The 20-Year-Old Point-of-View: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
By Whom: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
For Whom: Climate Activists, Scientists, Engineers, Investors, Students, Policy Makers, Consumers and Leaders
This book was honestly a little step outside my comfort zone. Having mostly restricted myself to the realms of leadership, psychology and self-help non-fiction, a book on climate change seemed outside my scope of specialty. For all I knew, I was about to be thrown head-first into a world of engineering problems, technical explanations and mind-bending climate theory.
I was presently surprised that what I read was more akin to a sci-fi novel. (Except this is non-fiction, does this make this sci-non-fiction? Isn’t that just science? Wait…)
Bill Gates is a man not known to few people. His background in leading Microsoft to success and his philanthropy work thereafter have given him a wonderfully unique perspective on the issue of climate change, and the first time I’ve heard of someone taking a truly global perspective on the matter. Through a series of anecdotes from his time with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, data from the latest research studies (some of which his foundation funded itself), and thoughtful examples from human history, Gates outlines a path forwards towards (what he has convinced me will be) the greatest turning point of the 21st century: a carbon-neutral world.
Gates begins by outlining the terms which he will be discussing in his book, and most importantly, three numbers that act as measures of our success in fighting climate change: 51 billion, 0, and 2050.
- 51 billion tons of carbon added to the atmosphere every year
- 0 tons of carbon that should be added to the atmosphere every year
- 2050 is the year we need to do it by
These three numbers and “Green Premiums” (the percent of additional cost to choose a more carbon-friendly option compared to a carbon-emitting one) form the basis for the entire book. He walks through the various areas that the 51 billion number comes from, how we have currently attempted to lower it, and the things we’re still trying to do, all the while providing insights and justifications on why we just might be able to make it to 0 by the year 2050. Put simply, I would bet a lot of money that there isn’t a better book on climate change out, right now.
While I agree with Gates’ strategies and plans he lays out, the one thing I still haven’t quite wrapped my mind around yet is his optimism. He states that young people (I think that includes me for now) give him the inspiration he needs to keep believing that we can get to his illustrious goal of 0 by 2050. While I hate to be a downer, I simply can’t see how he can stay so optimistic. Gates touches on this topic with his allusions to the United States backing out of the Paris Climate Agreement under the Trump administration (which was rectified quickly by the Biden administration).
While I agree that young people are generally more accepting of the idea of climate change and the steps we need to take as not just individuals, but as greater humanity to achieve, the fact that large swaths of progress can be done and undone in the name of politics is my number one concern for, what is at the end of the day, basically saving the world. This is not to mention that several times throughout the book he encourages investors to take risky bets on potential breakthroughs for climate change, but what justification he offers for doing so is ultimately watered down by the sheer fact that he is one of a few people in the world that can lose it all on 99 of 100 investments and still have a job at the end of the day. Mr. Gates, I would love to invest all my money in Impossible Foods, but unfortunately I still have tuition to pay.
But while Gates puts an extraordinary amount of faith in young people and politicians to do the right thing, his arguments and plans for getting to 0 are rock-solid. I do sincerely believe that in 2050, some or most of these ideas laid out will become reality, with a large part of that being played by people in my own generation. Even as I look around my life today, I am starting to realize exactly how carbon-based my world is, and how unsustainable it’ll be 20 or 30 years down the line. So while a carbon-free world may seem like a fantasy today, I can only imagine that if we’re successful, a world like ours today will seem just as fantastical to them in 2050.
5/5. A book that outlines the turning point of human history in the 21st century.
