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How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
- The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Bill Gates
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science & Engineering, Science
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Values
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- Narrated by: Mark Carney
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
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A bold and urgent argument by economist and former bank governor Mark Carney on the radical, foundational change that is required if we are to build an economy and society based not on market values but on human values.
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A Erudite Lexicon is Esoteric
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How to Prevent the Next Pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over. But even as governments around the world try to get it under control, they’re also starting to talk about what happens next. How can we prevent another pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy? Can we even hope to accomplish this? Bill Gates believes the answer is yes, and he has written a largely upbeat book that lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should learn from COVID-19, explains the science of fighting pandemics, and suggests what all of us can do to help prevent another one.
Written by: Bill Gates
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Think Again
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Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn.
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Woke academic with a bit of scientific insight.
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The Code Breaker
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The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.
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Not Historical or Balanced
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A Promised Land
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In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
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I wanted to love this eAudiobook so much more
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The Bomber Mafia
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Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
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Amazing!
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Values
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A bold and urgent argument by economist and former bank governor Mark Carney on the radical, foundational change that is required if we are to build an economy and society based not on market values but on human values.
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A Erudite Lexicon is Esoteric
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How to Prevent the Next Pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over. But even as governments around the world try to get it under control, they’re also starting to talk about what happens next. How can we prevent another pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy? Can we even hope to accomplish this? Bill Gates believes the answer is yes, and he has written a largely upbeat book that lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should learn from COVID-19, explains the science of fighting pandemics, and suggests what all of us can do to help prevent another one.
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Think Again
- The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
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Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn.
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Woke academic with a bit of scientific insight.
- By Norm on 2021-03-09
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The Code Breaker
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The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.
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Not Historical or Balanced
- By Wandering on 2021-04-03
Written by: Walter Isaacson
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A Promised Land
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In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
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I wanted to love this eAudiobook so much more
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The Bomber Mafia
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Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
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Amazing!
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One hundred thousand years ago, at least six species of human inhabited the Earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo Sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations, and human rights; to trust money, books, and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come? In Sapiens, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history.
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Not sure I learned anything.
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From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the number-one New York Times best seller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes - and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well.
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Is Dalio on the CCP payroll?
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In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization and offers listeners a magisterial overview of humanity's energy eras.
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excellent delivery of a complex subject
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Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment - your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy?
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the information everyone needs in the modern day
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For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.
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Poor narration
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Under a White Sky
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That man should have dominion “over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The question we now face is: Can we change nature, this time in order to save it? Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction, takes a hard look at the new world we are creating.
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Painful Truth of Climate Crisis
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How do you find talent with a creative spark? To what extent can you predict human creativity, or is human creativity something irreducible before our eyes, perhaps to be spotted or glimpsed by intuition, but unique each time it appears? Obsessed with these questions, renowned economist Tyler Cowen and venture capitalist and entrepreneur Daniel Gross set out to study the art and science of finding talent at the highest level: the people with the creativity, drive, and insight to transform an organization and make everyone around them better.
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The Ride of a Lifetime
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Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Competition was more intense than ever, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company’s history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger - think global - and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.
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Great listening
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In 2006, John Doerr was moved by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and a challenge from his teenage daughter: “Dad, your generation created this problem. You better fix it.” Since then, Doerr has searched for solutions to this existential problem - as an investor, an advocate, and a philanthropist. Fifteen years later, despite breakthroughs in batteries, electric vehicles, plant-based proteins, and solar and wind power, global warming continues to get worse. Its impact is all around us: droughts, floods, wildfires, the melting of the polar ice caps.
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A lifelong investment stud; John Doerr
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A renowned climate scientist shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet.
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Excellent !
- By Client d'Amazon on 2021-03-05
Written by: Michael E. Mann
Publisher's Summary
In this urgent, 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 a climate catastrophe.
Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.
He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, 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, practical 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 if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of charts, graphs, and pictures from the book.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
"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
More from the same
What listeners say about How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2021-02-21
Who's this for?
I strongly doubt you're the target audience.
you won't have much of a say in what is required or suggested in this book. Great info on what is required if you just want to consume some knowledge....but even that gets boring quick considering the level of content the context in which it is presented.
