This post was supposed to be a review of The Transition Handbook.  This post was also supposed to be a giveaway.  But then my computer exploded.  (Yes, it was a PC.  And it didn’t so much explode as whimper pitifully and fade to black.)

Fortunately, I’m pretty good about backing up my computer on a regular basis.  Even if it was a hard drive failure and I can’t rescue any of my data, I didn’t lose too much.  When your biggest complaint is that you lost a blog post… that’s a pretty undramatic computer failure.  What I’m saying is back up your computers.  Go do it right now.

Instead of rewriting what would have been today’s post, I’m sitting on hold with tech support.  So in the meantime, I thought I would share with you the Bill Gates’ TED talk about carbon neutrality that I posted about last week.  Like most TED talks, it is definitely worth taking the time to watch all the way through.

(If you are having trouble viewing the video in RSS or e-mail, click here to watch.)

Happy Wednesday to all of you, and come back Friday for The Transition Handbook giveaway.  (Unless this computer dies too, in which case I’ll be forsaking technology and going off grid to live in a treehouse.)

Related posts:

1. Does Bill Gates Get Climate Change?
2. The Day My Sourdough Died

Alright, I confess.  I’m a big, giant Olympics addict.  I love the intensity and the drama.  I could pass on the constant nationalism and medal count lists, and I’ll probably be considered un-American for saying this, but I’m really over Apolo Ohno.  Because of the Olympics, my TV has been on way more than it usually is and I feel like I’m still missing things.

But I didn’t miss something big that happened at last week’s TED Conference, where Bill Gates stood up and argued that climate change is the biggest issue we face today.  And, more importantly, that the only target which is acceptable for success is zero emissions by 2050.  That’s right.  ZERO.

Worldchanging’s Alex Steffen (who was at TED *envy*) argues that this was the most important climate change speech of the year. Steffen goes on to discuss the Gates Climate Equation – CO2 = P+S+E+C – what it means, and how he would modify it.  Worldchanging has since published a counterargument by Joe Romm (he runs ClimateProgress.org – we love them).  Both analyses are incredibly insightful, and I didn’t find them to be necessarily contradictory.  Romm argues that we need to focus on accelerating the deployment of existing clean energy technologies, not on research and development of new technologies.  Steffen argues that the merit of the speech is in the vision, but also criticizes Gates’ articulation of the equation and the way forward.

Not having seen or heard the TED speech, my biggest complaint is about the sound bite we’re hearing: Gates’ quote, “We need energy miracles.” What is either omitted from most articles or buried below the fold is that Gates went on to say that energy miracles would be a result of massive investment in alternative energy research and development.  In other words, we need miracles that can only be a result of tremendous effort.  That second part is what he was really calling for, not the miracles – the hard work.  (According to Gates, similar ‘miracles’ include the microprocessor and the internet.)

What needs to be reported much more broadly (in my opinion as the primary headline) is that Gates drew the connection between the work that his Foundation does now – fighting poverty and disease – and climate change.  Gates recognizes that if we don’t figure out climate change, the challenges presented by poverty and famine will be insurmountable.  He knows it, and he stood up and said it in front of everyone.

So yes, I do think that Bill Gates gets climate change.  And while I don’t agree with everything he said – such as his inclusion of nuclear energy in his proposed clean energy portfolio – I do love that he is now in the game.  Because whatever you may think of him, it’s hard to argue with the fact that he’s a game changer.  Gates has tremendous public and financial clout, and a very different and much wider audience than most of the people currently working to address climate change.  So when he stands up and declares that climate change is the key issue and redefines the metric for success in such a dramatic way, it is a really big deal.  It will be interesting to see who was listening.

Related posts:

1. Ten Climate Change Terms Everyone Should Know
2. Blog About Climate Change!
3. 19 Simple Ways to Start Thinking About Climate Change – Blog Action Day