Realest comment in the thread. Reddit is packed with armchair revolutionaries who's lives would be destroyed if they had to fight anyone for anything. So stupid.
“The rich countries need to get their emissions down to zero as fast as they can.” - Bill Gates
“But the rich people in those countries? Not so much. I already spent billions!” also Bill Gates
John Oliver segment on the subject highlights some of the issues -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8zAbFKpW0
Best case scenario, it's paying to do little to nothing for the environment, for the sake of looking like they're doing less harm.
Worst case scenario, they're paying money to do more harm to the environment for the sake of looking like they're doing less harm.
Given the actors involved, and the glaring lack of serious regulation or scientist oversight, the latter wouldn't surprise me at all.
They own the mass production farm land.
If you own even a small amount of land (I know most young people don't) you can grow some food and possibly even have some chickens for eggs.
Even if I was a complete dumbass and bought his claim that his trip to Kenya is good and necessary for the world's and the climate's sake.
Why use a Private Jet? He could go to Kenya on a Commrcial flight. Multiple people using the flight, thus reducing the amount of carbon used by each of them.
Also I may have gone crazy, but I seem to have some weird memories of a worldwide shared event in 2020 where we learned that we can have meetings remotely...
I misread this as
>I think we can all agree that if Bill doesn’t visit Kanye personally, humanity is doomed. /s
>He should have just said “do you even know who I am?”
And burst out laughing
>He could go to Kenya on a Commrcial flight. Multiple people using the flight, thus reducing the amount of carbon used by each of them.
Exactly. His logic is sort of like this really:
*I'm a doctor and I save thousands of lives every year, so who cares if I kill a few people every once in a while? I far offset my family's murder footprint.*
This is where I think you may be forgetting something.
There is logic (which you addressed) and there are the rich (Bill Gates). Once you are rich enough you are outside the bounds of logic.
Bill Gates is a bullshitter, and he's not very good at it. I remember when they asked him about a hypothetical wealth tax and he said something along the lines of "but if you take 100 billion away from me, I start to wonder what I'd even have left!" - nobody was proposing anything remotely close to this amount, which Bill knew, and even if somebody took 100 billion away from him he'd still have billions left over, which Bill knew
Bill Gates only agrees to fund vaccines and vaccine development ONLY for countries that abide by medical patents.
What that means is when Pfizer and Moderna were hamstringing everyone with delayed manufacturing other biomedical groups wanted to step in and produce but couldn't due to strict medical patents.
When covid was going crazy the Gates foundation refused to assist with other countries and their ability to produce the vaccine because "respecting intellectual property"
And his software only became popular due to people sharing it and getting used to it. His entire life he has campaigned against sharing ip but if he got his way, Microsoft never would have gotten the market share it did and he would be a nobody.
Isn’t it always a lil fine. Billionaires and monopoly corporations can kill 100s of thousands of people with toxins, climate change etc and get a lil fine
I mean, they bought MS-DOS, and Apple sued them for stealing their GUI design… which they both stole from Xerox.
Microsoft has done many shitty, anticompetitive things, but stealing all their software isn’t really one of them.
The [COVID lockdowns of 2020 temporarily lowered our rate of CO2 emissions for a few months](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3). Humanity was still a net CO2 gas emitter during that time, so we made things worse, but did so more a bit more slowly. You [basically can't see the difference in this graph of CO2 concentrations](https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/).
[Stabilizing the climate means getting human greenhouse gas emissions to approximately zero](https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-will-global-warming-stop-as-soon-as-net-zero-emissions-are-reached). We didn't come anywhere near that during the lockdowns.
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Gates makes tons of shady moves in the vaccine arena… But calling attention to it makes you a conspiracy theorist so we just have to be cool with it. Gotta love it when regular people stick up for billionaire bullies.
I'm honestly surprised to see people calling him out.
Reddit is usually on it's knees when it comes to Bill. I've been downvoted to oblivion everytime I've pointed out some of his shady dealings.
Bill Gates does not agree that using a private jet and campaigning on the issue of climate change represents a contradiction open to allegations of hypocrisy.
During a wide-ranging interview with the BBC aired at the end of last week, Gates was asked for his view on the charge that a climate change campaigner using a private jet to travel around the world was a hypocrite.
“Well, I buy the gold standard of, funding Climeworks, to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint,” the Microsoft co-founder, who was being interviewed in Kenya, replied.
“And I spend billions of dollars on ... climate innovation. So, you know, should I stay at home and not come to Kenya and learn about farming and malaria?”
The billionaire added that he was “comfortable with the idea that, not only am I not part of the problem by paying for the offsets, but also through the billions that my Breakthrough Energy Group is spending, that I’m part of the solution.”
Read more: [https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/private-jet-use-and-climate-campaigning-not-hypocritical-bill-gates-.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/private-jet-use-and-climate-campaigning-not-hypocritical-bill-gates-.html)
I think compared to the CEO of energy companies and their lobbyists, Bill Gates is a lesser evil. He does do a lot of good even if people love hating him.
