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Businessman Bill Gates said in a on Monday that climate change will not lead to “humanity’s demise.” He wrote on his website, Gates Notes, that the belief that “cataclysmic” climate change will “decimate civilization” is doomsday-ish. “Fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong. Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” Gates said. “People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.” Some leaders in addressing climate change have asserted that it can threaten the lives of people across the world. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said during a session of the World Meteorological Congress last week that global warming is “pushing our planet to the brink” and that no country is safe from resulting . Gates addressed the premise of that belief in his blog post, writing that projections on have decreased. He noted that similar views are causing much of the “climate community” to focus too much on short-term emissions goals, and, as a result, resources are being diverted from effective strategies on improving life. “Sometimes the world acts as if any effort to fight climate change is as worthwhile as any other,” the businessman, who has worked on addressing global warming, said. “As a result, less-effective projects are diverting money and attention from efforts that will have more impact on the human condition: namely, making it affordable to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions and reducing extreme poverty with improvements in agriculture and health.” Gates explained that climate change will not be the only threat to poor people. Their biggest problems are poverty and disease, he said. Understanding their issues will allow people trying to address global warming to focus their resources on initiatives that will have the greatest impact, according to the businessman. “This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives,” Gates wrote, adding that the upcoming United Nations climate change conference is an “excellent” place to start. “Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries.” Guterres said on Wednesday that a lot of work needs to be done to “preserve” lives, communities and economies in the most vulnerable areas of the world. The least developed countries and small island, developing states “pay the highest price,” he noted. Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at .
