While I think it would be perfectly reasonable to question whether or not we want the man who brought the world the Blue Screen of Death and Clippy focusing his energies on nuclear power, I would still encourage anyone to take the time to watch Bill Gates’ recent TED talk (video below), and to recommend it to friends as well. Why? Because in spite of the fact that in a way it’s just a plug for his investments, and in spite of the fact that the arguments for and against what he said are all over the map (this BoingBoing post was fairly Stepford Wives-ish in tone, but the commenters fixed that in hurry), the fact remains that he did one very positive thing with his talk: he got the media talking about green energy issues (and in a very sticky, contentious way) with his bold assertion that we need to aim not merely for reductions in emissions, but for zero emissions. To me, it’s a tragedy that the politicizing of global warming and emissions issues detracts from the simple fact that we shouldn’t NEED an apocalyptic reason to have a cleaner, more efficient world. What rational argument could there possiby be against doing it just because it MAKES SENSE? In any case, the clip is a bit longish, and Bill’s “hip-three-years-ago” glasses only contribute to the overall “SNL Pat” look he’s sporting these days, but whether you agree with him or not, he throws an important objective on the table, and has generated a lot of green talk just by being Bill Gates. By the way, if you’ve wondered what Bill has been up to since his retirement, check out his site, The Gates Notes.