Bill Gates predicted the pandemic. And he's predicting a world climate disaster. But he's also telling us how to avoid it.
The billionaire American business magnate, software developer, and philanthropist has a new book out, called “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” In an interview for the book, he mentioned how unlike Tesla CEO and Space X boss, Elon Musk, he wants to focus on issues right here on Earth - not on Mars.
The Microsoft co-founder in an interview with Kara Swisher on her “Sway” podcast, says "Well, it’s important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyone’s ever made. And you know, underestimating Elon is not a good idea."
He adds however, he doesn't see Musk's solutions as real solutions, "He added that he’s “not a Mars person” and that he doesn’t “think rockets are the solution.”
In the interview, he says that companies like Tesla are doing great work on “easy stuff, like passenger cars” but that we need to tackle other industries to make a bigger climate change difference.
Gates would also rather spend money on measles vaccines than traveling to space in a rocket. “I’m not going to pay a lot of money because my foundation can buy measles vaccines and save a life for $1,000. So anything I do, I always think, OK, I could spend that $1,000 buying measles vaccine.”
In an interview to the Irish Times, Gates explains how his work on climate change even comes about: It grew out of two things -- his interest in the sciences and what struck him as an irresistible challenge – the fiendishly difficult problem of how to further global development while reducing emissions. For the past few decades, much of Gates’s focus has been on expanding access to electricity in the remotest parts of the world.
On Twitter, while describing his book, Gates wrote, "To avoid a climate disaster, we need to eliminate emissions from the ways we create electricity, grow food, make things, move around, and heat and cool our buildings. It won’t be easy, but I believe we can do it. This book is about what it will take."