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How to Save the World for Just a Trillion Dollars by Rowan Hooper

Discover how $1 trillion could tackle the world’s biggest challenges.

ByChris

How to Save the World for Just a Trillion Dollars by Rowan Hooper explores how some of the planet’s biggest problems could be realistically addressed with strategic investments. Hooper shows that $1 trillion is dwarfed by global wealth and government spending, making large-scale solutions achievable. 

Focusing on issues like poverty, disease, and climate action, the book offers strategies for creating meaningful change without relying on politics or military intervention.

World Poverty

  • Scale of poverty
    • 760 million people live on less than $2/day
    • $1 trillion split among them ≈ $1,315 per person
  • Universal Basic Income (UBI)
    • Large-scale trials: people worked more, not less
    • Tested formats: lump sums, installments, unconditional, suggested-use
    • Less spent on temptation goods (alcohol, tobacco)
    • More spent on food, health, women’s empowerment, political engagement
    • Sri Lanka: one-time gift → income up 64-96% after one year
    • Labeling cash for education cut dropouts by 70% (even without enforcement)
    • Education → higher earnings + better life outcomes
  • Breaking the poverty trap
    • Metal roof: lasts 10+ years, collects rainwater
    • Straw roof: ~$150/year, short-term solution
    • Upfront investment barrier keeps people trapped in survival cycles
  • Example $1T budget
    • Universal education (10 years): $400B
    • Cash transfers: $600B

Cure All Diseases

  • The trillions spent on COVID showed massive ROI potential of preparedness
  • Current health challenges
    • Malaria (2018): 228M cases, 400K deaths (mostly children under 5)
    • Has killed ~1/2 of all humans in history; recorded as early as 2700 BC
    • Tuberculosis: 2M deaths/year
    • Tropical diseases: affect 1B+ people/year
    • Goal: universal treatment + near-zero lethality (not zero illness)
  • Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
    • High ROI via added Value-Adjusted Life Years (VALYs)
    • Achievable in less than a generation
    • Example: Ethiopia — 3 doctors per 100,000 → high child/maternal mortality
  • Vaccines
    • Main challenges: development + distribution (not tech)
    • ROI of 21-54% in low-income countries
    • Polio: 350,000 cases/year → 33 cases/year
      • 1.5M lives saved
      • 18M paralyses prevented
      • $40-50B saved globally
    • $3.5B could enable vaccines ready in 100 days for new outbreaks
  • Cell Mapping
    • Retina alone has 100+ cell types
    • Key to understanding biology
    • Enables regenerative medicine, organ repair, precision treatments
    • Ex: Wilms tumor treated by regenerating healthy kidney cells 
    • Ex: Cystic fibrosis linked to newly discovered pulmonary ionocyte
  • Example budget: $868B
    • UHC in Ethiopia (for example case): $100B
    • Vaccine Preparations: $100B
    • Malaria & Tropical Diseases (mosquito gene modifications): $100B
    • TB eradication: $23B
    • HIV & other infections: $30B
    • Antibiotic resistance: $10B
    • Human Cell Atlas: $5B
    • Major diseases research (heart, cancer, neuro): $300B
    • Regenerative medicine & lifespan: $200B

Climate Change

  • CO₂ is a key greenhouse gas due to heat-trapping effect
    • Emissions: ~20B tons/year (1988) → 37B tons/year (now)
    • ~50% of all historical emissions occurred in the last 30 years
    • CO₂ concentration: 280 ppm (pre-industrial) → 420+ ppm (now)
    • 2°C warming → sea levels will rise for centuries, threatening ~630M people (including NYC, London, Mumbai)
    • Potential economic damage: ~$70T this century
  • Continued Reliance
    • Oil demand projected to rise 35% by 2030
    • China adding 200 GW of coal (≈ current EU total)
    • India still ~50% coal-powered
  • Urgency & Economics
    • ~10 years left to stay below 1.5°C at current rates
    • Cost of action: ~$2.5T/year to 2050
    • Savings: ~$20T by 2050 in avoided damage
  • LCOE research shows renewables are more economical
    • Wind potential in North Dakota, Texas, Kansas could power the entire U.S.
  • Grid Feasibility
    • Berkeley study: 139-country grid simulations (every 30 seconds for 5 years)
    • 100% renewable grids are technically and economically viable
    • Main barrier is political, not technical
  • Path to net zero
    • Global cost to reach net-zero by 2050: ~$100T (~$3T/year)
    • U.S. share: ~$7.8T → 3.1M jobs created
  • Example $1T budget
    • Renewable deployment: $860B
    • Hydrogen economy: $50B
    • EVs & rail incentives: $25B
    • Nuclear development: $35B
    • Net-zero buildings: $10B
    • Industrial decarbonization: $20B

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