The following is the complete statement given this morning by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in their announcement that Al Gore and the International Panel on Climate Change had won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. 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.
Indications of changes in the earth’s future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.
Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent.
Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control.
Oslo, 12 October 2007
There are just so many myths. But Bjorn Lomborg had a piece in the Washington Post over the weekend and said this crisis over global warming is ridiculous. He said, we could stipulate anything we want. We could stipulate that warming is happening, which everybody thinks it is. We could even stipulate that man’s contributing to it. It’s not a crisis! In fact, it may lead to a whole lot of good things happening. It’s based on the premise: Who are we to say that the climate, as it exists now, is the only climate we can ever have and we must save it or we’re dead? That’s absurd.
…Well, you know, it is interesting. There’s a post at National Review Online today by Iain Murray, and he addresses this point. He says, "While Al Gore is the favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a British court has found that his film is both partisan and contains no fewer than 11 material inaccuracies that need to be drawn to students’ attention if it’s going to be shown in the schools there. As for the impending Nobel award, am I the only one who finds it depressing that while past laureates like Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer spent decades working with the poor, in terrible conditions, Gore wins for making a movie? Moreover, a movie of himself giving a lecture? Moreover, a movie whose upshot is that the poor in Calcutta and West Africa should be denied access to the energy that can lift them out of poverty?" So it’s a great point: What’s he done? But the Nobel Peace Prize in recent years hasn’t been about "peace," anyway. It’s been about liberal activism. How do you explain Jimmy Carter getting the Nobel Peace Prize? Jimmy Carter is single-handedly responsible for the nation of Iran, the Islamic Republican of Iran being the state sponsor of worldwide terror today. Jimmy Carter gets a Nobel Peace Prize!
Contempt is the emotion of murderers. If I hold you in contempt, I’m not just disagreeing with what you say, or what you do, I’m disagreeing with what you are. It’s the emotion of racism, the kind that leads to hangings or genicide. It’s the emotion of killers and thieves. And it’s unfortunately the dominant emotional climate of the group mentioned in the last paragraph. When Rush Limbaugh says "liberal activism," he is defining whatever he means by that as "evil." In that simple paragraph, Jimmy Carter helped cause worldwide terror and Al Gore is keeping people in poverty. His attack is not towards what these men do, it’s towards what they are – [evil] liberal activists. He might as well say, "Off with their heads!" "Snuff ’em out!" There is no antedote to contempt. No one has ever won an argument with a contemptuous person. How could you win? What you say doesn’t matter because what you are is simply a bad thing – no matter what comes out of your mouth, or what you do.
Were I Al Gore, I would not run for President. As big a problem as global warming is, I think he stands more of a chance of doing something about it than he stands against the contemptuous political climate in America right now. While I prefer other candidates in the Democratic Primaries, I’m rooting for Barak Obama. I think he stands the best chance of weathering the contemptuous barrage that basically shut Jimmy Carter down, that dogged Bill Clinton unmercifully, and is now focused on the Democratic Candidates, Primarily Ms. Cinton. In my opinion, Obama has the best-case persona to deal with those attacks. I’m not so sure that alone, he’s got the best policy mind, but he’s a regular guy who can draw on his colleagues’ wisdom. It’s his thick skin and non-defensiveness on his feet that I like. Even if there’s a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, America’s biggest enemy right now remains the hate-mongering contempt industry.
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