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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
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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.
Critic reviews
"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
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The Vertical Farm
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- By: Dickson Despommier
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. The vertical farm has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. These farms, grown inside skyscrapers, would provide solutions to many of the serious problems we currently face.
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Excellent Brainstorming - Not reality
- By Texas Community Project on 01-25-11
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Fossil Future
- Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less
- By: Alex Epstein
- Narrated by: Alex Epstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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For over a decade, philosopher and energy expert Alex Epstein has predicted that any negative impacts of fossil fuel use on our climate will be outweighed by the unique benefits of fossil fuels to human flourishing—including their unrivaled ability to provide low-cost, reliable energy to billions of people around the world, especially the world’s poorest people. And contrary to what we hear from media “experts” about today’s “renewable revolution” and “climate emergency”, reality has proven Epstein right.
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Strongly Recommend
- By Kevin on 06-14-22
By: Alex Epstein
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Climate Shock
- The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet
- By: Gernot Wagner, Martin L. Weitzman
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Wagner and Martin Weitzman explore in lively, clear terms the likely repercussions of a hotter planet, drawing on and expanding from work previously unavailable to general audiences. They show that the longer we wait to act, the more likely an extreme event will happen. A city might go underwater.
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Nuance, balance, risk management.
- By John Christens on 11-23-23
By: Gernot Wagner, and others
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Abundance
- The Future Is Better Than You Think
- By: Steven Kotler, Peter H. Diamandis
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years.
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Perhaps multiply his time estimates by 10
- By Rick on 11-06-21
By: Steven Kotler, and others
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The Quest
- Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
- By: Daniel Yergin
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A master storyteller as well as a leading energy expert, Daniel Yergin continues the riveting story begun in his Pulitzer Prize–winning book, The Prize. In The Quest, Yergin shows us how energy is an engine of global political and economic change and conflict, in a story that spans the energies on which our civilization has been built and the new energies that are competing to replace them. The Quest tells the inside stories, tackles the tough questions, and reveals surprising insights about coal, electricity, and natural gas.
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Best nonfiction book of 2011
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
By: Daniel Yergin
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Let There Be Water
- Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World
- By: Seth M. Siegel
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also has an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors - the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan - every day.
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More water politics story than water technology
- By normal person on 04-12-21
By: Seth M. Siegel
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The Vanishing Face of Gaia
- A Final Warning
- By: James Lovelock
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Vanishing Face of Gaia, British scientist James Lovelock predicts global warming will lead to a Hot Epoch. Lovelock is best known for formulating the controversial Gaia theory in the 1970s, with Ruth Margulis of the University of Massachusetts, which states that organisms interact with and regulate Earth's surface and atmosphere. We ignore this interaction at our peril.
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A New Perspective - A Must Listen - Very Moving
- By Thomas on 01-29-12
By: James Lovelock
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Getting Green Done
- Hard Truths From the Frontlines of Sustainability Revolution
- By: Auden Schendler
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Soccer moms drive Priuses. Sport utility vehicles are going hybrid. Families are using hemp shopping bags. More and more companies are developing "green" buildings. What's more, the business consultants say going green is easy and profitable. In reality, though, many green-leaning businesses, families, and governments are still fiddling with the small stuff while the planet burns. Why?
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Green's Dirty Little Secrets
- By Martin on 07-10-09
By: Auden Schendler
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Overheated
- How Climate Change Will Cause Floods, Famine, War, and Disease
- By: Andrew T. Guzman
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Deniers of climate change sometimes quip that claims about global warming are more about political science than climate science. They are wrong on the science, but may be right with respect to its political implications. A hotter world, writes Andrew Guzman, will bring unprecedented migrations, famine, war, and disease. It will be a social and political disaster of the first order.
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A must read!
- By Ted on 03-22-15
By: Andrew T. Guzman
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Coal
- A Human History
- By: Barbara Freese
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The fascinating, often surprising story of how a simple black rock altered the course of history. Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy, and even today powers our electrical plants, has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe.
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Uses Coal to push her Political Agenda
- By Kismet on 08-22-06
By: Barbara Freese
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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
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Organic Manifesto
- How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe
- By: Maria Rodale, Eric Scholsser - foreword
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment. She traces the genesis of chemical farming and the rise of the immense companies that profit from it, bringing to light the government's role in allowing such practices to flourish.
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those in power must read and work upon it.
- By Jaktip on 12-20-17
By: Maria Rodale, and others
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Green Metropolis
- What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
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A stupid and dangerously short sighted view
- By Gare&Sophia on 11-13-12
By: David Owen
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My one start vote reasoning.
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A disappointment
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Regeneration
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Through his vaunted philanthropy, Bill Gates transformed himself from a tech villain into one of the most admired people on the planet. Even as divorce proceedings and allegations of misconduct have recently tarnished his public image, the beneficence of the Gates Foundation, celebrated for spending billions to save lives around the globe, is taken as a given. But as Tim Schwab shows in this fearless investigation, Gates is still exactly who he was at Microsoft: a bully and monopolist.
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Bill Gates is the most influential and recognizable name in the technology industry to date. He's a business magnate, avid investor, big philanthropist, and author of multiple books. He has made it into the top 0.1 percent and it would be an understatement to say Bill Gates is a success story. Some of his greatest moments arose on this journey to success and through studying his journey; it can help us better walk our own path. This book will take you through his successes, failures and teachable moments providing the key principles we can incorporate into our own lives for results.
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Bill Gates is a suitable exemplary for our youth
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Greatly Disappointing
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The Carbon Almanac
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The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem. The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next.
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Disconnected anecdotes. 
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Grand Transitions
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What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization - in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics - that have transformed the way we live.
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Nihil novum sub soli
- By Sam J. on 08-29-22
By: Vaclav Smil
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Unsettled
- What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters
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When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions - about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be - remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe.
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Excellent science based
- By Russ on 05-08-21
By: Steven E. Koonin
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Power Density
- A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of the power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, thermal electricity generation, and all common energy uses.
By: Vaclav Smil
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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- Axel Merk
- 02-20-21
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.
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- Blake Jones
- 02-18-21
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.
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- Saiomshan
- 02-17-21
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.
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- Mina
- 02-17-21
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.
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- J Kuo
- 02-20-21
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.
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- Sasha
- 02-19-21
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.
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- Aaron R. Isaacson
- 02-17-21
good and timely advice for our planet
I recomend all policy makers (private sector and public sector) read or listen to this book.
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- Adam Gonyea
- 02-18-21
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.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-11-21
Disappointing
I was very surprised at how misleading and, at times, almost dishonest as to the information given by Mr Gates. He evades the actual cost/return world wide especially in underdeveloped and developing countries. One only needs to look to Germany as to how high prices will increase and to the actual benefit ( or lack of). Nuclear power, barely mentioned, should have been more accurately portrayed in to the real cost of solar and wind. He ignores the land space/ cost requirement of building, not only of the raw materials and of actual construction but also of the landfills that will be required.
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- Tommy Samartino
- 02-18-21
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…
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