how to save the world for just a trillion dollars by rowan hooper

World Poverty
  • ~760 million people live under $2/day
  • $1T spread globally would still be only ~$1,315 per person
  • UBI trials show people often work more, not less
  • More spending goes toward food, health, and stability
  • Women’s empowerment and civic engagement increase
  • Targeted cash programs raise long-term income
  • Education-linked aid reduces dropout rates sharply
  • Education improves lifetime earnings and wellbeing
  • Poverty traps persist due to upfront cost barriers
  • Durable investments can break recurring expense cycles
Cure All Diseases
  • Large pandemic spending demonstrated high ROI of preparedness
  • Major disease burdens remain preventable or treatable
  • Malaria causes hundreds of millions of cases and high child mortality
  • Tuberculosis still kills ~2M people annually
  • Tropical diseases affect over a billion people yearly
  • Goal is near-zero lethality rather than zero illness
  • Health investments often yield strong economic returns
  • Vaccine development and distribution are the main bottlenecks
  • Vaccines have historically produced very high ROI in low-income regions
  • Cell mapping improves understanding of disease at a biological level
  • Advances in cell biology enable regenerative and precision medicine
  • Large-scale funding across diseases could accelerate global health gains
Climate Change
  • CO₂ is the major greenhouse gas
  • Emissions have risen sharply, especially in recent decades
  • Atmospheric CO₂ increased from 280 ppm to 420+ ppm
  • Warming above 2°C could displace hundreds of millions via sea level rise
  • Long-term economic damage could reach tens of trillions
  • Urgency exists to limit warming to 1.5°C
  • Fossil fuel demand is still projected to grow in coming years
  • Coal expansion continues in major economies
  • Large-scale transition costs are high but offset by long-term savings
  • Renewables are increasingly cost-competitive
  • 100% renewable energy systems are technically feasible
  • Main barrier to transition is political rather than technical
  • Net-zero transition requires major global investment
  • Large-scale decarbonization could create millions of jobs

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