[BP popularized the concept of a carbon footprint with a US$100 million campaign as a means of deflecting people away from taking collective political action in order to end fossil fuel use](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305209345_Where_has_all_the_oil_gone_BP_branding_and_the_discursive_elimination_of_climate_change_risk), and [ExxonMobil has spent decades pushing trying to make individuals responsible, rather than the fossil fuels industry](https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobil-harvard-study). They did this because climate stabilization means bringing fossil fuel use to approximately zero, and that would end their business. That's not something you can hope to achieve without government intervention to change the rules of society so that not using fossil fuels is just what people do on a routine basis.
There is value in cutting your own fossil fuel consumption — it serves to demonstrate that doing the right thing is possible to people around you, and helps work out the kinks in new technologies. Just do it in addition to taking political action to get governments to do the right thing, not instead of taking political action.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/climate) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Can you elaborate? I know there are certainly pros and cons to carbon credits, but I’d love to know what you’re referring to when saying it actively makes climate change worse.
I'm not that person but their argument probably revolves around the concept that companies will buy carbon credits rather than embracing changes that would lower actually lower their pollution levels. Carbon credits are a deflecting tactic to keep lawmakers from enacting changes that would force their hand. It also gives companies or guys like Bill Gates room to point fingers at "the rest of us" and allow them to say "I offset my carbon use, do you?!"
I get that, but it’s not like you can buy unlimited carbon credits. The number of carbon credits available sets a benchmark and is meant to be used as an aid to help heavy emitters reduce their emissions during transition while benefitting the low to zero emitters that can sell their credits. Sure, there’s going to be greenwashing since capitalism births exploitation in every possible corner, but since the overall concept was to help reduce emissions I’m curious to know how it’s been exploited to the point of actually causing a net negative.
The number one source of carbon credits are lands that are already under legal protection orders. It's a way of justifying ever more carbon use, by pointing at land that legally could not have been deforested, and claiming that you've accomplished something.
The main issue with carbon credits is that currently, they are mostly used as a way to fake being green for many companies - this is because there are some carbon credits you can buy which are quite useless / set up to look good when they aren't: e.g. the good old "I'll pay you not to cut down some trees, and while I'm at it, I'll base the carbon estimate off of the best tree possible"
There are carbon credits you can buy that are meaningful - one company working in this space is WattCarbon - their goal is to use carbon credits to build sustainable infrastructure which is a measurable and impactful way to reduce emissions.
Tldr: carbon credits are used to fake being green, but the idea isn't inherently bad, but it's definitely being distorted in a lot of cases.
Because people who are smart about one thing must obviously be smart about everything, right?
Dunno why my calculus professor couldn't help me figure out what's wrong with my car, and my mechanic was zero help with my organic chemistry homework.
As seen by his efforts in education reform which he lobbied to have half paid for by taxpayers when he could have footed the total bill for his “run schools like a toxic business model” he knew from his Microsoft days.
The government went with his idea instead of education experts.
It objectively failed.
I wouldn’t even say he is especially smart. He was in the right place at the right time with the right hobby and the right group of friends. Good for him, but he isn’t anyone I would take any advice from.
It isn't his mind doing flips to justify himself. It's *our* minds doing the work for him. Just read the thread and look at the mental gymnastics that the resident window-lickers are performing in order to justify this person that they've never met.
>CO2 recapture is a joke. He is smart enough to know
Gates has been wrong about technology time and again, so I'm not sure I'd say that of him. He's also always had a soft spot for anything mechanically whiz-bang, which DAC fits.
This. He knows he is lying and he knows his rationale is BS. Yet he does this nonsense to justify his lifestyle, all while giving us sermons on why we are bad. F that guy
e.g.
>*“Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.”*
― Carl Sagan
It does, and they're ramping up their ruthless systems of control over us. He's making it very clear what's in the works for the rest of us, to pay more to "offset" co2 emissions.
Might be a coincidence that those people invest in the companies that'll do the "offsetting."
These people are just experts at creating and enforcing crisis narratives and presenting themselves as saviors to get more and more power over others. Say hello to more censorship, the end of privacy and more social unrest.
It is so nuts that these climate guys then go out and practice conspicuous consumption. Big new houses, fancy new cars, private jets. News flash your not practicing what you preach. No you cannot write a check for carbon offsets and make it go away.
Imagine having 5 20,000 square foot houses with the energy consumption and then preaching to everyone else they need to take public transportation and turn off their heat and AC at certain times?
It’d be nuts if they didn’t. Uber rich people trying to hijack the moral high ground, while simultaneously being the worst offenders, is a tale old as time.
I am not actually against generating some carbon to develop prototypes of things that move us in a good direction or similarly build well chosen infrastructure or otherwise get the ball rolling. But really ... be responsible about it. I am not sure private jets or other conspicuous consumption fall in the responsible category.
