getting cheap alternative fuels for the rest." (Such alternatives include electrofuels, which, he notes, researchers are developing.) Gates rounds out his advice with steps for governments and individuals: he encourages citizens to "make calls, write letters, attend town halls," while Congress should financially incentivize green policies, and state governments can "test policies like carbon pricing" before they're implemented countrywide. Readers will enjoy Gates's sometimes breezy tone ("You have to be a pretty big nerd to write a sentence like I'm in awe of physical infrastructure' "), and while his scientific solutions are never fringe, not all of his ideas strike as politically feasible. Nonetheless, those looking for an accessible review of how global warming can be countered will find this a handy and maybe even hope-inspiring guide.
Customer Reviews
Thank you Bill
Excellent overview and insightful call to action. This book should help mankind survive a bit longer.
To be picky, I think you should edit the “how much stuff ... “ graph and do one more front to back editorial pass.
Question: Will there come a time when we should ask ourselves how many people can comfortably live on our planet?
Bill Gates does it again!
I think this book is important for our generation. It’s one of the most well written book on climate change I’ve read so far. It is a complex subject but Bill Gates does a great job at explaining the problem, laying it out the potential solutions and providing a framework to meet the deadline of zero emission for the year 2050. He’s really optimistic. But I don’t blame him, he created Microsoft and is one one of the richest person in the planet so that have some perks on not thinking like everyone else. What I like about this book is shows you the real source of carbon dioxide emission. It’s not only transportation as I had taught initially. It’s in manufacturing ( a great part with steel, cement and plastic), it in energy sources ( most of our energy are from fossil fuel and coal and water), it’s from what we eat ( fertilizers and beef release methane which 165 times more worse than emission of carbone dioxide), of course transportation and how we keep warm and cool. This book is easy to read and made for someone like me who is ambivalent towards the subject of climate change. It shows that we need government industry, investors and rich countries to come up with solutions, policies, science and engineering to solve this issue. We also have a deadline and zero emission is the only option. I believe we can make it happen if we elect the right politicians to bring this forward and follow his recommendations of creating a demand of emission free products and technologies to drive the green premium to zero for cost. This climate change is not a fluke. It’s no going away anytime soon. You just got to look at floods or mini tornadoes in our local area to see the signs. If we can bring people to the moon within a decade of president Kennedy announcing this goal, zero emission by 2050 is feasible within our lifetime. I really appreciate that Bill Gates is really smart and can convey his ideas for the world to digest in a book about saving our planet.
What the world needs right now
QAnons hating on this book ruining the rating