Conservative carping aside, Al Gore is a perfect candidate for three reasons:
- The award has always gone to people who have done more than just promote “peace,” such as Albert Schweitzer, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa.
- The award has recently (2004) gone to an environmental leader, the great Wangari Maathai, who “founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental nongovernmental organization, which has now planted over 30 million trees across Kenya to prevent soil erosion.”
- Global warming is a grave threat to future peace and security — as more and more experts are acknowledging. Global warming creates the possibility of millions of refugees, spurred terrorism, sea-level rise, and food and water shortages — water being a major source of conflict. Indeed, climate change may already have been a key factor in the Darfur crisis (see here and here).
If we avoid catastrophic global warming, Al Gore’s tireless efforts to educate the nation and the world will be a major reason. He will have prevented untold humanitarian crises and countless regional conflicts. Gore would bring honor to the award.
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
