The climate change conundrum
This multigenerational change requires extraordinary proactiveness for us - poorly reactive humans.
I am writing about Bill Gates's new book on climate change that was launched today - “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” and I read the summary and its related launch notes. I am appreciative of his work and look forward to reading it soon (there are too many pending in my reading backlog so far)
We as a human race are not very great about being proactive. Name one thing that we have proactively addressed as a collective where we have got ahead of the game before a problem became disastrous. Even when problems are extremely visible, we struggle to act and do what is right (if what is right is not known, at least take steps that lead us in the right direction).
Take the COVID-19 pandemic for instance. How much the response has been bungled in advanced so-called developed countries like the USA, my home country Canada and all over Europe. Hats off to countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand that have handled the pandemic response much more succinctly and firmly though they were a reactive response.
Yes, we need to talk about this problem. Yes, we need innovation over the next 20-30 years to get to Zero neutral footprints. Yes, we are going to see extraordinary political and business resistance to such change and costs.
And the big assumptions about the future we predict, might all be off the mark as the complex system of climate change might not even be predictable accurately at all, and we might see different realities that we might see and experience in the future. That makes this problem much larger in magnitude than we can project with our imagination.
I only hope that we don’t get this terribly wrong. Though small, I wanted to do my bit to pass the message around. And shall continue these conversations on this topic as I read the book and offer other related perspectives.
References:
My new climate book is finally here - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/My-new-climate-book-is-finally-here
The one thing I hope people take away from my climate book -https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/Lowering-Green-Premiums
What you can do to fight climate change - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/What-you-can-do-to-fight-climate-change