51 billion to zero: my notes on how to avoid a climate disaster

The good: My notes from How to Avoid a Climate Disaster take up just 3/4 page of a dot grid pad.

The not-so-good: There's a lot of weight in those words.

Bill Gates does a great job at cutting through the complexity of climate change, making me optimistic that the path from 51 billion to zero is achievable. He presents his mental framework and the innovations for reducing the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.

Whenever I read something that mentions some amount of greenhouse gases, I do some quick math, converting it into a percentage of the annual total of 51 billion tons. To me, this makes more sense than the other comparisons you often see, like “this many tons is equivalent to taking one car off the road.” Who knows how many cars are on the road to begin with? Or how many cars would yo have to take off the road to deal with climate change?”

Overall, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is a must-read for anyone interested in climate change, the environment, and technology. It's an easy to understand and engagingly written book that covers the climate crisis from all angles. Gates is able to explain complex topics in an accessible way and offers a range of solutions that could help us avoid the worst effects of climate change.

*If you can, buy a hard copy from your local independent bookstore and gift it once finished.