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# How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

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How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need [Gates, Bill] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Review: Climate problem should be solved from where we are, what we can do and with organizational agency. - Bill has gone to a great length to write a very good book on how to avoid a climate disaster. His book is jam-packed with information, (which I think is the best part), the relevant how-to knowledges, the plans to tackle the problems and the exceptional thus required wiggle-rooms around those plans. All of them have to do with how to avoid/cope with climate change and its impending total disaster. His direction is to create the 100% clean energy use and 0% of the carbon emissions. This is because the energy we now use mostly comes from coal, oil, and natural gas and its use creates greenhouse gases; the chief one, which is carbon dioxide. These greenhouse gases cause global warming. My point here is we should create the clean energy movement and not the revolution because the violence and the destruction will not be worth it as will be talked about the how-to in the end. Bill states that right now fifty-one billion tons of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide are added every year into the atmosphere. And as said before, greenhouse gases contribute to greenhouse effect and result in the warming of the earth incrementally. This could create increasing droughts and floods, and as I know, with no intervention, the earth will end up in total extinction of all living-beings or even worse as what Bill would call worst-case scenario. Bill writes in a personal, easy to read style, devoid of stuffiness in academic protocol. It makes his book more interesting to read. He's serious with his writing. He likes science a lot. His knowledges in all fields related are vast and deep. He's also brilliant for example in that he first orchestrates the things we do which are Making things, Plugging in, Growing things, Getting around, Keeping warm and cool and the climax of being smart is the problem of climate change comes from all these five activities and we need solutions in all of them. P.P. 54, 55 For the means to solve the climate change problem, Bill says we need to concentrate on markets, technology, and policy and in order for it to be effective, we need to tackle all of them at once and in the same direction. He also supports specifically nuclear energy which he says: "Nuclear is the only carbon-free energy source we can use almost anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." P. 190 How humans now are approaching the problem, Bill states in his One Last Thought chapter: "Unfortunately, the conversation about climate change has become unnecessarily polarized, not to mention clouded by conflicting information and confusing stories." P. 224 The goal of his writing this book is to spark more fruitful and productive conversations. As a part of that goal, he himself presents the plans which should lead to effective change in meaningfulness and also human adaptation. In various places, Bill seems highly concerned about the underdogs or the poors. As he says: "To sum up: Rich and middle-income people are causing the vast majority of climate change. The poorest people are doing less than anyone else to cause the problem, but they stand to suffer the worst from it. They deserve the world's help, and they need more of it than what they're getting." P. 169 Finally, I have an additional opinion that we should have a directly organized entity that leads the global warming movement. We can use anything such as USA government, or UN, or a big departmental division somewhere or in either of them. It will be good for directly hitting the problem. Bill probably could help leading that organization. He also could be right that we have to start from where we are and what we can do. Conclusion: we should do both, having a direct-hit organization and move forth from where we are. Useful website from the book: breakthroughenergy.org
Review: Useful Approach to Climate Change - How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” is a practical approach to climate change. Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates provides readers with a useful approach to the technical challenges we face in dealing with climate change. This beneficial 256-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. Why Zero?, 2. This will be hard, 3. Five Questions to Ask in Every Climate Conversation, 4. How We Plug In, 5. How We Make Things, 6. How We Grow Things, 7. How We Get Around, 8. How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm, 9. Adapting to a Warmer World, 10. Why Government Policies Matter, and 11. A Plan For Getting to Zero, and 12. What Each of Us Can Do. Positives: 1. Accessible, practical and succinct book. 2. The fascinating topic of climate change from an engineering solution approach. 3. An easy book to follow. Gates does a great job of simplifying terms and focusing on the world of the possible. The tone is hopeful and positive. “This book is about what it will take and why I think we can do it.” 4. A good use of charts and photos to complement the narrative. 