Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Al Gore Nobel Nominee

The fight for the global climate is a fight for peace, say members of parliament Børge Brende and Heidi Sørensen, and they have nominated former US Vice-president Al Gore for a share of the Nobel Peace Prize. The two green-thinking MPs suggest that Gore share the prize with Inuit Sheila Watt-Cloutier, in recognition for their efforts to put the danger posed by climate change on the global political agenda.

"This is clearly, absolutely, one of the important efforts to achieve conflict prevention. Climate change can lead to enormous flows of refugees on a scale the world has never seen before. Fighting climate change is immensely important work for global peace," Heidi Sørensen, member of parliament for the Socialist Left Party (SV), told Aftenposten.

"The Nobel Committee has previously been adept at addressing new threats with their awards. Climate change is one of the greatest and most serious threats humanity faces. The United Nations' climate panel now maintains that the earth may be changed more in the next 100 years than in the 10,000 years since the last ice age," Conservative Party MP and former Minister of the Environment Børge Brende said.

The former US VP has toured the world the past year with the film "An Inconvenient Truth", which has actualized the climate change issue for a great many people. Gore has worked with environmental issues for over 20 years and had a decisive role in forming the Kyoto protocol for reducing CO2 emissions in 1997.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a Canadian Inuit and for years has been one of the leaders of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which represents over 150,000 Inuit. In recent years she has concentrated on focusing attention on the rapid warming taking place in the Arctic, and made a massive effort to explain to world leaders that the Arctic is the planet's barometer of climate change.

"Climate change is also a threat to global welfare. One hundred million climate refugees, major changes in potable water supply and a reduction in biological diversity that will first and foremost hit the poor who live in and depend upon nature - these things will quickly become a major security threat," Brende said.

"Al Gore has done a very important job as former US VP and has created so much pressure in the USA that for the first time President Bush must now say that climate change is a problem. No other single person in the last year has done so much to put the threat of climate change on the agenda, and contributed to lasting changes in international policy," Børge Brende said.

"Gore played a key role in Kyoto and Sheila Watt-Cloutier has opened the world's eyes to what is happening in the Arctic. When she communicated this, the climate debate took a new and important turn. She has communicated the drama and given it a face," Heidi Sørensen said.

This is absolutely fantastic news! Al Gore and Ms. Cloutier most definitely deserve to share this prize for their work on the environment. And climate change is most definitely a crisis that is and will cause conflict over resources such as water and land. I am so very pleased for him and for Ms. Cloutier, and thank these Norwegian parliament members for their nomination.

He now has so much more to do regarding the environment and this crisis, and I am so gratified that he is finally getting recognition for that. With this award he would not only have half the prize to put towards his work, but he has so many options open to him now as a free man. He is taking his Climate Project to Asia, Latin America, and Africa per a speech he made at the NY Botanical Gardens last September, and I believe he will be one of the greatest environmental statesmen of our times.

He can now make a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth which I sincerely hope he does, continue to work globally for environmental, economic, and political change through grassroots action, and use his resources and the new connections he has made to influence effective and fair environmental policy around the world, and that includes focusing on the affects of this crisis on the poor worldwide.

He is doing exactly what Jimmy Carter did after leaving office, and I agree with him that this is indeed a much better use of his time and experience to truly be a force for change in the world. I would hope to now see a Gore Center For Sustainability soon. ;-). With the IPCC report coming out today as well, I think that will also solidify to many that having him out here focusing all of his energy on working to solve this crisis by inspiring us to lead the way now is what is needed most.

I have never been more proud of him in all of the years I have supported him. He has now proven that he has truly won in the spiritual and moral sense and that he does not need the trappings of political office in this toxic beltway to get things done.

Bravo to you, Mr. Gore. You are following your heart and look where it is leading you.

Congratulations!

I would also hope this would show others what can be done by any of us with passion, conviction, determination, and education.

