The following excerpts regarding climate change are from “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling, a book Bill Gates calls “one of the most important books I’ve ever read.”
“When people tell me we must act now, it makes me hesitate. In most cases, they are just trying to stop me from thinking clearly.” (page 228)
“‘We need to create fear!’ That’s what Al Gore said to me at the start of our first conversation about how to teach climate change. It was 2009.”
“I had a profound respect at that time for Al Gore’s achievements in explaining and acting on climate change, and still do. … But I couldn’t agree to what he had asked. … I don’t like fear.” (page 229)
“Fear plus urgency make for stupid, drastic decisions with unpredictable side effects. Climate change is too important for that. It needs systematic analysis, thought-through decisions, incremental actions, and careful evaluation.” (page 230)
“To be absolutely clear, I am deeply concerned about climate change because I am convinced it is real — as real as Ebola was in 2014.”
“So, what is the solution? Well, it’s easy. Anyone emitting lots of greenhouse gas must stop doing that as soon as possible. We know who that is: the people on Level 4 (income level 4) who have by far the highest levels of CO2 emissions, so let’s get on with it. And let’s make sure we have a serious data set for this serious problem so that we can track our progress.” (page 231-232)
John Norman
Carbondale