5. Provides an early on summary of what it will take to avoid a climate disaster. “To avoid a climate disaster, we have to get to zero. We need to deploy the tools we already have, like solar and wind, faster and smarter. And we need to create and roll out breakthrough technologies that can take us the rest of the way.” 6. The book provides a way forward to avoiding a climate disaster. Gates breaks the book down in a logical manner, which makes it easier to reference at any given time. 7. Provides a brief explanation of why global temperatures are rising. “The reason we need to get to zero is simple. Greenhouse gases trap heat, causing the average surface temperature of the earth to go up. The more gases there are, the more the temperature rises.” 8. Provides a brief history of why energy transitions take a long time and the enormous challenges ahead of us. “To sum up: We need to accomplish something gigantic we have never done before, much faster than we have ever done anything similar. To do it, we need lots of breakthroughs in science and engineering. We need to build a consensus that doesn’t exist and create public policies to push a transition that would not happen otherwise. We need the energy system to stop doing all the things we don’t like and keep doing all the things we do like—in other words, to change completely and also stay the same.” 9. An excellent discussion on how much greenhouse gas is emitted by the things we do. 10. Explains what it will take to keep getting all the things we like from electricity and deliver it to even more people, but without the carbon emissions. “Nuclear fission. Here’s the one-sentence case for nuclear power: It’s the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver power day and night, through every season, almost anywhere on earth, that has been proven to work on a large scale.” 11. Discusses storing electricity and other innovations. “Capturing carbon. We could keep making electricity as we do now, with natural gas and coal, but suck up the carbon dioxide before it hits the atmosphere. That’s called carbon capture and storage, and it involves installing special devices at fossil-fuel plants to absorb emissions.” 12. The biggest culprit of greenhouse gases. “We manufacture an enormous amount of materials, resulting in copious amounts of greenhouse gases, nearly a third of the 51 billion tons per year.” 13. The path to zero emissions in manufacturing. “Electrify every process possible. This is going to take a lot of innovation. Get that electricity from a power grid that’s been decarbonized. This also will take a lot of innovation. Use carbon capture to absorb the remaining emissions. And so will this. Use materials more efficiently.” 14. Borlaug’s impact to the globe. “As Borlaug’s semi-dwarf wheat spread around the world, and as other breeders did similar work on corn and rice, yields tripled in most areas. Starvation plummeted, and today Borlaug is widely credited with saving a billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and we’re still feeling the impact of his work: Virtually all the wheat grown on earth is descended from the plants he bred.” 15. Hard challenges and facts to overcome. “Pound for pound, the best lithium-ion battery available today packs 35 times less energy than gasoline.” 16. The path to zero carbon for heating. “(1) Electrify what we can, getting rid of natural gas water heaters and furnaces, and (2) develop clean fuels to do everything else.” 17. The best way to lower the globe’s temperature without crippling the economy, find out. 18. The impact of government policies. Provides seven high-level goals. “In general, the government’s role is to invest in R&D when the private sector won’t because it can’t see how it will make a profit.” 19. Provides a plan for getting to zero. “When it comes to scaling up new technologies, the federal government plays the largest role of anyone.” 20. Steps on what each one of us can do. 21. Notes and links provided. Negatives: 1. The book is meant to be accessible for the masses so as a result it lacks depth. 2. If you are looking to know what causes climate change, there are far better books out there. This is a big picture look at what technical challenges we face. 3. No bibliography. In summary, I really like this book because the focus is on the big picture technical solutions for climate change. Many books of this ilk focus on trying to compel the reader that climate change is real while Gates that is a given and focuses on the possible and most likely technical solutions. As a recently retired engineer, I prefer this type of focus. The book is brief and gets to the main points but it comes at the price of depth. Overall, this is a very practical and useful book that will provide readers with hope. I recommend it. Further recommendations: “An Inconvenient Sequel” by Al Gore, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants od Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #426,412 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #29 in Climatology #33 in Environmental Economics (Books) #169 in Environmental Science (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (11,307) |
| Dimensions  | 5.14 x 0.8 x 7.96 inches |
| ISBN-10  | 0593081854 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0593081853 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 272 pages |
| Publication date  | August 23, 2022 |
| Publisher  | Vintage |