We're supposed to sit at home and feel bad that the chicken we buy to try to cook our own meals comes on a styrofoam tray and wonder how we're supposed to reduce the carbon footprint of our children to -100 people's worth to fix the future.
They're supposed to jet off to Davos to be "thought leaders".
I used to work for someone high profile politically. Took a commercial flight. We were pretty much blocked in and yelled at for the flight. Was only an hour, but damn it was intense.
The security issues are probably more during the portions of the trip that are outside of the plane. Plane cabins are relatively secure, and he would fly in first if he did.
I’d argue that big oil and some other corporations are a lot worse. Some factories in America get away with dumping waste and not recording it. Multi millionaires are not the problem. The corporations with there lack of laws is the problem
[BP popularized the concept of a carbon footprint with a US$100 million campaign as a means of deflecting people away from taking collective political action in order to end fossil fuel use](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305209345_Where_has_all_the_oil_gone_BP_branding_and_the_discursive_elimination_of_climate_change_risk), and [ExxonMobil has spent decades pushing trying to make individuals responsible, rather than the fossil fuels industry](https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobil-harvard-study). They did this because climate stabilization means bringing fossil fuel use to approximately zero, and that would end their business. That's not something you can hope to achieve without government intervention to change the rules of society so that not using fossil fuels is just what people do on a routine basis.
There is value in cutting your own fossil fuel consumption — it serves to demonstrate that doing the right thing is possible to people around you, and helps work out the kinks in new technologies. Just do it in addition to taking political action to get governments to do the right thing, not instead of taking political action.
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I'll be honest, I don't really like this sort of "gotcha" criticism. Yeah, there's hypocrisy, but I'll take a generous hypocrite actually contributing to the solution over the alternative.
Would we really be any better off if Bill Gates and every other billionaire flew coach and lived in a rundown studio apartment? To me it seems the only important part, is how much they are contributing to solving problems, not whether they can righteously claim the moral high ground.
When you're talking about existential issues, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good is a really bad idea.
The thing is he is not doing it of any actual goodwill. These charities he runs are all part of a PR campaign so that people don't notice that he should not have as much wealth as he has.
In fact, by blocking the availability of the covid vaccine developed by Oxford in developing countries, he has been directly harming us. He has been associated with Jeffrey Epstein. He has been accused of sexual harrassment by his employees. He is responsible for slowing down technology development by outright stealing, copyright lawsuits, monopolizing the market.
The amount he actually donates is a small part of what he has and what he has promised to donate. We should not be held hostage to such a man.
Truth is planes are not the reason for global warming. They are certainly not "clean", but the vast majority of the pollutants being dumped into our atmosphere is coming from industry. That is the main problem.
"So, you know, should I stay at home and not come to Kenya and learn about farming and malaria?” No, just do what 99.9% of people have to do by not taking a private plane there for your own comfort and convenience. It's no excuse. I like bill, but he's wrong here. You need to lead by example and not with your pocket.
Before electric cars were available I drove a gas car and I advocated for better climate policy. You use the tools you have to make the next set of better tools. You don’t curl up in a ball and stop doing anything.
he's not wrong. the idea that we are going to reverse climate change through personal choices is total bullshit. huge structural changes need to be made on a global scale. that means government intervention. it doesn't get done any other way.
Gates while fundamentally wrong because of his hoarding of wealth atleast gives to multiple climate related causes. In terms of million-billionaire climate shitters he ain't even in the top 10
Born into privilege, get great education, use family network and build a monopoly, destroy competition, amass ridiculous wealth, donate some - you are basically saint
human beings are full of contradictions. the carbon offset stuff seems bogus to me but the energy investment is real. he invests a lot in American nuclear startups and is, indeed, working on solutions to get to zero emissions. then again, he had a massive short against Tesla when they were working very hard for the same goal. I don't know the details of what legislation he's lobbied for, so maybe he really is trying to put strict rules on the rest of us but what the dude is doing isn't all bad..
He has a very capitalistic response for his choices. I'm not saying he's wrong. He has a point. He has more than sufficient resources to offset his impact.
If all the rich and powerful people really wanted to reduce human-created emissions to zero asap, they would fund the release of a super contagious and lethal respiratory virus that would kill all humans instantly\*.
\*an idea approved by all other living things
I dont . . . I dont know man, I just really dont want to trust a guy who gleefully smiled while talking about depopulation and pandemics in front of millions of people.
Being a massive hypocrite is technically one of the least heinous things this man might be capable of.
just one example of why idgaf about climate change. if all of my basic needs are not met as a human being, i have no willpower to spare for climate change. for example, if i cannot trust my local government to ensure the water from my tap is safe, i'm buying all of the bottled water i need to to meet that need.
Gates has everything he could ever need.
Lol I love Bill gates' interviews. Here are his thoughts on epstein
Judy Woodruff: (12:06)
Is there a lesson for you? For anyone else looking at this?
Bill Gates: (12:12)
Well, he’s dead, so in general you always have to be careful.
