How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

clear cogent and persuasive primer generating plenty of food for thought, could benefit from more recognition of power dynamics

This is a great look at the issues involved, and the changes required. Highly recommended.

Concise, general overview of the current state of Global Warming (according to Bill Gates, so take it all with a little grain of salt). I walked away with some tips for thinking and talking about global warming - specifically the segmentation of greenhouse gas contributors and scaled geographical and governmental approaches. This book was alarmist without being defeatest - something that's I find incredibly important when disseminating information about Global Warming. And Bill Gates is endearing if not also a little self-gratuitous. Would recommend if you are looking for a high-level summary of the current state. If you are well versed at all in the clean energy space, I would take a pass.

Thanks for educating me about climate change and giving a more holistic view. I hope to reduce my footprint and do more to educate myself on climate change and how to best tackle this issue.

“How to avoid a climate disaster” is a kind of book that has everything we need to know about a particular subject. This book broadens our mind and gives a complete overview of what is causing the climate change and what should we do to stop it and why should we even care... It starts off by saying why we should stop our emissions ASAP in chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives an overview of why it'll be hard. Till Chapter 8 the books contains chapters on different essentials of a human like food, electricity, travels and since those will be the biggest emittors of greenhouse gases... it gives us some information like advantages and disadvantages of using the alternatives that are being developed that does not produce greenhouse gases. Chapter 9 is about adapting to the new warm world. Chapter 10 is about the role that government must take and how it impacts us. Chapter 11 is summary of the plan for getting to 0 emission by 2050. Chapter 12 gives us an idea of the things that we can do to reduce emissions.
If you are looking for a good book on climate change then I totally recommend this book!

Problem: Recognized.
Solution: In progress.

As someone who isn't well-versed in climate change, I felt that this book gave me a solid understanding of the topic. It gave a comprehensive overview of the different ways we currently add carbon to the atmosphere, the different ways we can tackle the problem (through innovation), and a little bit on climate policy as well. I like his emphasis on the fact that it's developing countries that will be hurt the most by a climate disaster, as I think it's a fact that people in most “rich” countries often forget or disregard altogether.

This book also presents a very optimistic view on us actually being able to tackle climate change, which I guess is not that surprising considering his success with Microsoft and his belief in the power of innovation. I definitely finished this book feeling more optimistic about this issue.

The book did feel a little repetitive towards the end, and it was annoying in some parts to keep hearing about how he invests in all these green companies, etc., so I would say it's more of a 4.5/5 for me. I'm also aware of all the “controversy” around this book—definitely agree with what Jenna discussed in her review!

4.5/5

As someone who isn't well-versed in climate change, I felt that this book gave me a solid understanding of the topic. It gave a comprehensive overview of the different ways we currently add carbon to the atmosphere, the different ways we can tackle the problem (through innovation), and a little bit on climate policy as well. I like his emphasis on the fact that it's developing countries that will be hurt the most by a climate disaster, as I think it's a fact that people in most “rich” countries often forget or disregard altogether.

This book also presents a very optimistic view on us actually being able to tackle climate change, which I guess is not that surprising considering his success with Microsoft and his belief in the power of innovation. I definitely finished this book feeling more optimistic about this issue.

The book did feel a little repetitive towards the end, and it was annoying in some parts to keep hearing about how he invests in all these green companies, etc., so I would say it's more of a 4.5/5 for me. I'm also aware of all the “controversy” around this book—definitely agree with what Jenna discussed in her review!

4.5/5

I waffled between four and five stars, because this book is not as engagingly written as, say, something by Malcolm Gladwell. However, I think it achieves its aims admirably, without much fluff, and the world will be a better place if people read it and take it seriously.

The book had all the rigorous focus on data I'd expect from a nerd (I love nerds!) and the big-picture strategic focus that I'd expect from someone who's spent years dealing with overwhelming, systemic problems.

It also had a level of data-driven pragmatism and global perspective that's a refreshing shift from the usual virtue-signaling and egotism that tends to accompany discussions about “the environment.”

Some reviewers seem annoyed that Gates doesn't have a long list of “personal application” suggestions; I'm grateful, because the truth is that the scale of the problem is not one that can be fixed by lifehacks, and I'd rather be honest about that so we can put our oomph where it actually CAN make a difference.

Similarly, I appreciate the reminder that the ultimate goal is not deprivation but empowerment. We WANT the whole world to have access to the goodness that is a ready supply of convenient energy! The challenge is figuring out how to give everyone that opportunity while also doing it in a way that will serve our long-term interests (you know, health, safety, survival, those kind of things).

Another point on which I differ from some other reviewers is that I did not have an education that covered all of the science well. Some of this is age (I'm getting old, y'all), some of this was my particular school, and some of this was me (I didn't seek out science). I found the overview helpful. If you already understand the science well, you might prefer to skim the early chapters.

One bit that I think is underappreciated: his argument about why we need to focus on “zero by 2050” and be wary of “decreased by 2030.” Intuitively, I wouldn't have spotted the danger, but most of the book is essentially laying the groundwork for this one crucial point.

Gates is generally very optimistic (within reason; I do remember him being one of the few people in the early days of COVID-19 who predicted 18+ months of dramatic changes when so many others were saying “two weeks”). I'm a little more cynical, but I find this book encouraging. There are reasonable paths forward. I hope many people will seriously engage with the ideas and help us get on the right track.

No matter what you think of Gates and him fudging numbers to boost impressions of progress they've been making, there is no doubt he's a very smart and well researched man.

This book is a great overview of main contributors of CO2 emissions. There are a ton of surprising facts and figures and good examples to reevaluate your worldview on climate change. Global warming is getting progressively worse and we have to speed up taking steps getting to 0 emissions. And no, not using plastic straws is not helping the planet one bit. Changes need to be much bigger and more structural and they have to start rolling out yesterday. We should start with tripling down investment in clean (not necessarily renewable) energy, and efficient massive energy storage.

If you're even vaguely interested in the topic (and you should be since it's endangering existence of humans) I can really recommend reading this.