Essay On Climate Change: Innovation By William Gates

In The innovations we need to avoid a climate disaster, Gates tackles the issue of climate disaster due to climate change. Gates presents innovation as the solution. “You will not get there just by saying, ‘Please stop using steel.’ You know, it won't happen. And so the innovation piece has to come along”(The innovations we need to avoid a climate disaster, Bill Gates, 16:15) What is the role of innovation in avoiding a climate disaster? It allows for new ways of production that do not harm the environment. Innovation will not change the products made, but rather the way they are made. And in making new processes of production that benefit the environment, we can benefit current and future generations.

The key part of preventing a climate disaster is changing the means by how current products like fuels are made. Innovation bridges this gap between current non-ecofriendly ways of product to more eco-friendly methods. Gates outlines the fact that the problem is in the process of production rather than the end product with a simple example of the making of basic needs like food and shelter.“That is, you make shelter, but there is no emissions. You make food, but there is no emissions. That's how you get all the way down to zero.”(Gates 14:52) If there needs to be the same product but a different way of production, there needs to be a new method of producing the same product. And because of this need for a new process of production, innovation helps in the creative process in providing alternatives.

Without alternatives, there can be no hope of preventing a climate disaster. Simply put, we just do not need a reduction in production, but a complete overhaul of the production process which is made possible by alternatives. In his talk, Gates says alternatives to be an essential part of the puzzle. “But ... Just speaking against something when you haven't created an alternative isn't going to get you to zero.”(Gates 33:04) By stating that innovation is what allows for providing alternative solutions, innovation becomes the core of solving the problem of a climate disaster. It is by innovating that there could be new ways of doing.

There needs to be adaptation which is made possible by innovation rather than reduction. “And so the adaptation side is even more underfunded than the mitigation side.”(Gates 37:27) We can not hope to solve climate change by reducing the quantity of natural gas used, but by changing the way the gas is made to a zero-emission process. Gates even says that we will use more products like fuel. Rather we should change how we approach their production. “ So we're not going to stop making shelter. We're not going to stop making food.”(Gates 14:52) Therefore there needs to be adaptation and not a reduction. This adaptation is made possible by innovation. 

Innovation allows for adaptation, for new eco-friendly ways of utilizing our environment. 

It is at the heart of solving the climate disaster. It allows for new ways of thinking and production. We will become harmonious with our environment if we are constantly trying to find ways that we can reduce emissions that damage it. Since individuals are affected by their environment, a better environment will also mean better conditions for individuals now and in the future.