The day before the inauguration, when Lady Gaga rehearsed ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in Washington, DC, wildfires burned in Sonoma, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties, California, causing shocking climatologists who had never witnessed the fireseason in the state, extended into January. NASA had just announced that 2020 equates to 2016 for the hottest year on record. When the Covid-19 pandemic prompted city residents to search for places that felt more secure and secure – Vermont, Kansas, Idaho – the FBI began arresting Americans who had rebelled in the Capitol. Online sales of prepper equipment (gas masks, food preservation kits) went smoothly.
Bill Gates was on his lakefront property in Seattle, gearing up for his next attempt to save the planet from mass extinction. Gates has been studying the two global conditions of disease and poverty for 20 years. These efforts led him to consider climate change and its nasty impact on civilization. This month Knopf publishes his latest book, How to prevent a climate disasterIt is noteworthy that, given the state of the world, it is an optimistic book that can be done, packed with solutions to a problem that President Jimmy Carter began to warn in 1977.
President Joe Biden’s inauguration last month had a major impact on Gates’ prospects. An earlier version of the book contained measures for a second Donald Trump term. In November, after the election, he edited these parts, including provisions on how US state and foreign governments could explain a lack of federal support. Another Trump victory, Gates says, would have left us “ holding our breath for four years and trying not to turn blue. ”
“I hope Joe Biden stays healthy,” he told me during our first virtual interview in December, while sitting in a glass-walled conference room at Gates Ventures, known as the Fishbowl, where he attended meetings and relied on Microsoft Teams. platform during the pandemic.
Seattle’s Lake Washington shimmers over his shoulder, far below a distant motorboat leaves a wake as Gates slides into his favorite position, ankle over one knee in an ergonomic conference chair. Gates, who is 65, has already faced persistent problems, from attempts to eradicate polio to epic rivalries with Steve Jobs and Google. Microsoft’s co-founder also raised the alarm early on about the need to prepare for a global pandemic. Climate change is yet another challenge that Gates has served on his own plate.