## Images

![How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71+nWpnDXaL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Climate problem should be solved from where we are, what we can do and with organizational agency.
*by S***L on March 8, 2021*

Bill has gone to a great length to write a very good book on how to avoid a climate disaster. His book is jam-packed with information, (which I think is the best part), the relevant how-to knowledges, the plans to tackle the problems and the exceptional thus required wiggle-rooms around those plans. All of them have to do with how to avoid/cope with climate change and its impending total disaster. His direction is to create the 100% clean energy use and 0% of the carbon emissions. This is because the energy we now use mostly comes from coal, oil, and natural gas and its use creates greenhouse gases; the chief one, which is carbon dioxide. These greenhouse gases cause global warming. My point here is we should create the clean energy movement and not the revolution because the violence and the destruction will not be worth it as will be talked about the how-to in the end. Bill states that right now fifty-one billion tons of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide are added every year into the atmosphere. And as said before, greenhouse gases contribute to greenhouse effect and result in the warming of the earth incrementally. This could create increasing droughts and floods, and as I know, with no intervention, the earth will end up in total extinction of all living-beings or even worse as what Bill would call worst-case scenario. Bill writes in a personal, easy to read style, devoid of stuffiness in academic protocol. It makes his book more interesting to read. He's serious with his writing. He likes science a lot. His knowledges in all fields related are vast and deep. He's also brilliant for example in that he first orchestrates the things we do which are Making things, Plugging in, Growing things, Getting around, Keeping warm and cool and the climax of being smart is the problem of climate change comes from all these five activities and we need solutions in all of them. P.P. 54, 55 For the means to solve the climate change problem, Bill says we need to concentrate on markets, technology, and policy and in order for it to be effective, we need to tackle all of them at once and in the same direction. He also supports specifically nuclear energy which he says: "Nuclear is the only carbon-free energy source we can use almost anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." P. 190 How humans now are approaching the problem, Bill states in his One Last Thought chapter: "Unfortunately, the conversation about climate change has become unnecessarily polarized, not to mention clouded by conflicting information and confusing stories." P. 224 The goal of his writing this book is to spark more fruitful and productive conversations. As a part of that goal, he himself presents the plans which should lead to effective change in meaningfulness and also human adaptation. In various places, Bill seems highly concerned about the underdogs or the poors. As he says: "To sum up: Rich and middle-income people are causing the vast majority of climate change. The poorest people are doing less than anyone else to cause the problem, but they stand to suffer the worst from it. They deserve the world's help, and they need more of it than what they're getting." P. 169 Finally, I have an additional opinion that we should have a directly organized entity that leads the global warming movement. We can use anything such as USA government, or UN, or a big departmental division somewhere or in either of them. It will be good for directly hitting the problem. Bill probably could help leading that organization. He also could be right that we have to start from where we are and what we can do. Conclusion: we should do both, having a direct-hit organization and move forth from where we are. Useful website from the book: breakthroughenergy.org

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Useful Approach to Climate Change
*by B***K on March 22, 2021*

