Because the Nobel folks are sure trying to put one over on us.
Was there a very small pool of people doing peaceful things this year?
I confess to knowing almost nothing about the science behind global warming, and I haven't made a judgment as to whether I think it's "real" or not. Environmentalism is a good thing (within reason). We should take care of the planet, after all, God made us stewards of this planet, not it's locust overlords.
It's just... Al Gore made a movie and promoted it. That's what you do with your movies, you promote them so you can make money off them. Maybe I missed something, but none of that strikes me as being particularly noteworthy, or as having much to do with peace. Moreover, from what I understand, Gore sucks up significantly more energy than the average person. (All of Vatican City, meanwhile, is going carbon neutral. Because Catholics are that awesome.)
Oh well. Nothing to get our nickers in a twist about. The people out there who are doing actual peace-building work don't care if they get awards, God bless 'em. I'm casually familiar with Mercy Corps, and they do huge boat loads of actual work to promote social justice and sustainable use of the environment.
4 comments:
Thirty years ago, we had Global Cooling, and we were surely headed for a new ice age. The fact is we're still warming up from the last one. Yes, we've warmed up by something like 0.6 degrees. By definition, yes, the globe is warming. The crazy part is to think anything we do can affect global climate that much. As it is, 90% of greenhouse gases are produced by NATURE. And anyone who thinks we can prevail over mother nature is, at the very least, a fool. Al Gore is a thug who has literally, physically assaulted people to the point of needing stitches, and has gotten away with it because he was Vice President. Let's face it, the Nobel Peace prize ceased to mean anything when they gave it to Yasser Arafat, one of the most notorious terrorists of all time. I wonder how Al keeps his Gulfstream carbon free. Oh, that's right. He buys carbon credits! What a joke...
I, as well, don't know all that much about the science behind climatology or what-have-you. Yes, I saw Al Gore's movie, it seemed to make sense, but he clearly has an agenda he's trying to push and intelligent people know that numbers can be easily manipulated by people who know how to to make their points convincing to the masses. And I question the giving of a Peace Prize to someone telling us to stop driving SUVs and switch to compact flourescent bulbs. And as far as I can tell, purchasing carbon offsets is kind of silly, but that's also something I know little actual impartial info about (one side says you're throwing your money away, the other says you're single-handedly saving the whole of civilization $39.99 at a time).
That all being said, I don't think listening and implementing some of the things Gore and other, possibly more credible, less slimy, environmentalists say can hurt all that much. I think a lot of what we're seeing is primarily not related to what we do. But I also know that switching bulbs saves a lot of money, as does getting a hybrid, as does not flushing the toilet every time you pee (overshare? well ok!).
I did read somewhere that may or may not be credible that "experts" predict that the next rash of wars this world will see will be over resources, like oil, but also like food and water and clean air, things we can help prevent, or at least not contribute to, by overusing and abusing our environment. I also know that when I'm home on the island I can see a fraction of the stars I get to see when I'm on a mountain in NH. So while I don't think Gore deserves a Peace Prize, maybe the publicity isn't such a bad thing if people start doing some of the things they suggest, even if he is a big, fat hypocrite who doesn't necessarily practice what he preaches.
/rant
Woo! I finally wrote something that stirred the ire of people in two distinct directions! I'm pretty proud.
Like I said in the post, I'm all for taking steps to protect the planet. She's beautiful. I don't think those measures should extend to the point of compromising human life and/or dignity (i.e. to the exclusion of other issues we can actually have an impact on, or the crazies who say we should stop having children because it's bad for the planet. obviously stupid.) Yay planet, yay conservation, yay rationality.
As to your point that the publicity might be good for the environmental movement, I think this may actually hurt it. People who are "opposed" to environmentalism get really bugged by the green camp, and especially by people like Sheryl Crow and Al Gore who are in a hypocritical ivory tower about it all. I would guess most of the people who were going to listen to Al Gore have. The rest of are engaging in a collective eye-roll and digging their heels in that they will never watch An Inconvenient Truth.
That said, if there actually were a way to save the human race $39.99 at a time, I'd be all in.
I know we've discussed this further but I want to make you feel important and make your blog look popular :-P
Like I said, I think you have a valid point that anti-Gore-ers will see him winning a Nobel prize and go out and leave their SUV idling in the driveway just for spite, or like my mom did with the lights in the basement (although I doubt she even knows Gore won an award, that was just to spite me). And people who would listen to Gore and are passionate about conservation (ie...a lovely blue-eyed, curly haired Delaware grad student) probably already have seen his movie and can't really do anything more to live their lives environmentally friendly.
I'm just thinking that maybe some people who are ignorant about this issue or are on the fence, the kind of people who are easily swayed, and-not to sound condescending- but may be a tad less intelligent and less likely to question things they read or see on tv, those people may be like, oh, I should do x,y, and z. It may not make a difference in the long run, but at the same time, most of the suggestions don't hurt anyone to do so why not ya know? and some things, like switching to less-energy-using flourescent bulbs, for example save people money in the long run, both because they get changed significantly less often and because the afformentioned less energy use. That's just one, and this is way too long already so I'm done. And that rhymes.
"I'm reallypassionate about Italian food...in fact, I'm in love with it."
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