Shenanigans Al Gore brings peace?

Author: Alex Garlick

Have you heard the news? Al Gore won the Nobel Prize. Al Gore, who couldn't even win the general election when he got the most votes, somehow won the most prestigious award in the world for peace. First, he turns a PowerPoint presentation into an Academy Award-winning film, then he travels the countryside in his Toyota Prius, trumpeting a prognostication of doom for the environment and now he's a Nobel Laureate. If I had to pick an Academy Award winner to win the Nobel Peace Prize, I probably would have gone with Angelina Jolie for her efforts to save the children in developing countries, one adoption at a time.

Anyways, what has Al done for world peace? According to the Nobel Prize Committee, it was given to Al 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." I agree with what the committee has said, but before we go congratulating Gore, is anyone going to ask "what has he done for peace?"

The Norwegian Member of Parliament who nominated Gore said, "climate change can lead to enormous flows of refugees on a scale the world has never seen before." Due to the unpredictable nature of climate change, that is a very speculative reason for an award that is traditionally given for retrospective action. What if climate change brings rainfall to water-starved arid regions?

Does Al deserve commendation for being Press Secretary for Mother Earth? Sure. Why doesn't Time Magazine name him Man of the Year? Maybe we could get him and Bono to combine forces and do a duet on the evil of Global Warming in Africa. I'm sure he'd be in line for a Grammy for his smooth baritone? I would even be willing to throw him the Democratic Nomination and see how he does in the General Election against Mitt, John or Rudy next fall.

But the Nobel Peace Prize?

In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as a peaceful activist in the American Civil Rights movement.

In 1993, Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in South AfricaÌs peaceful transition from Apartheid.

In 2001, Kofi Annan and the UN were given the award for making the world more organized and peaceful.

In 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency won for its efforts for the peaceful use of atomic energy.

Do you see the common link between those Nobel Laureates? They all did something involving making the world a more peaceful place. Al Gore has been working to make the world a chillier place. Not to drop acid rain on Al's parade, but I just do not buy it.

There is speculation that giving Gore the Nobel Prize is a slight to the Bush Administration, as Gore, along with Osama bin Laden, is one of the most painful thorns in the side of the regime. The World Socialist Web Site declared the prize "Old Europe firing back at the Bush Administration." The Nobel Peace Prize does not have to be awarded every year. Often in years of war, or in years when there is no deserving recipient, the award stays in the cabinet. If the Nobel Committee really wanted to send a message to the White House, why not hold the award back this year in recognition of the presence of American troops in Iraq as we rapidly approach the fifth anniversary of the War in Iraq? That statement would resonate louder than political recognition for scientific work.

Alex Garlick '08.5 is a Political Science and Economics major from Needham, Mass.