How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need is a 2021 book by Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has a strong writer's voice, perhaps due to his well-known presence in the world of computers, philanthropy and entrepreneurship. It is precisely this geeky voice that created an easy read filled with warnings, ideas and advice. Gates is right about the scale and urgency of the problem of climate change, and explains in a simple and understandable way, how net-zero works. He echos irrefutable facts that we can find in the IPCC's Assessment Reports, but explains it in a more accessible way. What I found striking in the book is how he explains the innovation that is needed to fight climate change - something I have not come across in other books. If you don't want to feel like you are reading a thesis, you are in luck, there are even photographs in the books depicting Gates as a family man, and someone that deeply cares about the planet and our future.
There is some critique out there that his book is a bit underwhelming. I am however, delighted that big voices are talking about climate change, explaining it and making it something that is prevalent in our every day vocabulary. We need this so desperately in a world filled with misinformation laced with political ideals. If you want to learn about climate change this is a very good place to start.
In a TED talk in 2015 Bill Gates warned us that we need to prepare for a possible pandemic, but we did not listen. Most of the views of this talk was only after the pandemic happened. Are we going to listen now to his advice on climate change?
