Published on Mar 20, 2019
• Saving the world from the apocalyptic impact of climate change should be a dream for many Silicon Valley titans concerned about legacy, says David Wallace-Wells, and yet few are dedicating themselves to addressing the catastrophe.
• Negative emissions technology funded by Bill Gates exists. It would cost $3 trillion per year to operate globally and would mean human industry could continue at current levels without global warming.
• That figure sounds astronomical, however global subsidies to fossil fuel industries cost $5 trillion per year.
David Wallace-Wells is the author of “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming” (https://amzn.to/2Of5N3y). He is a national fellow at the New America foundation and a columnist and deputy editor at New York magazine. He was previously the deputy editor of The Paris Review. He lives in New York City.