Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."
Bill Gates is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy. Bill founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008, Bill transitioned to focus full-time on his foundation's work to expand opportunity to the world's most disadvantaged people. As cochair, he leads the foundation's development of strategies and sets the overall direction of the organization. Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he pursues his work on innovation in clean energy, Alzheimer's disease and other healthcare issues, interdisciplinary education, and technology. At Breakthrough Energy, he's putting his experience as an innovator and problem-solver to work to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies. Bill uses his experience partnering with global leaders across sectors to help drive the policy, market, and technological changes required for a clean-energy transition. In 2010, Bill, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest families and individuals to publicly commit more than half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations during their lifetime or in their will.
Show moreBill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."
Bill Gates is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy. Bill founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008, Bill transitioned to focus full-time on his foundation's work to expand opportunity to the world's most disadvantaged people. As cochair, he leads the foundation's development of strategies and sets the overall direction of the organization. Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he pursues his work on innovation in clean energy, Alzheimer's disease and other healthcare issues, interdisciplinary education, and technology. At Breakthrough Energy, he's putting his experience as an innovator and problem-solver to work to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies. Bill uses his experience partnering with global leaders across sectors to help drive the policy, market, and technological changes required for a clean-energy transition. In 2010, Bill, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest families and individuals to publicly commit more than half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations during their lifetime or in their will.
Show moreBill Gates is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy. Bill founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008, Bill transitioned to focus full-time on his foundation’s work to expand opportunity to the world’s most disadvantaged people. As cochair, he leads the foundation’s development of strategies and sets the overall direction of the organization. Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he pursues his work on innovation in clean energy, Alzheimer’s disease and other healthcare issues, interdisciplinary education, and technology. At Breakthrough Energy, he’s putting his experience as an innovator and problem-solver to work to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies. Bill uses his experience partnering with global leaders across sectors to help drive the policy, market, and technological changes required for a clean-energy transition. In 2010, Bill, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest families and individuals to publicly commit more than half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations during their lifetime or in their will.
“Gates gathers advice from experts while laying out his vision for
technological innovations that could reduce greenhouse gases and
stop the warming of the planet. If even some of his plans work,
this might be the most important book of the year.” —CNN
“One of the most accessible, practical, and interesting books on
the topic to emerge since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient
Truth.” —Oprah Daily
“The most comprehensible explanation for what’s driving our warming
planet; how to measure the impact of the myriad contributions to
this staggering and seemingly incalculable problem; and ultimately
how to go about finding more effective approaches to each of them.
It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to a how-to guide for addressing
the climate crisis.” —Clinton Leaf, Fortune
“How to Avoid a Climate Disaster presents ideas with the methodical
approach of a college textbook . . . Remarkably, given the state of
the world, it is an optimistic, can-do sort of book, chock-full of
solutions.” —Christina Binkley, The Wall Street Journal
Magazine
“The most refreshing aspect of this book is its bracing mix of
cold-eyed realism and number-crunched optimism . . . Ultimately his
book is a primer on how to reorganise the global economy so that
innovation focuses on the world’s gravest problems. It is a
powerful reminder that if mankind is to get serious about tackling
them, it must do more to harness the one natural resource available
in infinite quantity—human ingenuity.” —The Economist
“The author’s enthusiasm and curiosity about the way things work is
infectious. He walks us through not just the basic science of
global warming, but all the ways that our modern lives contribute
to it . . . Gates seems energized by the sheer size and complexity
of the challenge. That’s one of the best things about the book—the
can-do optimism and conviction that science in partnership with
industry are up to the task.” —Richard Schiffman, The Christian
Science Monitor
“In this wonklike and persuasive book, Gates takes his
environmental activism a bridge further, laying out an ambitious
plan to reduce greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050. Drawing on
data from researchers, policymakers, and engineers, Gates advocates
for solutions both scientific (like developing alternative fuels)
and personal (like increasing civic engagement in environmental
justice issues). If you feel a radical shred of hope reading these
galvanizing pages, dare to let in—without hope, we’ll get nowhere.”
—Esquire
“With the help of experts in fields such as physics, engineering,
chemistry, finance and politics, the technologist and
philanthropist offers a practical and accessible plan for getting
the world to zero greenhouse gas emissions and averting climate
catastrophe.” —Barbara VanDenburgh, USA Today
“How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is clear, concise on a colossal
subject, and intelligently holistic in its approach to the problem.
Gates may not be the perfect messenger, but he has written a fine
primer on how to get ourselves out of this mess.” —Adama Vaughan,
New Scientist
“Bill Gates has a plan to save the world . . . While acknowledging
that the challenge is daunting, and how we make things, grow
things, move around, keep cool and stay warm will all need to
fundamentally change, Gates argues that wholesale transformation is
possible while maintaining lifestyles in high income countries and
continuing to lift billions out of poverty.” —Greg Williams,
Wired
“His expertise . . . is apparent in the book’s lucid explanations
of the scientific aspects of climate change. The solutions he
outlines are pragmatic and grounded in forward-thinking economic
reasoning. Although he does not avoid the hard truths we must face
as our climate changes, Gates remains optimistic and believes that
we have the ability to avoid a total climate disaster.” —Miriam R.
Aczel, Science
“Concise, straightforward . . . Gates has crafted a calm, reasoned,
well-sourced explanation of the greatest challenge of our time and
what we must change to avoid cooking our planet.” —Jeff Rowe,
Associated Press
“A persuasive, optimistic strategy for reducing greenhouse
emissions to zero by midcentury . . . Though Gates doesn’t shy away
from acknowledging the daunting challenges ahead, his narrative
contains enough confidence—and hard science and economics—to
convince many readers that his blueprint is one of the most viable
yet . . . supremely authoritative and accessible.” —Kirkus
Reviews (starred review)
“Those looking for an accessible review of how global warming can
be countered will find this a handy—and maybe even
hope-inspiring—guide.” —Publishers Weekly
“Gates has put his considerable wealth behind global health,
educational, and economic initiatives and now turns his laser-like
attention to this most existential of issues . . . He provides
illuminating contexts for [his] perspectives and offers a treatise
that is imperative, approachable, and useful.” —Booklist
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
