""People often think of climate change as a separate bucket at the end of a long row of other buckets of problems we're trying to fix that are wrong in the world," Hayhoe told Axios. This includes poverty, disease and access to clean water. "Climate change is not a separate bucket," Hayhoe said. "The reason we care about climate change is that it's the hole in every bucket.""
"Critics worry Gates' message may empower those who want to weaken climate efforts. "His words are bound to be misused by those who would like nothing more than to destroy efforts to deal with climate change," Princeton professor Michael Oppenheimer told the NYT. The intrigue: Gates defended his stance in a CNBC interview, saying: "I'm a climate activist, but I'm also a child survival activist." He added: "If we stop funding all vaccines and that saved you 0.1 degree, would that be a smart tradeoff?""
An open memo urged leaders to prioritize climate actions that deliver tangible human welfare improvements alongside emissions reductions. Some prominent climate scientists warned the framing risks presenting climate action as competing with poverty alleviation, with Katharine Hayhoe saying climate is the hole in every bucket of societal problems. Others argued political reality requires ensuring people directly benefit from climate measures to secure public support, with Julio Friedmann emphasizing actions that reduce emissions, improve welfare and preserve ecosystems. Critics cautioned the message could be misused to weaken climate efforts. Gates defended his stance, calling himself both a climate and child-survival activist and questioning harmful trade-offs.
Read at Axios
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