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A review by jeremiglio
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates
3.0
I picked this up on impulse at the library, and it's actually not bad. It's a good intro to climate change and the tech that could help solve it, and it's very accessible. I'm glad Gates is using his platform in this way, and can only hope that the people who actually need to read this do so based on his name.
My main gripe is that Gates is blithely accepting of the neoliberal status quo. Not exactly surprising for a tech billionaire, but still. No advocacy for state ownership of utilities, even though this has been shown not only to improve efficiency but also to allow more investment in exactly the green R&D he advocates, is just one example. That and perpetuating car-centrism through electrification, rather than parallel investment in public transport and changes to community planning, really got me. Innovation is necessary to get us to net zero, yes, but our mode of living is unsustainable beyond just its GHG emissions - a straight switch to renewables and zero carbon without any other societal changes doesn't inspire me one bit when it's increasingly clear that the status quo isn't serving most of us. We'd get to net zero much more quickly if we could countenance challenging this.
My main gripe is that Gates is blithely accepting of the neoliberal status quo. Not exactly surprising for a tech billionaire, but still. No advocacy for state ownership of utilities, even though this has been shown not only to improve efficiency but also to allow more investment in exactly the green R&D he advocates, is just one example. That and perpetuating car-centrism through electrification, rather than parallel investment in public transport and changes to community planning, really got me. Innovation is necessary to get us to net zero, yes, but our mode of living is unsustainable beyond just its GHG emissions - a straight switch to renewables and zero carbon without any other societal changes doesn't inspire me one bit when it's increasingly clear that the status quo isn't serving most of us. We'd get to net zero much more quickly if we could countenance challenging this.