Al Gore And IPCC Panel Win The Nobel Prize
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10.12.07
This just noted from the Financial Times:-
Al Gore, former US vice president, and the UN climate panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for raising awareness of the risks of climate change.The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Gore and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to share the $1.5m prize from a field of 181 candidates.
The choice of Mr Gore will give rise to concerns - for US conservatives at least - about the perceived politicisation of the prize, previously awarded to Jimmy Carter and Mohamed El Baradei. It raises questions about the broadening of the prize’s criteria beyond the traditional understanding of peacemaking.
Within moments of the announcement began the speculations as to whether Mr. Gore will run for US President. As important, is the question of whether US presidential candidate debates will now tackle climate change in a serious way. Time to get past the "make more ethanol" one-off that the current crop of candidates use to curry favor in the farm belt. The desirability of voluntary technology improvements, carbon caps, carbon taxes, and expanded R&D programs can no longer be begged.
Thanks to the IPCC, to Mr Gore, and now to the Nobel Committee, US politicians have again been offered a "Big Idea" they can take seriously. The Nobel Award offers an opportunity for a real world leader to emerge from presidential debates.
For background on this news, please see Kara's earlier posts here, and here.
Update:: The Chicago Tribune reports
"The committee cited the Panel on Climate Change for two decades of scientific reports that have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.""Members of the panel, a network of 2,000 scientists, were surprised that it was chosen to share the honor with Gore, a spokeswoman said."
Update::The New York Times reports that
"He said he would donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization devoted to conveying the urgency of solving the climate crisis."
Via::Financial Times, "Gore wins Nobel peace prize" Image credit::World News Network, Norway Globe
Congrats Mr. Gore. and the IPCC. Great news.
Al Gore, congratulations on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Now it is time to announce your wish to become America's president, take your seat in the White House, and be the leader we have all been waiting for to move beyond the corrupt system of Empire and towards Earth community. Kudos to the Nobel Committee for realizing that sustainability is peace.
The Monks should have gotten it.
this is a good day
like when a box turtle crossed my path on the trail the other day
I feel that there is hope for the world
www.gwadzilla.blogspot.com
a bicycle blog
I hope he starts mentioning the role animal agriculture has in global warming and environmental degradation now...
And before people start calling me a silly vegan, look at the reports coming out of credible groups that certainly don't have a vegan agenda, which cite animal agriculture as one of the biggest causes of global warming.
"...It raises questions about the broadening of the prize’s criteria beyond the traditional understanding of peacemaking."
The connection between responsible environmentalism and peace is one that often eludes people. I hope this will broaden the understanding of what constitutes peace.
I hope he starts mentioning the role animal agriculture has in global warming and environmental degradation now...
You hope that he starts mentioning something that accounts for 2.5% of US greenhouse gas emissions?
And before people start calling me a silly vegan, look at the reports coming out of credible groups that certainly don't have a vegan agenda, which cite animal agriculture as one of the biggest causes of global warming.
Only silly vegans keep referring to that report from the FAO, yet refuse to read it in full and also neglect its other content, like its assertion about all the upsides of both livestock and animal product consumption and their lack of mention of veganism, animal rights, and so forth.
Since you know so much, in that FAO report, what did they say are the two things which account for almost all of the indirect emissions in their model? Do you know?
I changed someone's bicycle tire tube the other day.
I hope that puts me in the running for a Nobel.
I wonder what's been happening with the Gore family's coal business? Or is it a carbon trading thing now or something? Didn't he invent the internet? What's the latest? Now president? They played on our fears!
Sorry, I am ranting. Shouldn't it be a science prize? Yes, I realize there are terrible social and geo-political consequences coming due to peak oil and land litterally changing before our eyes.
I think the prize should go to those who get affordable alternative energy and transportation to the masses. Where will Tesla Motors be and what will they be doing in 5 - 10 years?
How efficient will photovoltaics be in 5 - 10 years and what new materials might they be made of?
Who will really launch the nation into a moonshot like initiative to make alternatives really workable and implemented? Grassroots is great but it's not enough.
This stuff needs $$ and creative financing.
The U.S. needs to mass produce real things again and export them instead of buying disposeable stuff from China.
I know I am missing a lot of points right now from shock probably. I would like to belive but I am just not there (yet?).
I still think Al Gore is owed a prize for inventing the Internet. :-)
Congrats Mr. Gore!!
