By now you've no doubt heard that Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I must confess that this announcement gives me no small degree of schadenfreude when I think of how the denizens of the White House must be feeling about this.
The LA Times notes:
Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to an environmental concern is regarded by many as a symbolic rebuke of the Bush administration's reluctance to join a U.N.-led process to reduce global greenhouse gases. The prize often reflects the aspirations of the Nobel committee as much as a recognition of real progress in changing the world.
I don't know how I feel about the burgeoning calls for Gore to run for president. My guess is he can do more for the climate change issue from outside the presidency, where his time would be divided between it and every other thing a president must do. (Assuming you actually do anything besides vacation and listen to Cheney.) The nation missed its chance to have Gore for president. Now it's just a question of whether Bush's machinations have screwed the planet enough to give the Rapture-holics their endtimes.
Anyway, the LA Times also notes:
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the Inuit environmental activist from northern Canada who had been nominated along with Gore and the scientists, said upon hearing the news, "The planet is the winner."
For every living creature's sake, I hope she's right.
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