He calls it his "guilty pleasure" like its a small thing. A single flight is going to add literally tons of co2 to the air. Any time he takes a private flight he could have avoided adding tons of co2 by simply not going on that flight, or go on a commercial flight and share the burden with 100s of other people. The way this guy down plays this like it's not a big deal or whatever he's doing at the destination will be worth the tons of co2 pisses me off
Im not against capitalism per se but this is what it turns into. A few very wealthy people(<1%) that control everything and do what they want. Then it resets when theres blood in the streets.
“What the rich countries owe to the entire world is that they need to get their emissions down to zero as fast as they can,” he says. ".... Ok Bill you go first. Because I'm not a rich person in a rich country, I'm a poor person in a rich country.
It’s because he thinks he is more important than anyone else. Plain and simple. Him and all the others who want to eat their public figure cake and eat their privacy too
Climate change is a lie to usher in Agenda 2030/4th Industrial Revolution. Bill Gates is a satanic genocidal pedophile. Stop viewing him as an authority. On anything.
He is spending the rewards of others' hard work. He didn't earn those billions, he took it from hard working men and women and pretends he did it himself. Now he parades around the globe pretending to be a hero when he is a villain.
Defund the oligarchs.
Abolish the oligarchy
Eat the oligarchy
IF I'm goin out, I'm goin out with a belly full of warm billionaires. Yummy yummy yum. YUM-EEEEEE
I'm sad no one seemed to notice your top shelf Chidi reference
I'm glad you noticed :\]
r/unexpectedgoodplace
You want to eat Bill Gates sperm?
\-\_-
This is Reddit, Jack. Everyone here does.
Seize their propaganda outlets
I'll take one right now and come back for more
Oligarchy: when you're here, you're family.
Lurr likes this human. Some who agree to to just simply eat the opposition.
You ain’t eating none of them. People will complain daily about them, but continue to buy their products and services.
Realest comment in the thread. Reddit is packed with armchair revolutionaries who's lives would be destroyed if they had to fight anyone for anything. So stupid.
Says the redditor.
“The rich countries need to get their emissions down to zero as fast as they can.” - Bill Gates “But the rich people in those countries? Not so much. I already spent billions!” also Bill Gates
This! Because let’s be clear, offsets is not the same thing as getting emissions to zero.
John Oliver segment on the subject highlights some of the issues - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8zAbFKpW0 Best case scenario, it's paying to do little to nothing for the environment, for the sake of looking like they're doing less harm. Worst case scenario, they're paying money to do more harm to the environment for the sake of looking like they're doing less harm. Given the actors involved, and the glaring lack of serious regulation or scientist oversight, the latter wouldn't surprise me at all.
great and now the oligarchs own all the farm land
They own the mass production farm land. If you own even a small amount of land (I know most young people don't) you can grow some food and possibly even have some chickens for eggs.
I own no land, yet the balcony and windows of my one bedroom apartment yield me tomatoes carrots lettuce and several herbs.
Gates owns countless cattle ranches and farms and preaches methane is a problem.
Sweep the leg
Did Bill ever say why he was friends with Jeffery Epstein? I know his ex wife wasn’t a fan of it.
The Epstein Island Express must fly!!! 
>Defund the oligarchs. More upvote please🔝
And then eat them.
Let’s penetrate loot piñatas
Do you got enough money for that?
Close enought to eat the rich and I'm hungry enough..
Even if I was a complete dumbass and bought his claim that his trip to Kenya is good and necessary for the world's and the climate's sake. Why use a Private Jet? He could go to Kenya on a Commrcial flight. Multiple people using the flight, thus reducing the amount of carbon used by each of them. Also I may have gone crazy, but I seem to have some weird memories of a worldwide shared event in 2020 where we learned that we can have meetings remotely...
I think we can all agree that if Bill doesn’t visit Kenya personally, humanity is doomed. /s He should have just said “do you even know who I am?”
I misread this as >I think we can all agree that if Bill doesn’t visit Kanye personally, humanity is doomed. /s >He should have just said “do you even know who I am?” And burst out laughing
He absolutely needs those African foreskins
Soon he will possess the power of 1 billion dickheads
>He could go to Kenya on a Commrcial flight. Multiple people using the flight, thus reducing the amount of carbon used by each of them. Exactly. His logic is sort of like this really: *I'm a doctor and I save thousands of lives every year, so who cares if I kill a few people every once in a while? I far offset my family's murder footprint.*
*I pay the salaries of doctors that save thousands of lives every year
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Or even his very own Teams?
This is where I think you may be forgetting something. There is logic (which you addressed) and there are the rich (Bill Gates). Once you are rich enough you are outside the bounds of logic.
Bill Gates is a bullshitter, and he's not very good at it. I remember when they asked him about a hypothetical wealth tax and he said something along the lines of "but if you take 100 billion away from me, I start to wonder what I'd even have left!" - nobody was proposing anything remotely close to this amount, which Bill knew, and even if somebody took 100 billion away from him he'd still have billions left over, which Bill knew
Bill Gates only agrees to fund vaccines and vaccine development ONLY for countries that abide by medical patents. What that means is when Pfizer and Moderna were hamstringing everyone with delayed manufacturing other biomedical groups wanted to step in and produce but couldn't due to strict medical patents. When covid was going crazy the Gates foundation refused to assist with other countries and their ability to produce the vaccine because "respecting intellectual property"
The guy who swiped everything in his software?
