The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do To Impact Climate Change. (According to Bill Gates)
By: Angela Jenkins
Tags: Environment, Climate Change, Activism, Global Warming, Politics

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do To Impact Climate Change. (According to Bill Gates)

I’ve understood for awhile that we need all hands on deck if we are going to limit global warming to below 2 degrees C. I’ve made personal choices by buying green energy through my power company, limiting my consumption, eating less meat and donating to environmental organizations but these efforts seem very small when I witness governments who are choosing to stymie progress instead of accelerating it.

This week, I’ve finally learned the most influential thing that I can personally do to help with our climate change crisis. Bill Gates has been studying this problem for more than a decade and he has developed a blueprint forward for individuals, governments and companies to meet our emissions reduction goals. His new book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” will be published Feb. 16, 2021 and I hope the world takes note.

The book breaks down our global emissions challenges and goals into five categories: Transportation, Buildings, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Electricity Generation. All of these sectors are going to require massive funding for innovation, R and D, and regulation to propel us toward reaching our emissions reductions goals. Gates recently discussed these issues on his new podcast and he said the most important act for individual influence is to vote.

“The single most important thing you can do to help meet our emission reduction goals is to use your political voice to support and vote for political leaders who make climate change a priority. Without government, we can only get slight reductions in emissions with individual behavior such as buying an electric car or getting solar panels but it will not be significant enough.”

This is especially important in the US because we are the leaders of innovation and it is going to take massive efforts that require government funding, subsidies, and regulation to be able to achieve the required transformation.

But just as importantly, the US must innovate for poorer developing countries who are on track to grow their carbon footprints as they develop. Unfortunately, they can not follow the same pattern of the US and Western countries without massively contributing to emissions and so it will be up to the wealthy countries to find innovative solutions for these countries. This process also includes scaling up these technologies so that their cost is cheaper or equal to the “dirtier” solutions. This takes political will and resources. This is why political environmental leaders are crucial right now.

You can start to flex your political muscle by checking out the League of Conservation Voters. They publish an environmental scorecard for every House and Senate member in the US, endorse candidates in upcoming elections and have political activism and volunteer opportunities for their members.

Another great resource is your local Sierra Club chapter which offer local endorsements and political actions that you can participate in your local community.

Let’s take hope from our latest Covid-19 crisis. With the world’s focus, political will and major funding, we have developed a vaccine in less than a years time which is unprecedented. We are capable of finding innovations to solve our climate emissions goals but it’s going to take the same massive public interest and political funding to get us there.