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While COVID-19 claims the deaths of thousands of people every day, Gates says climate change will require them even more. Especially if humanity doesn’t take it seriously and act now.
The message from Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is quite simple: It’s time to step up efforts to curb the effects of climate change. While the planet is currently experiencing a crisis with dire consequences for millions of people around the world, Gates calls for a look to the future.
Mr. Gates says that we must start and continue as soon as possible “to develop and implement innovations that allow us to eliminate our own greenhouse gas emissions.”
Gates says in a statement noting that some people are convinced that emissions will fall this year as a result of the slowdown in the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Gates says this is true, but emphasizes that emissions will not be reduced enough to significantly reduce the serious effects of climate change.
To show the severity of the problem, it presents a rather gruesome scenario. “If you want to understand the damage that climate change will do, take a look at COVID-19 and prolong the pain it causes. “The economic suffering and loss of life caused by this pandemic is equivalent to what will happen if we do not eliminate carbon emissions,” warns Gates.
According to estimates published on Gates’ blog, as many people as COVID-19 will die in 2060 as a result of the effects of climate change. And by 2100, climate change will have claimed 5 times more lives than the COVID-19 pandemic.
The numbers sound horrible and it is not so easy to understand them anymore. Yet Mr Gates maintains that this is the reality we live in and that we must address climate change now. If humanity took these actions, the situation could improve.
Mr. Gates suggests 3 key points to help minimize the damage of climate change:
- Science and innovation must lead the way. Reducing emissions is a good step, but it is not enough and science must go even further. Clean energy is one of the strong solutions.
- Ensure that the decisions made are extended to poor countries.
- It is time to start now. It will take decades of consistent work to make an impact, so now is the time to start making these changes.
Given that Gates predicted a global pandemic and said that such global crises tended to recur every 20 years, Gates’s advice would probably be worth listening to.
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