Al Gore, Nobel Laureate
I realise that Al Gore isn't particularly popular amongst Americans, but he seems to have won the respect of the rest of the world. Accused of lacking personality during the United States Presidential Election in 2000, this is a man who has shown himself to be an intelligent, articulate and good-humoured guy who is passionate about his message.
Climate change is a contentious issue given our limited understanding of Earth's temperature fluctuations and our even more limited weather records, dating back only a very short time in the grand scheme of things. It's easy to understand why people disagree on whether climate change has anything to do with man-made emissions or not, but one thing that should be easy to agree on is that reducing them can't in itself be a bad thing. All that's left to work out is the finer points of when, and by how much.
People don't act on good ideas alone. Prompting people into action requires the dedicated application of publicity in such a way as to personalise the issue for them. If you can make people understand how they're involved, and keep the issue current, there's some chance that you'll be able to overcome the boundless laziness of humanity and actually get people to do something positive.
Agree with him or not, Al Gore is doing his part to keep the message out there, phrased in an accessible way and delivered via accessible media. His political weight has helped garner him additional publicity for a campaign against climate change which has seen him win a Nobel Peace Prize which he shares with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In his acceptance speech he said that losing the 2000 election made him search for other opportunities to generate publicity for an issue which has always been important to him.
Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken — if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose.
Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, "We must act."
He's clearly still mourning his lost opportunity in 2000, but he's not the only one. We've now had the chance to get to know both men on the world stage and I hope you'll forgive me for saying that if the roles were reversed, I don't think George W Bush would have ever won a Nobel Prize of any kind.
Comparing these two, its hard to see how Bush was elected once, let alone twice. I have no intention of forgiving America for that anytime soon. Five minutes of airtime is enough to see that Bush would earn his place at a war crimes trial, and that he would escape punishment on grounds of diminished capacity.
As Al Gore continues to attract praise and adulation, I too mourn his loss in 2000.
I'll leave you with another excerpt from his acceptance speech:
The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door."
The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?" or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?"
| AP: Excerpts from Gore's Nobel Prize Speech |
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For about 10 minutes, this post erroneously claimed that Gore had won an Oscar for his film An Inconvenient Truth.
While the film did win two Oscars for Best Documentary, and Best Original Song, Gore was not personally awarded either.
I’d made the leap of connecting “his film” and pictures of him holding the award, to him actually having won an Oscar.
My bad.
Al Gore is actually very popular among Americans; in fact, he won the popular vote in 2000. It just so happened that his brother was the governor of Florida, which somehow had the most voting scandal.
Most Americans didn’t know what he was really about until he had a movie made. We are purely a visual country. Pretty colors and moving things win us over every time, which is why American news channels are packed with drivel.
The most criticism Gore has had recently is that he has taken private jets, and most importantly, he gained weight.
*Important Correction*
Bush’s brother (Jeb) was governor of Florida, not Gore.
Yep, I’m painfully aware of the election fiasco, but after that his popularity seemed to dwindle as he left politics and began campaigning on the climate change platform.
I’m encouraged to hear that his popularity has since increased, but I guess I feel like being liked by half the people isn’t really even close to how he’s perceived elsewhere.
I completely understand the criticisms of his compound, and private jet travel, but I think a little logic needs to be applied.
It would be pretty difficult for him to give as much personal attention to the cause if he fired his staff and walked everywhere.
True, there are very few public flight companies.
Definitely, Definitely, should have taken Qantas.
HAHA, that isn’t what I mean. Obviously he could have booked public flights, but I can certainly understand the difficulties in close scheduling.
If he hadn’t taken a private jet, we’d be reading complaints about him flying at all, or worse, stories of airlines coddling him by rudely bumping other passengers from connecting flights so he could attend another silly conference.
I don’t see the criticism as particularly logical given that he flies with staff, and that an entourage is hard to accommodate at short notice.
As you were saying, no matter what he does he will be criticized…as long as he is alive.
No one wants to be criticized for their consumption and waste, whether it be food or gas, so there has to be a backlash when someone spreads the word of change but doesn’t seem to be listening. It would be like Gandhi buying Fruit of the Loom.
I had to google around a little to educate myself on how climate change relates to peace, but I’m now satisfied that they’ve recognised it as a unifying force.
More and more we’re beginning to realise that borders mean very little when we’re all breathing the same air, and as we move toward greater sustainability we find ourselves more willing to make cleaner and more efficient technologies available more cheaply, to less developed nations.
This really is a step forward for peace. A well-deserved (shared) Nobel Prize indeed.
As for Gore’s critics, they’d do well to pay more attention. All he’s ever asked is for people to reduce their carbon emissions either directly or by offset, not eliminate them entirely.
Only those prepared to start counting their own carbon consumption should be bold enough to count his. This is a man who has done more to offset his own carbon emissions than anyone could ever hope to.
He could take the space shuttle to his local grocery store every week and still come out ahead. Should he? of course not, but she shouldn’t criple his efforts for the sake of a few people who can’t help yelling “fuck you, you aint perfect.”
Nobody’s asking for perfection, but a little cooperation would be nice.