As for running for president.... I am sure you would make a great one. But who in there right mind would want to inheret the mess Bush and Congress have made of this economy and our country? You would be much more effective as a statesman and spokesperson where your hands are not tied by Congressmen that are afraid of losing their cozy seat by voting for changes in the same ole way its always been done
Don
Draft Gore! He would be in the best position to help change the world to a reasonable global solution to global warming.
Gore in '08! He was the first against the Iraq war and has maintained his opposition to continued troop presence.
For everyone's information, that quote about the internet was entirely bogus -- he only claimed, truthfully, that in the Senate he helped initiate the legislation that supported the deveilopment of the internet. Check your sources.
For more info about the petition to place Gore on the primary ballot in major states (along with local sites) and how to download the petition(s) to sign, check:
http://www.draftgore.com
To bad you have filtered out the opposing comments, like mine, saying how in the world did this ***** get the Nobel when our real peace makers and protectors are out there sacrificing to keep us safe. Our soldiers are my heroes, not Mr. Gore.
I am offended and sad for our country today.
And it's the cows fault? Give me a break!. Global warming is simply a natural earth cycle, proven by about the same number of scientists (and NASA) that you can dig up to say we humans are the problem. You people just can't get over the fact that we, as a human race, are insignificant to this 5 billion year old planet. We'll be gone and it will keep chugging along.
Thank you.
PS. Intelligent comments only...how about the animal agriculture comment?
==== author's response follows ====
To each his or her own hero.
Heroism is not a zero sum game either: i.e. you don't have to disdain or de-legitimize one personal hero to add a new one.
Name calling and personal attacks are discouraged here. Hence a single word was edited out.
"Our soldiers are my heroes"
"I am offended and sad for our country today."
"Global warming is simply a natural earth cycle"
"You people just can't get over the fact that we, as a human race, are insignificant to this 5 billion year old planet."
Wow.
"You people just can't get over the fact that we, as a human race, are insignificant to this 5 billion year old planet."
This could be considered true. If we don't blow up our planet I have a good feeling it will be around for at least another 5 billion years. The problem is anyone going to around to see it. Global warming should be viewed as saving human civilization not saving the planet. What are we really trying to do? I believe that we as a society think that we are trying to save the world from global warming, but in reality what we're really trying to do is save ourselves from global warming (a.k.a. ourselves).
"Global warming is simply a natural earth cycle"
This is very true, global warming is a natural earth cycle. The problem with this statement is that the author forgot to mention that what we all know is that temperature is related to carbon dioxide, NOx (which is about 135 times worst than CO2), and other pollutants. Humans have contributed significantly to concentration of these pollutants in the atmosphere. I'm sorry, but how can the global warming we're experiencing now be natural. Unless, the process of humans becoming technologically advanced and as a cause destroying our environment is considered natural?
Congrats Al Gore! I think he should run for the presidency. Something needs to be done to change the way our society gets its energy and now. I would vote for him.
AS THE PLANET HEATS UP, YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
AP – Al Gore has for a long time been full of hot air. He has a vivid imagination about the world. His mistrust of the seasons seems to stem from an episode of the Twilight Zone, in which the Earth gets too close to the Sun. Al is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures needed to create a more effective global antiperspirant.
If college roommate Tommy Lee Jones, could save the City of Los Angeles from errant magma (Volcano), and the world entire from a giant cockroach (Men In Black), then Al Gore deserves a prize for his initiative to combat global wetness. The same trusted formula that kept our leaders dry during the Cold War. Clinton tested: guaranteed to leave no trace.
The committee that awarded Al Gore the Nobel Peace Prize included a university president, a theologian, and a consultant. Moe, Larry, and Curly could not be reached for comment. And, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with whom Gore shares the prize, does not carry out research, nor does it monitor climate or related phenomena. Given the newfound legitimacy for Global Warming, a “private group” out of Monterey, California, vies to seed the North Atlantic with iron oxide to help plankton absorb carbon dioxide (greenhouse gasses). Strategy: “cleanup the planet and make a buck on the side.”
So, to whom did Al Gore donate the $1.8 million dollar Nobel purse? Who is the Alliance for Climate Protection? Perhaps not coincidentally, Al Gore is the founder and chairman of the § 501(c)(3) alliance. Three guesses who the IPCC are. But why shouldn’t grasping politicians preempt science for their own agendas? Aren’t they doing it for the collective good? Aren’t their distortions justified, because they are “good”? Isn’t this just leftist psychology? Why should the facts stand in the way; after all, when it came to pirating the “Peace Dividend” to create that new cultural paradigm, the venture really paid off: http://theseedsof9-11.com