Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Gore Wins Nobel Price Prize
Gore, U.N. panel win Peace Prize
The former vice president shares the Nobel prize with the climate change committee. His citation says he's done the most to boost worldwide understanding of the challenge. By Alan Zarembo Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 2:50 AM PDT, October 12, 2007 Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today for their campaigns against global warming. "His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change," the citation said. "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted." Gore's decades-long crusade against climate change was captured in the 2006 Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which is seen as a major force in shifting the debate from whether the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet to what should be done about it. The Nobel Peace Prize is likely to increase calls for him to enter the 2008 presidential race, despite his insistence that he has no intention of running. Speculation that Gore might have won the honor picked up Thursday morning after he canceled a last-minute trip to China to discuss global warming with government officials there, which had led him to cancel a fundraising appearance for Sen. Barbara Boxer. The fundraiser was hastily rescheduled at San Francisco's Westin St. Francis Hotel, but Gore gave no indication during the afternoon talk that he had won. Looking relaxed, Gore delivered a 20-minute speech to more than 400 Boxer supporters reprising his call for a new bipartisan, international approach to attacking global warming. He compared the issue with the U.S. and European nations' approach to rebuilding after the ravages of World War II — and the urgency behind such international crises as the AIDs epidemic and Darfur. "They're really moral imperatives disguised as political problems," Gore said. "Our challenge is to see them in their true light." After the speech, with Boxer at his side, the crowd erupted in a chant of "Run, Al, run!" Gore responded by waving his arms sideways, hands down, in a sign to cut off the cheer. Only recently has global warming become a key political issue in the United States. Gore, 59, was one of the first politicians to call attention to the issue, first as a Tennessee congressman and then senator in 1980s. He ran for president in 1988, he said, largely to draw attention to what he viewed as looming environmental catastrophe -- a platform that, like his campaign, failed to connect with voters. During the 1992 presidential race, Gore's views, encapsulated in his book released that year, "Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit," continued to be a dividing point. As vice president, he helped negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases. U.S. participation was stymied by the Senate, which passed a resolution opposing any agreement that did not require mandatory cuts for developing nations. After losing the 2000 presidential race, one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history, Gore refocused his efforts on the environment. He updated his old slideshow presentation on global warming and began showing it to audiences around the world. It became the basis for "An Inconvenient Truth," which won the 2007 Oscar for best documentary feature. His supporters have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in hopes that he can be persuaded to run for president again. Earlier this week, the website draftgore.com ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times. "You say you have fallen out of love with politics, and you have every reason to feel that way," the letter said. "But we know you have not fallen out of love with your country. And your country needs you now -- as do your party and the planet you are fighting so hard to save." Times Staff Writer Scott Martelle and the Associated Press contributed to this report. - - - A terrific honor for Al and the United States. And Bush, of course, will be recognized by the International Association of Corporate Robberbarons for "Warmongering Under False Pretenses," while Dick Cheney will receive the trophy for "Best Bag of a Two-Legged Predator while on a Canned Hunt." |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Fuel price, shmuel price.....boats selling at record numbers in Wash state | General | |||
Nobel Prize in Physics | ASA | |||
List Price: $99.99 Price: $69.88 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. You Save: $30.11 (30%) | General | |||
A future Nobel prize winner on a former winner | Cruising | |||
Win a prize | Boat Building |