Act boldly on climate change

To the editor:

Climate change is a subject of much contention. Some despair that we will never be able to stop what we are doing in time to avert tragedy. A note of optimism has come from Bill Gates in his book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” He feels we can still change enough to save the world from human error.

One of his surprising conclusions is that rather than focusing on making substantive changes by 2030, which many involved in the question feel we need to, he thinks we should make a plan for the year 2050. He says that any changes we make by 2030 would be minor and would not get us to the goal we seek.

“Considering how fundamental fossil fuels are in our lives, there’s simply no way we’ll stop using them widely within a decade,” Gates writes.

He uses the example of replacing coal-fired power plants with gas-fired. This would reduce carbon emissions somewhat. But to make these plants pay for themselves, they would have to run for several years after 2030 and continue to put carbon dioxide in the air.

Instead, we must focus on getting to zero carbon immediately. To do this we need to quickly electrify vehicles, manufacturing processes and heating systems. We shouldn’t just be thinking about reducing emissions somewhat, but about getting to zero.

He has several suggestions for what government needs to do. We must look for projects that might involve high risk, but lead to big rewards. The greatest changes we must make will be our top priority. It is important that we work with industry from the beginning to make the changes more smoothly.

He lists some strategies for applying what we learn in research and development. We should put a price on carbon so that industry pays for what they cost us. This would also encourage them to work to lessen the carbon they are producing.

We need to establish clean energy standards for electricity and for fuel. We have to develop clean product standards for cement, steel, plastics and other carbon-intensive products.

Bill Gates is hopeful that we can get to zero. The rest is up to us.

Eileen Carney

Libby