12 people found this helpful
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- Alex MacAulay
- 2021-03-01
Adds much needed detail to the practical discussion on how we can get to zero
Already knowing a lot about the science of climate change and the technical, economic and societal challenges to addressing it I’m keenly interested in what we can most practically do to move the needle in the short term and set ourselves up for success by 2050.
This is exactly what I found in Bill Gates book. I found the simple “green premium” concept useful and broadly applicable in framing what types of actions are needed for each class of emissions and especially enjoyed the discussion around how to get technology, governments and markets working together.
I zipped through the audiobook in less than a week on daily walks and am looking forward to using the PDF as a resource moving forward!
4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-02-24
worth the time and money
Excellently done! Will Wheaton's delivery is flawless and Bill Gates words so clearly explain the ins and outs of a very complex problem and what could and should be done and by whom. This book should be sent to your government representatives with a note asking them to read it and then give a copy to someone else in business or government.
4 people found this helpful
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- Global3xchange
- 2021-02-16
Thank you for this deep insight on Global Warming.
Thank you so much for sharing this useful data! Greatly appreciated, LOVE the 2 questions mentioned in the end of Chapter 8.
3 people found this helpful
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- Noah Graham
- 2021-08-01
suggestion
Bill gates should have made an app to pause his book whenever you say "shut up Wesely"
1 person found this helpful
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- An Informed Shopper
- 2021-03-30
Down to Earth
An excellently narrated explanation of the issues and actions that are needed to help is all.
1 person found this helpful
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- Ben
- 2022-06-04
not worth the credit/$$$
No new information than what mainstream media presents. if anyone was actually concerned with climate change there would be way more emphasis on nuclear power.
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- Ed Ho
- 2022-05-20
Solid conclusions and solutions
The ideas offered up in this book are very sound and thoughtful. After doing a Master's in Energy policy and Climate, I found it there was a lot of overlap of my overall conclusions with the book's conclusions. I thought that the the title of the book was a little sensationalist and delayed me from wanting to read it. The narration was a bit over-the-top though it settled in
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- B
- 2022-04-30
opening conversations
Despite my 3 star rating, this is worth the listen, it covers a lot of ground in an accessible way, but it's not particularly pleasant to listen. It raises awareness of a hard reality, but it also offers ambitious solutions and paths to follow, including industry/career suggestions for younger generations. Just a lot of long dry parts. I listened to the whole thing but looking back I'd skip the chapters that don't call to me as much. Lots of self validation. There's much up for debate (eg: regenerative agriculture seems like a better solution than the paths Gates takes in the agriculture chapter), but it's all about having the conversations, raising awareness and making changes. I'm going to listen to Saving Us by Katharine Hayhoe next.
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-02-07
We need to get on board!
A book everyone should read. Presents the issue of climate change and solutions with clarity.
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- Axel Merk
- 2021-02-20
Be curious, not furious
Gates deserves credit for aiming to reach a broad audience to further the goal of mitigating a climate disaster. He's the first to point out he's an imperfect messenger; with one petty exception that I'll discuss below, I kept an open mind. I appreciated Gates' insights and learned a few things. That said, such a vast undertaking in an easy to read book is bound to have shortcomings; Gates urges us to focus more on the positives, realizing he can't make everyone happy. So let me try to phrase my criticism below constructively. Before I head into the criticism, Wheaton does a great job reading the book. Also, the book is inspiring - which I gather is the whole point of it. Personally, as I was listening, I had an idea that could be useful in advancing the cause, if only by a tiny bit, and be reasonably easy to implement; I'll mention it at the end. If others are inspired and take on tasks, small and large, the book was worth writing.
While Gates had a small business startup that serves small business, he quickly grew it into a big business. His foundation interacts with governments. While that is helpful in understanding complexities on a global level, we must make sure we don't lose sight of the needs of small business if we want his policy ideas to work. He proposes an array of policies and incentives. We must remember that red tape - which is the ugly cousin of policy - increases not only cost, but also barrier to entry, it stifles innovation. The US has a more dynamic economy than Europe because it is less regulated. The shale revolution that lead the US to energy independence came about because of it; you may think shale is part of the problem, and to an extent it is, but Gates rightfully points out that some of the technologies developed for it may well be part of the solution. I'm not arguing we don't need government policy. But what we need is to have as many stakeholders as possible on the table. When Gates proposes labeling of goods according to the carbon footprint, we all get that in theory this may be a very helpful stepping stone. But how do we implement that without driving smaller suppliers out of business?