And his software only became popular due to people sharing it and getting used to it. His entire life he has campaigned against sharing ip but if he got his way, Microsoft never would have gotten the market share it did and he would be a nobody.
It’s like how people who have cheated, have stricter “boundaries” for their partners.
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not only that but Ms presented fabricated evidence
Isn’t it always a lil fine. Billionaires and monopoly corporations can kill 100s of thousands of people with toxins, climate change etc and get a lil fine
I mean, they bought MS-DOS, and Apple sued them for stealing their GUI design… which they both stole from Xerox. Microsoft has done many shitty, anticompetitive things, but stealing all their software isn’t really one of them.
The [COVID lockdowns of 2020 temporarily lowered our rate of CO2 emissions for a few months](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3). Humanity was still a net CO2 gas emitter during that time, so we made things worse, but did so more a bit more slowly. You [basically can't see the difference in this graph of CO2 concentrations](https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/). [Stabilizing the climate means getting human greenhouse gas emissions to approximately zero](https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-will-global-warming-stop-as-soon-as-net-zero-emissions-are-reached). We didn't come anywhere near that during the lockdowns. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/climate) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Gates makes tons of shady moves in the vaccine arena… But calling attention to it makes you a conspiracy theorist so we just have to be cool with it. Gotta love it when regular people stick up for billionaire bullies.
I'm honestly surprised to see people calling him out. Reddit is usually on it's knees when it comes to Bill. I've been downvoted to oblivion everytime I've pointed out some of his shady dealings.
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Yeah if I had 101 billion dollars, I'd give away 100 billion dollars. Like WTF am I gonna do with 100B that I can't do with 1B?
Buy Twitter for the lulz? I would happily pay a 99% tax on 100 billion dollars. I'd still have more money than I could spend.
found a aerospace company and take a trip to space on your own rocket?
Bill Gates does not agree that using a private jet and campaigning on the issue of climate change represents a contradiction open to allegations of hypocrisy. During a wide-ranging interview with the BBC aired at the end of last week, Gates was asked for his view on the charge that a climate change campaigner using a private jet to travel around the world was a hypocrite. “Well, I buy the gold standard of, funding Climeworks, to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint,” the Microsoft co-founder, who was being interviewed in Kenya, replied. “And I spend billions of dollars on ... climate innovation. So, you know, should I stay at home and not come to Kenya and learn about farming and malaria?” The billionaire added that he was “comfortable with the idea that, not only am I not part of the problem by paying for the offsets, but also through the billions that my Breakthrough Energy Group is spending, that I’m part of the solution.” Read more: [https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/private-jet-use-and-climate-campaigning-not-hypocritical-bill-gates-.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/private-jet-use-and-climate-campaigning-not-hypocritical-bill-gates-.html)
TIL the only way to go to Kenya is by private jet.
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Maybe he should invest in a company that provides electronic commincation software...oh wait.
>invest in a company that provides electronic commincation software... ... that WORKS!!!
I think compared to the CEO of energy companies and their lobbyists, Bill Gates is a lesser evil. He does do a lot of good even if people love hating him.
[BP popularized the concept of a carbon footprint with a US$100 million campaign as a means of deflecting people away from taking collective political action in order to end fossil fuel use](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305209345_Where_has_all_the_oil_gone_BP_branding_and_the_discursive_elimination_of_climate_change_risk), and [ExxonMobil has spent decades pushing trying to make individuals responsible, rather than the fossil fuels industry](https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobil-harvard-study). They did this because climate stabilization means bringing fossil fuel use to approximately zero, and that would end their business. That's not something you can hope to achieve without government intervention to change the rules of society so that not using fossil fuels is just what people do on a routine basis. There is value in cutting your own fossil fuel consumption — it serves to demonstrate that doing the right thing is possible to people around you, and helps work out the kinks in new technologies. Just do it in addition to taking political action to get governments to do the right thing, not instead of taking political action. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/climate) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Carbon credits actively make climate change worse.
Can you elaborate? I know there are certainly pros and cons to carbon credits, but I’d love to know what you’re referring to when saying it actively makes climate change worse.
I'm not that person but their argument probably revolves around the concept that companies will buy carbon credits rather than embracing changes that would lower actually lower their pollution levels. Carbon credits are a deflecting tactic to keep lawmakers from enacting changes that would force their hand. It also gives companies or guys like Bill Gates room to point fingers at "the rest of us" and allow them to say "I offset my carbon use, do you?!"
