This year the Nobel Peace Prize went to Al Gore and UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) .In my opinion, the question is not whether the person and the organization are the "rightful heir" of the movement to save the planet from the ravages of Man. That debate can go on without solution.
The prize goes on to recognize the fact that our planet needs help and needs to be addressed in a consorted global effort.
And there are two things against this happening: the interests that do no recognize the fact and the Environmentalists themselves (as ones own worst enemy!)
One cannot help but see the deluge or articles, letters to the editor etc against Mr. Gore winning. They all say one thing. Science is not 100% certain that Climate Change is man made. The answer to that is the following: Science is never 100 percent certain. And that is the beauty of science. We are moving closer and closer to the Truth. I've once written a nice article on Science which I request everyone to read.
The scarier part are the Environmentalists themselves. I think they are their worst enemy. I met a number of environmentalists myself (including some close friends) and I feel this - in short: (a) they cannot articulate the problem to the common man and when questioned goes in hysteria instead of providing convincing answers; (b) they seem to preach what to do instead of what to address.
I'll leave the first part. Most scientists cannot seem to articulate in common man's language (some even take a pride in it - maybe they would fall in love with their reflection on water). It is the second issue that makes them loose. They prefer to preach than explain!
Environmentalists: Please articulate the problems created by climate change and what the "cause". Explain to them that to mitigate the problem the cause needs to be addressed. If the common person puts in an effort to find out the way to address the cause that would have a lasting effort. Again, articulate the problems and the causes and ask the people to find out the way. And how to test if their actions helps in addressing the causes. Let everyone contribute to the solutions. And to do that, you need to do your bit and explain.
The final truth is explained very well in an article in the Time web site.
"The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a more and spiritual challenge to all of humanity." But Gore is wrong. Climate change absolutely is a political issue, the greatest political issue of our time, and it will only be solved in the political arena, with all the mess and compromise that entails. Environmentalists hate to hear this; they think that global warming is so important it should transcend politics, as the IPCC does, and as Gore himself has in many ways these past seven years. But the final war on global warming will be fought not with PowerPoint but with politics, and it will be fought in the halls of power around the world. The scientists represented by the IPCC have spoken — what we need now are passionate, even partisan political soldiers to lead the way and push the final tipping point from awareness to action.
