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Teacher information
Mr MAN Tien-hang
Heep Yunn College |
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Information of the book
- Title: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster – The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
- Author: Bill Gates
- Year of publication: 2021
- Call Number: 363.738747 GAT
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Introduction of the author
Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft. In recent years he has focused on philanthropic efforts through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a private charity primarily focuses on global health and poverty reduction. As he explains in the book, this gradually brings his attention to the issue of climate change, which if not addressed, can undone years of work in global poverty reduction. Together with a coalition of private investors, he cofound Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to support innovations in clean energy. |
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About the book
- In the book, Bill Gates explains how he learnt about climate change, and gives an overview of the technologies available to reduce emission in five key areas: electricity generation (accounting for 27% of global emission), manufacturing (31%), agriculture (19%), transport (16%), and cooling and heating (7%). He does not advocate for a single magic solution. Instead, he provides estimation of the “green premium” - the extra cost it would incur when using clean technologies – to different technologies. The argument he made is that we need to drive green premium down so that even middle income countries would be willing to adopt clean technologies. To do that, he explains how the governments, private sectors and the public can work together to create a favourable environment for clean technologies to grow.
- This book covers several issues related to climate change. It makes a good introductory book for students who are interested in the issue. While it does not go into detail on the technological aspect, it inspires students to explore more about how to avoid a climate disaster.
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Enquiry questions
- How might energy contribute to global development, and at the same time, how might energy use create threats to poor people around the world?
- How might different technological solutions help tackle climate change? What are the factors we should consider when choosing them?
- The book outlines what the governments might do to tackle climate change. What could be done by individuals to reduce emission?
- What are the obstacles in increasing the use of clean technologies? What roles can the governments, private sectors and the general public play to overcome them?
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