October 12th, 2007
Is more Gore a bore? Or something to adore? Nobel reverb sounds around the world
Al Gore’s sharing the Nobel Peace Prize will become an outstanding moment in the history of the world’s reaction to climate change. Brilliant or horrific depending on your interpretaton. Gore and the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will share the $1.5 million Nobel Peace Prize. The IPCC has a landmark meeting next month in Spain. The head of the Nobel prize committee was very clear he wants global warming to become of global concern, and action.
He said, “I want this prize to have everyone . . . every human being, asking what they should do.”
Gore’s comment, “The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level,”
Of course, he isn’t naive enough to really believe that climate change can be de-politicized in the U.S. The individual’s view of climate change and what shoud or could be done about it has become almost as much of a political litmus test in the U.S. as an opinion on abortion or the Iraq War. Millions of lobbying dollars have been spent in the U.S. to make the issue seem political and highly congtroversial. So, of course, politics instantly enetered into coverage of Gore’s Nobel Prize.
Reuters, a British-based news agency, headlined Gore’s prize as a “blow to [President] Bush.” Reuters also reported the White House’s comment today that President George W. Bush was happy to see Gore and the IPCC win the Nobel Prize. Here in the U.S. Fox News immediately went to the 2008 Presidential campaign, “Will Al Gore Run?” That would be a frightening prospect for most of Fox’s conservative viewers as he is seen as less likely to lose than current Democratic candidates.
So this peace prize may be even more controversial than most. Some sites went straight to the argument, “Did Gore deserve the prize?” A French news agency covered the Canadian candidate who didn’t win. She was glad, she said to see the earth win this one.
What will Gore do with his money? He’s giving it to the Alliance for Climate Protection.
Clearly the Nobel Committee was not moved by the British judge who ruled that Gore’s documentary was less than accurate on several key points. They made this award will the full intention of making Gore a universal symbol of the forces trying to get the nations and people of the planet to seriously deal with global warming. This will only serve to further infuriate those who choose to doubt or scoff at the need to do anything. Somewhere the shade of Darwin must be watching this and nodding in the knowledge that this is a test of fitness for the human species.
What does this mean in the green tech world? Likely more government money from developed countries or those with petro-dollars. Imagine what Venezuela could do with all its sunshine, or Bahrain. For tech in general it just gives impetus to a trend already forming. Get green. Like this ad I first noticed this week from AMD. We may all get a little green and queasy from all the corporations touting their own special greenness and love for the planet. Let’s hope they mean at least a little of it.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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