Hill Heat

Today Vice President Al Gore formally accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency – a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst – though not all – of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.

However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world’s leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler’s threat: “They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.”

Gore went on to warn that arctic sea ice is melting faster than previously expected, and that U.S. navy researchers estimate we may have ice-free Arctic Ocean as early as the summer of 2014.

Al Gore’s response:

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis – a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

Through The Climate Project, Gore has trained over 1000 people to give his “Inconvenient Truth” presentation; the website allows people to request a presentation.

Gore is the chairman of ACE. The board consists of:

• Theodore Roosevelt IV, Managing Director, Lehman Brothers, Chair of the Pew Center for Global Climate Change
• Larry J. Schweiger, President & CEO, National Wildlife Federation
• Carol M. Browner, Principal, The Albright Group, LLC, Clinton EPA Administrator
• Brent Scowcroft
• Lee Thomas, Reagan EPA Administrator
• Orin S. Kramer, General Partner, Boston Provident, L.P., Chairman, New Jersey State Investment Council, Carter White House
• Congressman Sherwood L. Boehlert
• Kevin Wall, CEO, Control Room, Producer, Live Earth/SOS