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” is a practical approach to climate change. Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates provides readers with a useful approach to the technical challenges we face in dealing with climate change. This beneficial 256-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. Why Zero?, 2. This will be hard, 3. Five Questions to Ask in Every Climate Conversation, 4. How We Plug In, 5. How We Make Things, 6. How We Grow Things, 7. How We Get Around, 8. How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm, 9. Adapting to a Warmer World, 10. Why Government Policies Matter, and 11. A Plan For Getting to Zero, and 12. What Each of Us Can Do. Positives: 1. Accessible, practical and succinct book. 2. The fascinating topic of climate change from an engineering solution approach. 3. An easy book to follow. Gates does a great job of simplifying terms and focusing on the world of the possible. The tone is hopeful and positive. “This book is about what it will take and why I think we can do it.” 4. A good use of charts and photos to complement the narrative. 5. Provides an early on summary of what it will take to avoid a climate disaster. “To avoid a climate disaster, we have to get to zero. We need to deploy the tools we already have, like solar and wind, faster and smarter. And we need to create and roll out breakthrough technologies that can take us the rest of the way.” 6. The book provides a way forward to avoiding a climate disaster. Gates breaks the book down in a logical manner, which makes it easier to reference at any given time. 7. Provides a brief explanation of why global temperatures are rising. “The reason we need to get to zero is simple. Greenhouse gases trap heat, causing the average surface temperature of the earth to go up. The more gases there are, the more the temperature rises.” 8. Provides a brief history of why energy transitions take a long time and the enormous challenges ahead of us. “To sum up: We need to accomplish something gigantic we have never done before, much faster than we have ever done anything similar. To do it, we need lots of breakthroughs in science and engineering. We need to build a consensus that doesn’t exist and create public policies to push a transition that would not happen otherwise. We need the energy system to stop doing all the things we don’t like and keep doing all the things we do like—in other words, to change completely and also stay the same.” 9. An excellent discussion on how much greenhouse gas is emitted by the things we do. 10. Explains what it will take to keep getting all the things we like from electricity and deliver it to even more people, but without the carbon emissions. “Nuclear fission. Here’s the one-sentence case for nuclear power: It’s the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver power day and night, through every season, almost anywhere on earth, that has been proven to work on a large scale.” 11. Discusses storing electricity and other innovations. “Capturing carbon. We could keep making electricity as we do now, with natural gas and coal, but suck up the carbon dioxide before it hits the atmosphere. That’s called carbon capture and storage, and it involves installing special devices at fossil-fuel plants to absorb emissions.” 12. The biggest culprit of greenhouse gases. “We manufacture an enormous amount of materials, resulting in copious amounts of greenhouse gases, nearly a third of the 51 billion tons per year.” 13. The path to zero emissions in manufacturing. “Electrify every process possible. This is going to take a lot of innovation. Get that electricity from a power grid that’s been decarbonized. This also will take a lot of innovation. Use carbon capture to absorb the remaining emissions. And so will this. Use materials more efficiently.” 14. Borlaug’s impact to the globe. “As Borlaug’s semi-dwarf wheat spread around the world, and as other breeders did similar work on corn and rice, yields tripled in most areas. Starvation plummeted, and today Borlaug is widely credited with saving a billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and we’re still feeling the impact of his work: Virtually all the wheat grown on earth is descended from the plants he bred.” 15. Hard challenges and facts to overcome. “Pound for pound, the best lithium-ion battery available today packs 35 times less energy than gasoline.” 16. The path to zero carbon for heating. “(1) Electrify what we can, getting rid of natural gas water heaters and furnaces, and (2) develop clean fuels to do everything else.” 17. The best way to lower the globe’s temperature without crippling the economy, find out. 18. The impact of government policies. Provides seven high-level goals. “In general, the government’s role is to invest in R&D when the private sector won’t because it can’t see how it will make a profit.” 19. Provides a plan for getting to zero. “When it comes to scaling up new technologies, the federal government plays the largest role of anyone.” 20. Steps on what each one of us can do. 21. Notes and links provided. Negatives: 1. The book is meant to be accessible for the masses so as a result it lacks depth. 2. If you are looking to know what causes climate change, there are far better books out there. This is a big picture look at what technical challenges we face. 3. No bibliography. In summary, I really like this book because the focus is on the big picture technical solutions for climate change. Many books of this ilk focus on trying to compel the reader that climate change is real while Gates that is a given and focuses on the possible and most likely technical solutions. As a recently retired engineer, I prefer this type of focus. The book is brief and gets to the main points but it comes at the price of depth. Overall, this is a very practical and useful book that will provide readers with hope. I recommend it. Further recommendations: “An Inconvenient Sequel” by Al Gore, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants od Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by M***O on March 26, 2023*

Bel libro che si fa leggere facilmente anche da chi non conosce un inglese avanzato grazie anche all’utilizzo di un inglese non troppo complesso

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