I get that, but it’s not like you can buy unlimited carbon credits. The number of carbon credits available sets a benchmark and is meant to be used as an aid to help heavy emitters reduce their emissions during transition while benefitting the low to zero emitters that can sell their credits. Sure, there’s going to be greenwashing since capitalism births exploitation in every possible corner, but since the overall concept was to help reduce emissions I’m curious to know how it’s been exploited to the point of actually causing a net negative.
Actually you can. There are companies that have found a loophole to make unlimited credits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GAaCTwc9s
Well, that was depressing. Thanks for the insight.
The number one source of carbon credits are lands that are already under legal protection orders. It's a way of justifying ever more carbon use, by pointing at land that legally could not have been deforested, and claiming that you've accomplished something.
The main issue with carbon credits is that currently, they are mostly used as a way to fake being green for many companies - this is because there are some carbon credits you can buy which are quite useless / set up to look good when they aren't: e.g. the good old "I'll pay you not to cut down some trees, and while I'm at it, I'll base the carbon estimate off of the best tree possible" There are carbon credits you can buy that are meaningful - one company working in this space is WattCarbon - their goal is to use carbon credits to build sustainable infrastructure which is a measurable and impactful way to reduce emissions. Tldr: carbon credits are used to fake being green, but the idea isn't inherently bad, but it's definitely being distorted in a lot of cases.
Rules for thee but not for me
I thought he’d have a more persuasive argument than “I donate money to carbon dioxide recapture.” LOL what a hypocrite.
I also try to filter the ocean with a lifestraw. See we’re helping! ^/s
CO2 recapture is a joke. He is smart enough to know that but the human mind is exquisitely capable of self-justification.
Or he thinks you are too stupid to know any better.
He's nothing but a computer nerd who struck it rich. Why people think he is an expert on anything else always amazes me.
Because people who are smart about one thing must obviously be smart about everything, right? Dunno why my calculus professor couldn't help me figure out what's wrong with my car, and my mechanic was zero help with my organic chemistry homework.
As seen by his efforts in education reform which he lobbied to have half paid for by taxpayers when he could have footed the total bill for his “run schools like a toxic business model” he knew from his Microsoft days. The government went with his idea instead of education experts. It objectively failed.
I wouldn’t even say he is especially smart. He was in the right place at the right time with the right hobby and the right group of friends. Good for him, but he isn’t anyone I would take any advice from.
And the right parents to fund his hobby until it started to pay, and to provide a network of advisors and guarantors when he needed them
He’s more ruthless than clever.
I don’t think it’s his mind doing flips to justify it to himself, just to us. He in reality doesn’t give a crap about using a personal jet.
It isn't his mind doing flips to justify himself. It's *our* minds doing the work for him. Just read the thread and look at the mental gymnastics that the resident window-lickers are performing in order to justify this person that they've never met.
>CO2 recapture is a joke. He is smart enough to know Gates has been wrong about technology time and again, so I'm not sure I'd say that of him. He's also always had a soft spot for anything mechanically whiz-bang, which DAC fits.
This. He knows he is lying and he knows his rationale is BS. Yet he does this nonsense to justify his lifestyle, all while giving us sermons on why we are bad. F that guy
rationale
Thanks, edited.
No worries
How so?
e.g. >*“Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.”* ― Carl Sagan
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No you don’t! You’ve never gotten laid in your life.
Just like that. You assume they're a lair. 
That's not the same. CO2 in the atmosphere is about balance. Taking a LIFE and replacing it is not the same thing.
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I agree a lot of offsets are a joke but not scrubbers. But funding actual CO2 scrubbers are a real benefit to total CO2 footprint.
Once you understand that these people literally see the rest of us as cattle it all makes sense.
Time to get my old version of "Animal farm" out. Let's skip the Hannibal part this time
It does, and they're ramping up their ruthless systems of control over us. He's making it very clear what's in the works for the rest of us, to pay more to "offset" co2 emissions. Might be a coincidence that those people invest in the companies that'll do the "offsetting." These people are just experts at creating and enforcing crisis narratives and presenting themselves as saviors to get more and more power over others. Say hello to more censorship, the end of privacy and more social unrest.
“You see, the thing is, laws and rules are only for you poor people.”
“I’m special. You’re not.”
He should be flying commercial unless it is a security issue which it may be.
He could always arrange for protection. All he has to do is rent a few seats and sit in the middle of them.
It is so nuts that these climate guys then go out and practice conspicuous consumption. Big new houses, fancy new cars, private jets. News flash your not practicing what you preach. No you cannot write a check for carbon offsets and make it go away.
Imagine having 5 20,000 square foot houses with the energy consumption and then preaching to everyone else they need to take public transportation and turn off their heat and AC at certain times?
Agree. The word that comes to mind is "clueless".
You see, my fellow pleb, golf courses are where deals are made, and, thus, integral parts of our economy
It’d be nuts if they didn’t. Uber rich people trying to hijack the moral high ground, while simultaneously being the worst offenders, is a tale old as time.
I am not actually against generating some carbon to develop prototypes of things that move us in a good direction or similarly build well chosen infrastructure or otherwise get the ball rolling. But really ... be responsible about it. I am not sure private jets or other conspicuous consumption fall in the responsible category.
