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2007 Nobel Peace Prize Awarded To Steadfast Environmental Crusaders
The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to
Former US Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change 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. Gore was lauded
for "His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures,
films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change,"
the Nobel 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." The Nobel Committee stated that the IPCC was
awarded the prize also because their two decades of scientific reports
that have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the
connection between human activities and global warming." Created in
1988, the IPCC guides governments by providing scientific reports on the
global warming crisis that is expected to induce large-scale migration
due to climate change occurring now and increasing within the next
thirty years., The IPCC organizes and maintains communications with over
2,500 researchers from around the world and has issued reports and
public statements on the human activities (such as industrial use of
electricity made from burning coal and gas, transportation-related auto
exhaust, and agricultural cattle-related methane) that have caused
climate changes evident in heat waves, floods, melting polar ice, and
super-storm hurricanes. Gore said he would donate his share of the $1.5
million that accompanies the prize to the non-profit Alliance for
Climate Protection. Accepting his prize, Gore said, "...the earth has a
fever. And the fever is rising. The experts have told us it is not a
passing affliction that will heal by itself. We asked for a second
opinion. And a third. And a fourth. And the consistent conclusion,
restated with increasing alarm, is that something basic is wrong. We are
what is wrong, and we must make it right."
Al Gore's Nobel Prize Lecture, Dec. 10, 2007
Everyday
People Climate
Heroes |
Alliance for
Climate Protection
Al Gore
Wiki Biography |
Al Gore
Interview in 2006 |
Al Gore
Video Oct. 13, 2007
The UN IPCC | Nobel Committee | Kyoto Protocol
My Carbon Footprint | Yahoo! Green Carbon Calculator
This Month's Peace Hero
is Arlington West for asking "What is the human cost of war?"
A lot of viewers of the Arlington West cemetery in the sand
are commenting, "That really makes you think."
Photo and Story
"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
What does it tell you when heroes stand strong for social justice, environmental protection, freedom from slavery, nonviolence? That it is possible? What is within each of us to do something that signals an end to hunger, poverty, war? Consider how heroes anywhere --- in your family, neighborhood, country, or worldwide --- demonstrate the desire, courage, and will to make a positive change for a better world.
More About Peace Heroes | Quotations from Peace Heroes
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Examples of a contemporary peace hero include Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela of South Africa, a psychologist who assisted victim families in a forgiveness-reconciliation program with apartheid-era torturers. Another example is Mark Shriver director of US programs for Save The Children. Also, Mairead Corrigan Maguire from Ireland, Mordechai Vanunu from Israel, Craig Keilburger from Canada, Rachel Corrie and Julia Butterfly Hill from the United States.
Do others come to mind? Perhaps John Lennon, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter, Thich Nhat Hanh. And many others without celebrity, without famous names or international media publicity, such as --- Ginetta Sagan, Jean Knudsen Hoffman, and Suzanne Big Crow. The list would also include Mary MacMakin who is working to provide humanitarian aid for widows in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Actually this list could include nearly everyone on earth, if all stories were told. There is a part within each of us called courage, sensibility, and something that is a different word in each language, i.e., What is within you that could add to the beginning of a change to make the world a better place? This website strives to inspire you to find that something.
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