Ten Critical Lessons from Bill Gates’ “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.”
Bill Gate’s new book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” acts as a bridge for the budding climate policy nerd. While many other authors write about the deterioration of our environment with more stylistic prose, Gates assumes newly minted activists will need to begin a long process of understanding the ins and outs of what needs to be done if we are to repair our world if they ever want to make a difference.
While this is neither the most literary climate tome nor the most science-centric, it walks the tightrope to bridge those looking to cross over into the world of facts and figures. He paves a path for a deeper understanding of the policies needed to prevent disaster.
Below are ten of the most important insights gleaned from the book, ordered purely by page number.
- Gates is a Flawed Messenger, and He Knows it.
Before Gates begins to break open this multifaceted and generational problem, he concedes to a necessary disclaimer. “I am aware that I’m an imperfect messenger on climate change.” The humility is refreshing coming from someone with a personal net worth that is larger than the nations of Morocco and Madagascar (combined). It’s particularly nice at the moment we find ourselves, as other billionaires participate in a privately funded space race.
He admits that one more billionaire’s opinion can feel unwarranted and burdensome, especially given that his carbon footprint is substantially larger than most of the readers. He breaks open each qualm carefully and addresses each of the reader’s concerns. By the end of the section, Gates’ confession is tied to his mission statement, the world needs to act now, no matter the messenger.
2. The Science of a Warming Planet
We all have undoubtedly heard that the release of billions of tons of CO2 (and other greenhouse gasses) into the atmosphere creates a warming effect. But I myself have often failed to understand the mechanism behind how the warming actually occurs.
When highlighting the crux of the issue, Gates takes time to explain how sunlight can pass through the carbon and enter the atmosphere but get trapped on its way out.
“Rather than going out harmlessly into the void, [the sunlight] hits the greenhouse molecules and makes them vibrate, heating the atmosphere.”
This simple, and surprisingly short, explanation makes grasping the difficult problem within reach for the climate science novice.
3 .Carbon, there is No Escape
Instinctively, when I think of climate change, I think of cars.
Highways, parking lots, and driveways all seem to scream “pollution,” often causing me to think “if only we can all drive electric, surely this will end climate change.” But alas, the news was worse than I thought. Gates takes you through your morning journey, almost as the annoying devil on your shoulder, pointing at your sins.
“Did you brush your teeth this morning? The toothbrush probably contains plastic… a fossil fuel. If you ate breakfast, the grains in your toast and cereal were grown with fertilizer, which releases greenhouses gasses when it’s made… If you got dressed, your clothes might contain cotton, also fertilized and harvested, or polyester… derived from petroleum. If you’ve used toilet paper, that’s more trees cut down and carbon emitted.” Gates goes on, and it does not get better.
4. The Great Big Carbon Pie, and the Size of Each Slice
Now horrified that carbon is everywhere Gates lays out where all the emissions reside, and the numbers certainly surprised me.
Not only was transportation not at the top, but it was almost the very bottom. Although there have been many variations of this divvying up, Gates suggests a lot more innovation will be needed in innovation and energy generation before electric vehicles can make any meaningful difference.
5. There is Safety in Nuclear
The word “Chernobyl” does not elicit the most positive connotations in the eyes of many.
Nuclear meltdown, the perfectly evil disaster, manmade and impossible to reverse, looms over the idea of any new nuclear plant. Reading Alexievich’s “Voices from Chernobyl,” these hauntingly disastrous images are solidly planted in my mind, and they are hard to forget.
Despite this, Gates emphasizes a data-focused approach to addressing the issue. To my shocked relief, Nuclear has the least deaths by a significant amount, slightly assuaging my worry regarding acceptance.
6. Green Premiums, and the Cost to Save the Planet
While I imagined the solutions to be expensive, it was quite off-putting how expensive. By Gates’ estimate, green cement could be 140% more expensive than classic cement, green steel 29% more expensive, and green jet fuel 296% more expensive. While this does not paint a pretty picture for the spending that is to come, he’s optimistically confident innovation can reduce those premiums to manageable and competitive prices.
7. When Saving the Planet Pays
So as not to depress the reader completely, Gates provides situations where it was actually cheaper to go green. “You may be able to save money by replacing your natural gas furnace air your air conditioner with a heat pump… in Houston, the savings amount to 17 percent.” This makes implementing some policies easier as they are beneficial to citizen’s wallets.
8. When a Tree does More Harm than Good
As a kid, trees are really the gateway to environmental understanding. But there are times when it might actually increase global warming to plant a tree. “Trees in snowy areas cause more warming than cooling because they darken the snow and ice beneath them and dark things absorb more heat than light things do.” Once a solution seems simple, layers of complexity color over any easy aspect of the answer.
9. Air Conditioning Versus the World
While those who own a home know clearly, air conditioning takes a lot of energy. But it is hard to overstate how deciphering a better way to cool our homes as our world warms up is going to be a critical piece to solving the emissions possible. “[Y]our A/C is the biggest consumer of electricity in your home — more than your lights, refrigerator, and computer combined.” This weight gives clear motivation for investors and innovators to focus on cooling as a primary problem needed to be addressed as early as possible.
10. The Government’s Risk Tolerance and the Upside of Investment
We aren’t just using money to patch our lifeboat; this is an economic opportunity as well. “An independent study of HGP found that every $1 invested by the federal government in the project generated $141 in return to the United States economy.” While this is only a corollary and not directly related to climate change, the example still gives Gates hope that economically, we’ll be in the green from investing in this platform.
