Bill Gates says he’ll fly a lot less and eat more lab-grown meat to save the planet from the impending doom of climate change

Just last month, billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates called on all the rich nations to change entirely to 100% lab-grown meat to save the planet from climate change apocalypse. Gates made the remarks in a question and answer session with MIT Technology Review where he talked about his new book and how his thinking on climate change has evolved over the years.

Now, Gates is back in the headlines. In his latest “Ask Me Anything (AMA)” session on Reddit on Friday, one user asked the Microsoft co-founder what people can do to reduce their carbon emissions. Among other things, Gates recommended that people consume less.

Another Reddit user later responded by asking what Gates is doing to consume less. Gates responded with the following:

“On the personal front, I am doing a lot more,” Gates wrote. “I am driving electric cars. I have solar panels at my house. I eat synthetic meat (some of the time!). I buy green aviation fuel. I pay for direct air capture by Climeworks. I help finance electric heat pumps in low cost housing to replace natural gas.”

Gates has been consistent in his views on global warming and climate change. In October 2020, we wrote about Gates after he warned that climate change is “even scarier” than the COVID-19 pandemic. The once world’s richest person warned at the time that the ‘shutdown’ was ‘nowhere near sufficient to stop climate change. No month goes back without Gates warning of the impending doom if nothing is done to address the climate change before it’s too late.

During the Reddit AMA session on Friday, Gates talked about how is going to adjust his schedule and fly less to reduce the CO2 emissions.

“I plan to fly a lot less now that the pandemic has shown we can get by with less trips,” he wrote. Microsoft makes the Teams app that enables workers to chat and meet on video calls. While Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board last year, he remains a Microsoft investor, and he still reviews products the company is developing.

Gates also mentioned programs he’s involved with to foster green efforts.

“I created Breakthrough Energy including the Venture fund, Fellows and Catalyst to help with climate,” he wrote. “To me the innovation is what will make it possible to provide services to everyone without emissions.”

For over a decade now, Gates has been talking about the threats of climate change but his warnings of imminent disaster seemed to fall on deaf ears. During a 2010 TED Talks presentation, Gates shared a mathematical formula that he believes could one day solve the climate change problem we are facing.  CO2 (carbon dioxide output) = P x S x E x C (= People x Services per Person x Energy per Service x CO2 per unit of Energy). You can read the story here.

Now, Gates is doubling down on his earlier warnings about climate change, and a new threat of bioterrorism. In an appearance on Derek Muller’s YouTube channel Veritasium last week, where he was asked about what’s the next issue facing humanity.

Below is how Gates introduced himself to the Reddit AMA audience.

“I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” Ask Me Anything.

I’m excited to be here for my 9th AMA.

Since my last AMA, I’ve written a book called How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. There’s been exciting progress in the more than 15 years that I’ve been learning about energy and climate change. What we need now is a plan that turns all this momentum into practical steps to achieve our big goals.

My book lays out exactly what that plan could look like. I’ve also created an organization called Breakthrough Energy to accelerate innovation at every step and push for policies that will speed up the clean energy transition. If you want to help, there are ways everyone can get involved.

When I wasn’t working on my book, I spent a lot time over the last year working with my colleagues at the Gates Foundation and around the world on ways to stop COVID-19. The scientific advances made in the last year are stunning, but so far we’ve fallen short on the vision of equitable access to vaccines for people in low-and middle-income countries. As we start the recovery from COVID-19, we need to take the hard-earned lessons from this tragedy and make sure we’re better prepared for the next pandemic.

I’ve already answered a few questions about two really important numbers. You can ask me some more about climate change, COVID-19, or anything else.

Proof: https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1372974769306443784

Update: You’ve asked some great questions. Keep them coming. In the meantime, I have a question for you.

Update: I’m afraid I need to wrap up. Thanks for all the meaty questions! I’ll try to offset them by having an Impossible burger for lunch today.”