Gates mentions a carbon tax and/or cap and trade as a crucial part of providing "incentives". The theory of this clear: tax carbons, provide incentives to get fewer of them. Gates almost entirely sidesteps the political dimension of this, presumably in part because, well, he doesn't want to be too political. But we must tackle the political dimension if this isn't supposed to be yet another book that will make those agreeing with Gates feel good, but have rather limited impact. It is crucial to build broad/bipartisan support on any policy for many reasons Gates references, but he leaves it up to the reader to connect the dots: If policy is passed, who stops the next government to reverse it? In an age of hyper-partisanship it's not easy. A carbon tax is one of the few ways government can raise large amounts of money; understandably, those opposing it suggest it gives government a license to spend, to build ever larger governments. Even if you don't agree to this, that's how many people think. We must square this circle; if we can, many of the other challenges presented in the book become solvable. That's because an economy adjusts to "incentives" and the moment you start taxing carbon, people will find ways to use less of it; the less you micro-manage it, the more innovation will strive. Alas, the taxing part is a huge deal.
Gates mentions international trade agreements may need to be renegotiated if we want to make sure stuff we import is also to some sort of "incentive" (carbon penalty) to be less carbon intensive. Anyone who has followed trade negotiations knows these are complex topics. I wish Gates had spent a little more time on this subject. I don't recall him mentioning once that the very foundation of trade, WTO, needs to be rethought. If the US were to impose import tariffs based on carbon, it would likely violate WTO rules; retaliatory tariffs would be imposed, everyone loses (unless one has the attitude that less trade is better; for purposes of this review, let's agree with Gates' premise that global growth is a good thing, we need to figure out how to do this without wrecking the planet). Gates sounds almost Trumpian by suggesting if you want to trade with us, you've got to play by our rules on carbon; it may need someone like a green Trump to break and rebuild the WTO. Try to square that circle with the aforementioned call for bipartisanship. Trade is immensely important.
Let me wrap this up by mentioning a personal idea - not in the belief that this will solve the climate crisis, but if everyone is motivated to share an idea, it increases the odds really good ones make it to the market: let's encourage weather apps to not only show sun, clouds, rain, wind, but also metrics on the carbon footprint of energy consumption for the local community based on time of day. I'm writing this from California where energy used during peak hours turns from green to brown. Most in California have heard calls to take this into account when they run an appliance, but if this was available on your favorite weather app, I would think there would not only be greater awareness, but usage patterns would also change. Companies like Google should be able to estimate such data already based on a variety of sources, then re-publish them in a standard format, so that apps can tap into them. If the idea takes off, there can be push to provide more standardized data by utility companies, making the data a firm like Google republishes more accurate/meaningful. And once an API is built, this isn't just useful for consumers on their weather app, but can help industrial use. In addition to consumers, many businesses pay electricity rates based on time of day. There's really little reason why this can't be more refined - I'm not suggesting different pricing based on each minute of the day, but if businesses had access to an API that suggested when exactly the energy is greenest, they can adjust their usage. Not all businesses, of course. My personal experience is with a well pump that feeds water into storage tanks; the water is used to irrigate agricultural land. The pump used to run whenever the water tank level fell below a threshold. A while ago, I added a $5 chip with simple programming; the pump now gives priority to the off hours, unless water tank levels fall below a certain threshold (okay, that sensor was more than $5); it would be simple enough to tap into an API that prioritizes based on how green the energy is off the grid. Such approaches have further benefits; in my example, because we added sensors, we learned about water leaks at times weeks earlier than we would have otherwise, further saving not just water, but the need to run the water pump. I mention this example not because I think my 15hp water pump will save the planet, but to illustrate that simple ideas could have a wide range of applications, and those add up.
