Chicago, Athens, and Jerusalem

From Reuters:

Bill Gates worries climate money robs health aid

Discussing the money pledged at the Copenhagen climate change summit last month, Gates wrote,

“I am concerned that some of this money will come from reducing other categories of foreign aid, especially health…If just 1 percent of the $100 billion goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases.”

Also,

Taking the focus away from health aid could be bad for the environment in the long run, said Gates, “because improvements in health, including voluntary family planning, lead people to have smaller families, which in turn reduces the strain on the environment.”

Another discussion of Gates’ letter can be found here.

For more information about the trade-offs inherent in trying to solve global problems, read How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place, edited by Bjorn Lomborg.