Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now

This book lays out a simple plan to address the climate crisis and shows how we would go about achieving it. I enjoyed the many stories and interviews and overall feel inspired to do more for our planet!

I did not read the whole book, just did word searches to see what it said about nuclear energy.John Doerr is a billionaire high tech venture capitalist philanthropist how just donated billions of dollars to set up a new school dedicated to solving climate change.I was suspicious, because Stanford is home to prof Mark Z. Jacobson, who claims to have it all figured out -- how we can transition to zero carbon in time with existing technology using very little other than wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro. A lot of people feel that his plan is optimistic and unrealistic. Jacobson despises nuclear energy.So I got the book to see if it gives nuclear a fair chance.In the prologue and intro, wind & solar were really taking center stage without nuclear being mentioned.I did some word searches.The word "thorium" is never mentioned anywhere in the book."Nuclear" comes up, and this guy isn't as hostile to it as Mark Z. Jacobson, but boy, is he ignorant.He's says that fuel for fission is limited, which means he's never heard of getting uranium from sea water, from which enough can be extracted to power humanity for billions of years until the sun explodes. Of course, he doesn't mention that land-based thorium is more plentiful than land-based uranium.He never mentions meltdown-proof next-generation reactors, or the fact that they would require radically less micro-regulation that our current-generation huge light-water reactors, which could radically reduce costs and construction time.He says nuclear plants take a long time to build, no mention of the fast rollout of nuclear energy in France, or that fact that the US just sucks at building ANYTHING big. It costs 6 times as much to build a mile of subway in NYC as it does in Europe. China built themselves a whole network of bullet trains in a short time, and all we have is Acela, a half-bullet train, on one track, the northeastern corridor. Probably has something to do with our politicians have law degrees and Chinese politicians have engineering degrees.He never mentions speeding up reactor construction by building small modular reactors on assembly lines, or building reactors on barges in shipyards.A better book is "A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow" by Joshua S. Goldsteinconservativeclimateactivists dot com

Breaks down the core components of climate change and gives stories about large and small solutions being done. Fantastic overview of the crisis ahead of us in a very readable format. Have purchased several copies for colleagues interested in the topic.

Change happens very slowly - and then all at once. Our climate crises is like car wreck in slow motion. It's not like this is new news. James Hansen from @NASA briefed Congress in 1988. It can't be easy to be a climate scientist. Some are so tired of science based arguments that they started locking their bodies to a White House fence. I don't expect most of these scientists are radical, but hellloooo world we have a problem. So enough doom and gloom - John Doerr breaks it down and offers a plan and a budget to remove 59 gigatons of carbon which enough to prevent catastrophic temperature rise. Not easy, but seem very doable if we have the will. Sure, I drive an EV and have PV panels on my roof, but progress is just too slow and narrow. The message of Speed and Scale resonates with me. Finally a positive message - read it - take hope, take action.

This book should be a must read for anyone who cares about climate change. The issue with climate change is that the problem is so huge and mind boggling that people shy away from action. John doesn’t try to minimize the problem but presents a metrics driven actionable plan that can spur governments, companies and individuals to action. My only regret is that why John didn’t write this book earlier. Everyone needs to read, share with others, pick a cause and drive action to save the life on this beautiful planet.

As a baby boomer raised post WWII, I grew up in the best of times not really knowing the consequences of the lifestyle that everyone shared. We thought nothing of driving long distances just to have lunch or to just go sightseeing. But now we are seeing the impact of unregulated and unbridled economic development. Our planet is telling us in no uncertain terms that we can not continue to ignore the impact that our consumer based economies have on the future of the planet as a whole and on the quality of life for our children and for future generations. The time is now. This is serious and we have little time left to save ourselves and our children’s children. Time to roll up our sleeves and get to work!

This is the BEST all around climate change book!! I’ve done my own research trying to figure out where to put my energies - asking what are the main issues and how do I as an individual make a difference? It’s amazing how difficult it is to answer those two questions, the climate crisis is an overwhelming and confusing mess with no concise guidebook. It’s a never ending black hole of information all over the place and I’m always depressed afterwards feeling like the issue is too big for me to actually make a difference. This book truly sums it all up and puts everything in one place. This is the book that tells me what what the main issues are to focus on and action steps I can take, removes all the legwork for anyone who wants to help but doesn’t know where to start. And the great part is it offers hope. Buy this book today! You won’t regret it.

Not a bad book - digestible and seemingly actionable.However, anyone else have an issue with the super high quality paper? I mean I’m all for quality but does it seem ironic given the subject?

Many people have written and spoken about climate change, but this is the first time it has substance.In this book John Doerr has interviewed and consulted experts and rich people to distill a plan to stall and reverse climate change, all framed, tracked and measured as a series of incredibly clear OKRs: 10 Objectives and 55 Key Results. The website tracks progress towards these and highlights the gaps in our leadership and industry.This book is a must read for anyone & everyone.

The first part of the book was the best (most shocking). The scale of the problem is laid out. The action plan is interesting to read, but is simplistic and too dependent on external political will. Maybe if politicians were to read the book we would get more traction.

I like the structured approach but got lost in the numbers a bit along the way. Still a very good up to date book on climate action.

How do we deal with the climate crisis? In this book John Doerr sets out a plan for the survival of humanity and our planet. If you only read one book about climate change, make it this one. It will give you understanding of the enormity of the challenge and hope that we can achieve it.

Alright read, bit to techno optimistic. Not much detail about the how, only the what.