I gave this review the title 'be curious, not furious' because a undertaking such as Gates' gives plenty of reasons to disagree with specifics - I have several as I read the book. However, I agree with Gates that we should focus on where we agree, and find ways to execute those ideas.
p.s.: as mentioned in the beginning, I can't help but raise one criticism; in the introduction, Gates references that we might have to limit access to power to only essential services during an emergency. The reference to 'essential' in my humble opinion is unfortunate. He likely wrote it before covid. I couldn't help but cringe, as it suggests Gates may not be able to relate to the tremendous hardship imposed on so many during the pandemic as they weren't considered essential workers. I trust Gates meant well, but as the pandemic showed, who and what is essential is in the eye of politicians that appear to rule on an ad hoc basis rather than a well thought out master plan in which many stakeholders were on the table.
41 people found this helpful
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- Blake Jones
- 2021-02-18
Climate Effects
Intrigued at the beginning, bored at some parts. Best explanation of climate problem, and most concise and effective explanation of possible solutions. I love how mostly realistic Bill Gates is in explaining climate change - I appreciate how open and transparent he is. He gets at the center of it and doesn't try to scare. I don't think the climate disaster is a one time event like it sounds, rather a boxing match that lasts the entire time but ending in a KO unless the right innovative solutions are found.
25 people found this helpful
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- Saiomshan
- 2021-02-17
51 billion, Zero and 30 years
These three numbers defined the problem space concisely and this really resonated with me. I am going to recommend this book to all my friends.
14 people found this helpful
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- Mina
- 2021-02-17
Great Book
In his new book How To Avoid A Climate Disaster Bill Gates made this climate thing really easy to understand, no jargons and most importantly you will know exactly what you need to do to make an impact and avoid the disaster.
13 people found this helpful
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- J Kuo
- 2021-02-20
Essential, Optimistic, and Ambitious
Deeply appreciated this work. I love how Bill Gates engaged the issue of climate change from first principles, driving an understanding that we need to get to zero to avoid worst case scenarios. He then identified what we need to and can do to get there. I hope, pray, and will do my small part to help us get to zero, and recommend this book to anyone who has the courage, conscience, and character to invest in a future for humanity.
11 people found this helpful
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- Sasha
- 2021-02-19
Excellent book - Easy to understand
This is a fantastic audiobook.
When I initially got it I was worried that it would be complicated or very dry. It is the complete opposite! It's easy to understand and explained in very human terms. This is NOT some rich guy telling us all to be vegan and wear bamboo fabric clothes.
Bill Gates lays out the current issues very clearly and offers current solutions and areas we need to focus on.
Wil Wheaton does an excellent job with the narration too. My 11 year old son has been listening to it too, and he is understanding it.
8 people found this helpful
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- Aaron R. Isaacson
- 2021-02-17
good and timely advice for our planet
I recomend all policy makers (private sector and public sector) read or listen to this book.
8 people found this helpful
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- Adam Gonyea
- 2021-02-18
A must read.... Immediately
This books is very clear cut, educational, and inspirational. I was losing hope that climate change would ever be addressed but this book has gave me a new hope .this book very good job at covering climate change head to toe in a way everyone can understand and provides glimpses into what is already being done. Well worth the money.
7 people found this helpful
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- Tommy Samartino
- 2021-02-18
GREAT BOOK
Bill Gates is one heck of a thinker. We should all make the climate zero because of the steel and for concrete. We have to do this…
6 people found this helpful
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- P. Hutcheson
- 2021-02-18
Knowledgable but still learned something
I have been closely following climate Change for over ten years but I still learned things. Now I know better know what to look for in this important but complex issue.
4 people found this helpful
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- E. Bengtson
- 2021-08-09
360 degrees wake up call
This book is a problem statement on human activity affecting climate change. Beyond a problem statement, it also provide clues to reduce human impact while increasing poor countries wealth.
Honestly this book does not bring much hope, and the trend is clear moving to a disaster.
The PDF included is almost unreadable. Too bad for a digital book.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-04-03
aux armes citoyens : objectif zéro carbon
un objectif unique de transformation pour tout les peuples : le zero carbone emission. Une montagne à gravir avec des solutions existantes et beaucoups restants à créer. ce livre est a offrir à tous les dirigeants de ce monde ecrit par un autre grand dirigeant.