Folks, I’ve been saying that if you haven’t already, you NEED to see An Inconvenient Truth. If it doesn’t change the way you look at the world, then you probably have no heart. (Grin!)
I also previously reported that Gore had been Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. This is not just because he made a movie and won an Oscar, it’s because he has devoted his private life to the cause of climate change – and like it or not many, many, many people happen to agree with him and are happy he is carrying out this work.
So, today Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
“for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”
It’s too early to see the announcement on video, but Nobel has a YouTube channel which will no doubt post the video of this announcement shortly. View it here.
Now I will admit, I am a convert. I am a wealthy capitalist pig. I own a big truck that gets 13 MPG, and I use way too much electricity in my house. I also make lots of garbage. But when I saw Gore’s movie with my family – it completely changed the way I look at the world. There have maybe been a total of 5 pieces of literature in my life that have done that.
It has been my experience that the people who don’t give Gore the credit he now deserves have not taken the time to hear what he has to say, or do some independent research to verify whether he is a nut-job, or a visionary.
In addition to An Inconvenient Truth, I also recommend studying the IPCC Report: Global Warming Consequences. These two sources of information may seem one sided, so after you’ve seen them both I encourage you to seek opposing views and then evaluate which one seems to have greater merit. I’ve made my choice.
Other articles to research:
I find it strange that Professor Lonnie G. Thompson, of Ohio State University, School of Earth Sciences & Byrd Polar Research Center didn’t receive 1/4 Nobel Prize with Mr. Gore. According to the Nobel Website 1/2 the Nobel Peace Prize went to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and it was split with Mr. Al Gore. I think it would be only right that Mr. Gore should split 1/2 his prize with Professor Thompson.
If one didn’t fall asleep in Mr. Gore’s movie, one would know Mr. Gore received a majority of the Scientific Date and Information for his movie from Professor Lonnie G. Thompson, a man who has spent more time above 18,000 feet than any other person on Earth, according to Rolling Stone Magazine. Can someone tell me why the Nobel Foundation didn’t recognize Glaciologist Professor Lonnie G. Thompson and why he didn’t receive 1/4 award, if Mr. Gore presented his Scientific Date / Information in his film?
Even if man-made climate change doesn’t exist, shouldn’t we be doing what we can to protect the environment we live in? If it doesn’t exist, or we’re not having as much of an impact on the planet as some think we are, then in my eyes that’s still no excuse to stop recyling our rubbish, recycling our water etc etc.
And with that said, I do believe, and always have believed, that humans are playing a significant role in changing the climate of our planet and I am grateful to Al Gore for using his status to bring it to the average Joe.
And with *that* said, I invite you to view the ‘Nine Errors’ in Gore’s movie: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7037671.stm We gotta have a balanced debate, right? :)
It’s unfortunate but I cannot hear anything about Al Gore without thinking about how he is often (somewhat falsely and derisively) referenced as having once claimed to have created the Internet. Tainted forever for many web-surfers.
In any case I’ve always wondered a little bit about who they award Nobel Prizes to. They sometimes seem a bit off to me.
Hmmm. That is a very good question Brian.
I’m going to guess that the main reason Gore would receive the award, even though he is not the scientist doing the research, is that he was almost single handedly responsible for raising the level of debate to stratospheric heights.
It is not always about being the first person to have information. It is sometimes about how effectively you are able to act on it.
John
Thanks for sharing that Jamie. I’m glad you did and I think it is quite interesting. Although I think it’s downright silly that a “Judge” would evaluate the validity of scientific claims. There are just so many things wrong with that, I don’t know where to begin. ;-)
John
Derek,
I think many people are stuck in that same mindset, although it is patently false. Here is a direct excerpt from Snopes on the subject:
It is sad that an Urban Legend like this can destroy a person’s reputation. If this had happened in any arena other than politics, there would have been a massive defamation of character lawsuit.
John
Al Gore didn’t win an Academy Award. Davis Guggenheim carried on his family tradition of winning Oscars and Melissa Etheridge won for her original song “I Need to Wake Up.”
That aside, I agree that Mr. Gore deserves the prize for his single-minded pursuit of solutions for global warming.
I do recall him over and over again talking about the “information superhighway” in the 1992 election and I was thinking “is this something other than email, bbs, AOL, and all the things we already had in place. It sounded like something beyond what was already inevitable but it wasn’t, it was Al and Bill taking credit for what was going to happen.
By the way, due to my leadership tonight, the sun will rise tomorrow. :D
I’m not really into politics (especially US) but I saw Al Gore one they a tv and I must say that the work that he has done deserves a nobel prize.
S:
Go Al! There is no one more deserving IMO. Imagine that we let this man slip away as President and allowed “Pees on Himself” Elmo too take his place. You won’t see GW winning this award…or any Republican any time soon for that matter. Sour grapes.