Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
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Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
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Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#2Great letter, totally agree with the 'Clean Energy Crisis'. I'm glad Bill Gates stepped into the cause as it will get more lime light now. As an aside, I wish there was a way to turn off/on those side note in his blog, it was bit of distraction - that is why I prefer Safari's reading mode.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#3"Poverty is not just about a lack of money. It’s about the absence of the resources the poor need to realize their potential."
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#4Great letter, totally agree with the 'Clean Energy Crisis'. I'm glad Bill Gates stepped into the cause as it will get more lime light now. As an aside, I wish there was a way to turn off/on those side note in his blog, it was bit of distraction - that is why I prefer Safari's reading mode.
Hear, hear! I agree with my esteemed colleague on HN. Clean energy is important. After 60 years of warnings, let's be happy that Bill Gates has stepped up.
Now back to that Reader mode thing. Firefox and IE have them too.
Can anyone guess why clean energy hasn't been solved? Look at the chart in the 1950's and 1960s. We were barely doing any damage compared to today.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#5This seems like a great opportunity for African countries to build on their energy infrastructure which would both generate revenue for governments and provide a stable industrial environment for development. It sounds like a critical missing component in Africa's economy. Although this would also depend on the public's ability to pay for monthly/yearly energy fees which might depend on subsidies.
I've read a few articles mentioning how Africa has been inspired by China in recent years who focused on infrastructure as a base for domestic growth instead of just exports or raw materials.
I can't imagine the struggle it must be to survive without access to energy and clean water. Our household recently had our pipes burst from freezing and were nearly at a breaking point after three days without water. Worse yet is the occasional black out. So I'm very sympathetic to this cause.
Bill and Melinda are doing some great work.
Sidenote:
> Changes in weather often mean that their crops won’t grow because of too little rain or too much rain. That sinks them deeper into poverty. That’s particularly unfair because they’re the least responsible for emitting CO2, which is causing the problem in the first place.
Is this really true? I thought farms were responsible for the most generation of CO2 and pollutants? At least in North America livestock accounts for something like 50% of the pollution (aka "cow farts"), even more so than oil/coal. The worlds obsession with meat is actually more harmful to the environment than cars/gasoline... but this is never popularly advertised thanks to efforts of the livestock industry and willful blindness by government agencies.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#6"Poverty is not just about a lack of money. It’s about the absence of the resources the poor need to realize their potential."
Paul Graham would disagree with you on that definition of Poverty. In his world poor people can wake up one fine day and start a business.
Aaron : What drove the decision to go start a business?
Paul : Poverty.
Aaron : Poverty.
Paul : I was tired of being poor. I was working as a freelance programmer, and it was this sort of boom/bust thing where I would get money and then I would run out of money, and then it would be a disaster, and I just got tired of it. And then I thought, “I’m just going to work until I won’t run out of money.”Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#7It's nice knowing that a powerhouse like the Gates foundation is working on clean energy. In my view, that's the most important problem that society is facing right now.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#8This seems like a great opportunity for African countries to build on their energy infrastructure which would both generate revenue for governments and provide a stable industrial environment for development. It sounds like a critical missing component in Africa's economy. Although this would also depend on the public's ability to pay for monthly/yearly energy fees which might depend on subsidies. I've read a few art…
>I thought farms were responsible for the most generation of CO2 and pollutants?
That's true for intensive farming with machines and powerful fertilizers and so on. Many people in Africa practice subsistence agriculture which is much less efficient.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#9This seems like a great opportunity for African countries to build on their energy infrastructure which would both generate revenue for governments and provide a stable industrial environment for development. It sounds like a critical missing component in Africa's economy. Although this would also depend on the public's ability to pay for monthly/yearly energy fees which might depend on subsidies. I've read a few art…
In Nigeria and Ghana, important projects are left undone by the ruling parties because they are long term projects.
Because, the opposing party would be the ones to reap the rewards, and praise from the populace.
They'd instead focus on building new roads instead of maintaining existing ones, building new schools instead of improving existing ones, starting new high sounding schemes instead of continuing projects the previous regime begun.
And btw plants convert CO2 to O2.
Re: Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 Annual Letter
#10Poverty is not just about a lack of money.
Someone who was gifted $1 million on the day he was born preaching about poverty is like someone who has never written a line of code running an I.T. department.