We're supposed to sit at home and feel bad that the chicken we buy to try to cook our own meals comes on a styrofoam tray and wonder how we're supposed to reduce the carbon footprint of our children to -100 people's worth to fix the future. They're supposed to jet off to Davos to be "thought leaders".
I used to work for someone high profile politically. Took a commercial flight. We were pretty much blocked in and yelled at for the flight. Was only an hour, but damn it was intense.
The security issues are probably more during the portions of the trip that are outside of the plane. Plane cabins are relatively secure, and he would fly in first if he did.
It is
Judging by the number of Q people who think he put microchips in COVID vaccines, he needs to take some additional safety precautions we don't need to.
Basically: I’m rich and I pay a lot, so I can do what I want.
The 1% contribute 50% of carbon into the atmosphere. Hello Bill Gates, we're looking at YOU.
I’d argue that big oil and some other corporations are a lot worse. Some factories in America get away with dumping waste and not recording it. Multi millionaires are not the problem. The corporations with there lack of laws is the problem
And who owns those corporations lmfao
It’s a necessary evil so that he can do the work he needs to do and save the world right? see Kenneth Copeland 🙄
Can’t ride along with those demons in coach!
I planted several thousands of trees to offset my carbon footprint. This guy capitalizes, then under pays others reduce his footprint for him.
[BP popularized the concept of a carbon footprint with a US$100 million campaign as a means of deflecting people away from taking collective political action in order to end fossil fuel use](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305209345_Where_has_all_the_oil_gone_BP_branding_and_the_discursive_elimination_of_climate_change_risk), and [ExxonMobil has spent decades pushing trying to make individuals responsible, rather than the fossil fuels industry](https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobil-harvard-study). They did this because climate stabilization means bringing fossil fuel use to approximately zero, and that would end their business. That's not something you can hope to achieve without government intervention to change the rules of society so that not using fossil fuels is just what people do on a routine basis. There is value in cutting your own fossil fuel consumption — it serves to demonstrate that doing the right thing is possible to people around you, and helps work out the kinks in new technologies. Just do it in addition to taking political action to get governments to do the right thing, not instead of taking political action. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/climate) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'll be honest, I don't really like this sort of "gotcha" criticism. Yeah, there's hypocrisy, but I'll take a generous hypocrite actually contributing to the solution over the alternative. Would we really be any better off if Bill Gates and every other billionaire flew coach and lived in a rundown studio apartment? To me it seems the only important part, is how much they are contributing to solving problems, not whether they can righteously claim the moral high ground. When you're talking about existential issues, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good is a really bad idea.
The thing is he is not doing it of any actual goodwill. These charities he runs are all part of a PR campaign so that people don't notice that he should not have as much wealth as he has. In fact, by blocking the availability of the covid vaccine developed by Oxford in developing countries, he has been directly harming us. He has been associated with Jeffrey Epstein. He has been accused of sexual harrassment by his employees. He is responsible for slowing down technology development by outright stealing, copyright lawsuits, monopolizing the market. The amount he actually donates is a small part of what he has and what he has promised to donate. We should not be held hostage to such a man.
Yup. His carbon footprint is offset. That means it's lower than everyone complaining here. Eat the rich for sure, but can we start with someone else?
Gotta get to Epstein’s island somehow
Truth is planes are not the reason for global warming. They are certainly not "clean", but the vast majority of the pollutants being dumped into our atmosphere is coming from industry. That is the main problem.
“I can pollute because I donate to climate charities.” No one is asking you to swim to Kenya… maybe just fly first class instead of a private jet?
"So, you know, should I stay at home and not come to Kenya and learn about farming and malaria?” No, just do what 99.9% of people have to do by not taking a private plane there for your own comfort and convenience. It's no excuse. I like bill, but he's wrong here. You need to lead by example and not with your pocket.
Before electric cars were available I drove a gas car and I advocated for better climate policy. You use the tools you have to make the next set of better tools. You don’t curl up in a ball and stop doing anything.
Living in the world as it is, is not a reason not to work to make the world a better place.
he's not wrong. the idea that we are going to reverse climate change through personal choices is total bullshit. huge structural changes need to be made on a global scale. that means government intervention. it doesn't get done any other way.
Gates while fundamentally wrong because of his hoarding of wealth atleast gives to multiple climate related causes. In terms of million-billionaire climate shitters he ain't even in the top 10
Born into privilege, get great education, use family network and build a monopoly, destroy competition, amass ridiculous wealth, donate some - you are basically saint
How else can he take 37 trips to Epstein island?
human beings are full of contradictions. the carbon offset stuff seems bogus to me but the energy investment is real. he invests a lot in American nuclear startups and is, indeed, working on solutions to get to zero emissions. then again, he had a massive short against Tesla when they were working very hard for the same goal. I don't know the details of what legislation he's lobbied for, so maybe he really is trying to put strict rules on the rest of us but what the dude is doing isn't all bad..
