Alrighty, Then
I realize a nominaton for a Nobel Peace Prize and fifty cents will get you a ride on the bus. Still, what's up with Al Gore's nomination?
As a Norwegian (the prize is awarded in Oslo) legislator put it, "a prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference."
Okay. And isn't another prerequisite doing something that relates to..oh, I don't know..peace?
posted by LAGuy @ 12:30 AM
7 Comments:
If there is a significant disruption in the world's climate --in the form of major and increasing flooding of coastal areas, droughts, shifting of the world's resources, etc., I bet we'll all find out what preventing climate change has to do with peace.
Let's assume we can all work together and prevent significant climate change, and that we won't cause more dislocation doing it than we would otherwise. Does this mean every major economic issue has to do with peace? By that standard, Bill Gates (for Microsoft, not for his charitable work) should get a Peace Prize.
Many economic issues do have to do with peace -- didn't this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner win based on the idea of micro-financing bringing basic economic possibilities to the extreme poor?
While one could argue that the founders of the biggest companies bring peace through large scale employment, I bet the Nobel prize people look at whether the person's motivation behind the project is altruistic, and whether it addresses economic needs in the more poverty-stricken parts of the world. You might not agree with those criteria in awarding the prize, but they both would apply to Al Gore's anti-climate change project.
I can see a vague (and likely mistaken) claim that peace will come about if you help deal with poverty. Environmentalists who want action on global warming, however, if you want to discuss "motivations," don't really deal with economics, and in fact tend to demand a headlong rush into solutions that will almost certainly cause tremendous negative economic effects in the short run. Perhaps, when they're not busy reading minds, the Nobel committee in Oslo has this long view, but then, they should also be handing out the Award to people who start wars that make us safer in the long run as well.
Hmmm . . . ever hear of Rabin and Arafat?
Don't people usually fight over scarce resources? Regardless of whether run-of-the-mill poverty raises "peace" issues, it certainly seems that sudden dislocation of resources would. So it all depends on whether you believe such sudden dislocation is likely due to global warming.
The solutions being suggested to fight global warming could also cause sudden dislocation. All this stuff is related to peace in a tangential manner at best.
Post a Comment
<< Home