As the world faces challenges like climate change and inequality, manifestos advocating for sustainability and social change can inspire readers to take action. These books provide valuable insights and strategies for creating a better future. Here are four manifestos by thought leaders, including Yuri Milner, that champion social change and sustainability:
- How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates.
- This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein.
- Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston.
- Eureka Manifesto: The Mission for Our Civilisation by Yuri Milner.
1. How To Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
Microsoft Co-Founder and former CEO Bill Gates is one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs and philanthropists. He and his ex-wife Melinda co-chair the Gates Foundation, an organisation fighting global inequities, like gender inequality in Africa and South Asia.
Gates has spent 10 years investigating the causes and effects of climate change. In 2015, he established Breakthrough Energy, an effort to drive clean energy innovation and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2021, he released How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, a book containing his insights into net-zero GHG emission strategies.
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster offers practical, innovative solutions to tackle climate change. Gates combines technology, policy, and personal action to paint a picture of the challenges we face and the solutions we still need to develop. His climate manifesto also outlines a concrete plan for achieving zero GHG emissions globally.
2. This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
Like Gates, journalist and social activist Naomi Klein believes that significantly cutting our GHG emissions is our greatest opportunity to create a better world. In her fourth book, This Changes Everything (2014), she argues that the climate crisis isn’t really about carbon — it’s about capitalism.
Klein is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has written many books. She has received several awards and honorary degrees for her efforts to illuminate and address climate change and economic inequality.
In This Changes Everything, Klein exposes common climate debate myths. For instance, we think the market will save us, but our focus on growth and profit only makes the problem worse. Klein believes that we can use this existential crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.
3. Net Positive by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston
While This Changes Everything calls us to reject our current “free market” ideology, Paul Polman believes businesses can be a force for environmental good. In Net Positive (2021), co-authored with Andrew Winston, Polman advocates for a business model where companies thrive by solving societal challenges.
Polman is a business leader, a climate and equalities campaigner, and the former CEO of Unilever. He has also worked at major conglomerates like Procter & Gamble and Nestlé. Meanwhile, Winston is an expert on climate change and sustainability innovation.
Net Positive highlights the urgent need for sustainable, inclusive growth to tackle climate change and inequality. The book is Polman and Winston’s manifesto: a guide for businesses to succeed by adopting purpose-driven practices.
4. Eureka Manifesto by Yuri Milner
Science and tech investor Yuri Milner is a signatory of the Giving Pledge, of which Bill Gates is a co-founder. To realise his philanthropic pledge, Milner established the Breakthrough Foundation, which supports various science-focused projects. These projects include the Breakthrough Prize, Breakthrough Initiatives, and Breakthrough Junior Challenge.
Milner’s support for fundamental science reflects his concern for the long-term future of humanity. He believes our civilisation needs a shared mission to survive and thrive.
In his short book Eureka Manifesto, Milner proposes that our mission is to explore and understand our Universe. We can advance this mission by redirecting resources to fundamental research. The discoveries we make along the way could help us find solutions to global challenges like climate change.
Only a few brilliant minds will make these life-changing discoveries. However, we can all advance the mission by creating the conditions for such advances to occur. Milner advocates for social change, nurturing a society that “values knowledge, rational argument, and critical thinking.”