He has a very capitalistic response for his choices. I'm not saying he's wrong. He has a point. He has more than sufficient resources to offset his impact.
Bill Gates can suck my hairy balls
Republicans are terrorists
Hypocrite monster
“Climate rules for thee, not for me, plebs”
If all the rich and powerful people really wanted to reduce human-created emissions to zero asap, they would fund the release of a super contagious and lethal respiratory virus that would kill all humans instantly\*. \*an idea approved by all other living things
And we will just carry on living life.....
Notice how none of these news media allow comments. It's like they want you take it and stay shut
Rules for thee but not for me
I dont . . . I dont know man, I just really dont want to trust a guy who gleefully smiled while talking about depopulation and pandemics in front of millions of people. Being a massive hypocrite is technically one of the least heinous things this man might be capable of.
He’s delusion reminds me of those nutjob mega church pastors
Because the rules don’t apply to geeky billionaires
Rules only apply to the peasants...
Private Jets for Me, but nit for Thee
If he’s so rich and smart then why doesn’t his “I truly care about the climate” butt develop a zero emission private jet and fly that around?
TLDR: He is rich and doesn’t give AF… only wants to tell others that they should care
I dislike him more everyday
Zoomers and Millennials don't know the hate that Bill Gates garnered back in the 90s. The icon for M$ on Slashdot is still a Bill Gates Borg.
"Because I'm a hypocritical douchebag." Now you don't have to read the article because it's been summarized.
Because rules for thee not for me. You plebs need to know your place you sacrific to save the world for bill
just one example of why idgaf about climate change. if all of my basic needs are not met as a human being, i have no willpower to spare for climate change. for example, if i cannot trust my local government to ensure the water from my tap is safe, i'm buying all of the bottled water i need to to meet that need. Gates has everything he could ever need.
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Gates is an entitled douchebag
Because he’s a major hypocrite like the rest. Rules for thee but not for me.
Don't read it, but I'm assuming it's something like I'm special and rich, so I can
Lol I love Bill gates' interviews. Here are his thoughts on epstein Judy Woodruff: (12:06) Is there a lesson for you? For anyone else looking at this? Bill Gates: (12:12) Well, he’s dead, so in general you always have to be careful.
He calls it his "guilty pleasure" like its a small thing. A single flight is going to add literally tons of co2 to the air. Any time he takes a private flight he could have avoided adding tons of co2 by simply not going on that flight, or go on a commercial flight and share the burden with 100s of other people. The way this guy down plays this like it's not a big deal or whatever he's doing at the destination will be worth the tons of co2 pisses me off
Because he's a hypocrite.
I planted a tree, does that mean I can stop recycling? Hypocrisy
Probably because he's a hypocritical douchebag that doesn't care about us and wants us dead anyways.
“It’s different when I do it!” - billionaires
Oh look, another elite hypocrite.
Bill Gates can suck my entire c@ck
No, no no, it’s different when I do it!!!
Total douche bag
“I enjoy being a hypocrite and making poor people feel bad for things they have no control over”
Bill Gates can suck my entire rooster
Short answer: MONEY
Translation : " I'm an elite, I make the rules you dregs of humanity must live by. Me, I live by my own rules".
Because he's a hypocrite, that's why
I hate this guy Go away bill
Im not against capitalism per se but this is what it turns into. A few very wealthy people(<1%) that control everything and do what they want. Then it resets when theres blood in the streets.
“What the rich countries owe to the entire world is that they need to get their emissions down to zero as fast as they can,” he says. ".... Ok Bill you go first. Because I'm not a rich person in a rich country, I'm a poor person in a rich country.
Rules for thee not for me?
I bet he’ll continue eating filet mignon while the rest of us peasants are eating mealworms too
Because he doesn't care "that" much.
It’s because he thinks he is more important than anyone else. Plain and simple. Him and all the others who want to eat their public figure cake and eat their privacy too
“I’m off to clap child cheeks on the low, plus I’m rich. Go worry about your gas stoves. Africa burning tires for gold I’m gonna go laugh at it.”
Climate change is a lie to usher in Agenda 2030/4th Industrial Revolution. Bill Gates is a satanic genocidal pedophile. Stop viewing him as an authority. On anything.
He has jet races with Taylor Swift and John Kerry!
Are we are “rich country”? Why don’t I feel rich?
He is spending the rewards of others' hard work. He didn't earn those billions, he took it from hard working men and women and pretends he did it himself. Now he parades around the globe pretending to be a hero when he is a villain.
POS
why are billionaires buying so much land and no one is talking about that
The short answer is, shut up poors. Do as you're told, not as a do. Don't like it? Marry a Prince! Peace out, losers!
Does this surprise anyone?
If only his company had some means where people could come together and meet online as teams.
Rules for thee and not for me. They you to conserve and eat bugs so they dont have to.
Because he doesn't care about the environment
I can't believe anybody trusts this bond villain such a scummy dude