However, once again what we will see on the Internet in some places are people either stating this is no big deal, or that he can now use this as a "credential" to run for president of the military industrial complex to "save them."

Once again it appears the entire point of all he is doing is overlooked, and the work he is now doing reduced to nothingness. "I know you are doing important work", and etc. etc. etc. is what is said... But this is the real following line that should be inserted... however, that isn't good enough for the American people who just can't or won't get their act together so we need you to do that for them, because you certainly are not a leader unless you have a title next to your name and we won't listen to you otherwise.

It is really so sad to see that after all the work this man has done and is doing for America as well, that it is constantly pushed to the side as insignificant because there is no partisan political spin to it or other campaign attached to it. And I believe Mr. Gore would be the first one to tell anyone that he does not own a cape. He cannot leap tall buildings at a single bound. He does not have a magic lasso that will pull all the global warming pollution we are ALL putting in this atmosphere daily as we continue to talk about this away.

And there is actually no one bill he could ever sign that would have the impact of what he is doing now across the board, because the reality of this situation is that Americans on the whole in this country at this point are still uninformed, ignorant, complacent, distracted, lazy, and unaware of the affects their behavior is having on this world, and the political process is toxic and still too beholding to the special interests that are exacerbating this crisis (due to those very same descriptions above) to ever have one comprehensive enough NOW to face this as it needs to be faced NOW.

I then hope he continues his work to lead the American people (which he is already doing with the Climate Project, the Alliance for Climate Protection, and other endeavors) from the grassroots, even though some do not seem to see that as leading. What do people think he has been doing in Nashville and around the world? Playing around? No, he was and is beginning what could be the greatest mass grassroots movement in the history of this country and perhaps even this world if only people would stop looking to one person to lead them and start leading themselves as well.

By being the committed leader he is now and doing so without the partisan political pretense attached to it, success with the grassroots seeing the urgency of this crisis and working with him across all lines to solve it from the bottom up is much more assured than him turning this into a partisan political issue and making people believe he only did all of this for his own selfish aspirations... and I tell you now, to run for President in this country's military/industrial complex, media propaganda, million dollar campaign corporate whore system, is to me to be an egotist, someone willing to be devoid of moral foresight, and someone willing to sell their soul for personal gain. And that is not who Al Gore is.

I refuse to believe that Mr. Gore is still bound to the old ways of making progress which actually make little to no progress. Martin Luther King Jr. brought about a civil rights revolution without taking one step into the Capitol Building or White House as an "elected" official. Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, and other committed women changed the course of history and influenced an amendment to this Constitution without ever being "one of them." Our country was borne from the people. Most of the great people down through history who have done the most effective work to bring about real change have never held elected office. I see a pattern there, and with this crisis that goes so far beyond one political campaign, that is not the be all end all answer... WE ARE as they were, and I think that Mr. Gore knows that full well after beating his head against that political brick wall for thirty years, and that new ways of making progress must be attempted in order to address this.

And it is beginning to work, hence the Nobel nomination, the UN Champion of the Earth Laureate distinction, the Oscar nomination for the movie An Inconvenient Truth, his Climate Project, the response this is getting from people, businesses, and governments globally, and the sudden rumblings in Congress because they know if they ignore this now they do so at their peril and to the peril of this planet, although we have yet to see anything comprehensive come from Congress yet because again, special interests rule the policy. Hopefully, this year will see some changes as this is not an isolated crisis by any means. This will have to be addressed with GLOBAL participation with means America leading the way as a whole, not just one person.

These honors were also not bestowed on a "politician." They were bestowed on an environmentalist, a statesman, and a champion of the preservation of our future sustainability. Only after shedding that beltway skin that can devoid a good man of his ability to truly speak and live by his convictions has Mr. Gore been able to bring this crisis into the consciousness of the world, including America... now, if America doesn't listen and take action that is America's fault. Mr. Gore is already doing his part and he is doing it well. Now we must do ours.