Monday, December 10, 2007 at 1:01am
The Nobel and climate change
Column: Interesting Times
It's December, winter in Norway, and it is too warm for a coat in Oslo; a sweater or jacket is enough. The outdoor tables and chairs are occupied with beverage drinkers socializing, and the flower shops have narcissus and other bulbs in pots outside their doors next to the tulip bunches. It might as well be spring, except that the sun hangs somewhere around 20 degrees above the horizon for about seven hours a day, casting a half light around Oslo from 9 a.m. to 4p.m. and causing the Christmas lights in stores and on the streets to seem even more welcome and cheering.
As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations, says Isaiah 61:11. The text seems an appropriate one for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former U.S. senator, presidential candidate and longtime active environmentalist Al Gore.
The prize this year is shared between Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work on climate and environmental issues.
The Nobel Peace Prize site at says that Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States, is one of the most important figures in the global climate debate. He has played a crucial role in convincing the world's leaders and others of the threat that climate changes represent to humanity, and how we can work together to turn the tides. His blockbuster documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" has made a massive impact on most people's environmental awareness.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. About 2,000 scientists worldwide are at the moment involved in the panel.
They have already published three assessment reports in 2007 about climate change, and are about to publish the final report. The reports have played a key role in establishing scientific and political consensus on the seriousness and scale of the climate changes. Their fourth report about climate change will further address policies to face the climate threat in a sustainable way.
There is a march today by supporting organizations and citizens to the Grand Hotel, where the winners may appear on a balcony and greet the crowd and give yet another speech. There is a concert Tuesday night, to be broadcast round the world to 450 million people who would rather hear music — Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, among others - than listen to speeches about the environment, about the melting of the ice caps, about carbon in the air, but all together, between speeches, reports and music, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of (Creation), to paraphrase Isaiah, as the waters cover the sea.
They are our seas, it is our air, our earth and it does need Peace.
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations, says Isaiah 61:11. The text seems an appropriate one for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former U.S. senator, presidential candidate and longtime active environmentalist Al Gore.
The prize this year is shared between Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work on climate and environmental issues.
The Nobel Peace Prize site at says that Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States, is one of the most important figures in the global climate debate. He has played a crucial role in convincing the world's leaders and others of the threat that climate changes represent to humanity, and how we can work together to turn the tides. His blockbuster documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" has made a massive impact on most people's environmental awareness.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. About 2,000 scientists worldwide are at the moment involved in the panel.
They have already published three assessment reports in 2007 about climate change, and are about to publish the final report. The reports have played a key role in establishing scientific and political consensus on the seriousness and scale of the climate changes. Their fourth report about climate change will further address policies to face the climate threat in a sustainable way.
There is a march today by supporting organizations and citizens to the Grand Hotel, where the winners may appear on a balcony and greet the crowd and give yet another speech. There is a concert Tuesday night, to be broadcast round the world to 450 million people who would rather hear music — Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, among others - than listen to speeches about the environment, about the melting of the ice caps, about carbon in the air, but all together, between speeches, reports and music, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of (Creation), to paraphrase Isaiah, as the waters cover the sea.
They are our seas, it is our air, our earth and it does need Peace.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.