Eight years ago, after losing the 2000 presidential race, he was mocked and assumed to be washed up. Today, after co-founding cable channel Current TV and winning an academy award, he’s won the Nobel Peace Prize and helped enormously to make global warming a mainstream, recognized issue.
From WorldChanging
Al Gore and the IPCC winning the Nobel Peace Prize symbolizes more than just a head-nod towards some eco-fad — it shows that sustainability has finally moved from the outskirts of activism to the most central halls of authority. Concern for the planetary future is now as credible as it is possible to get.
Thanks to the IPCC, to Mr Gore, and now to the Nobel Committee, US politicians have again been offered a “Big Idea” they can take seriously. The Nobel Award offers an opportunity for a real world leader to emerge from presidential debates.
If we could find some guy who could actually get us off the hook with this planetary calamity, I’d cheerfully give him a hundred Nobels.
And from the man himself
“Jimmy, I asked you not to talk about that.”
— Former Vice President Al Gore, quoted by former President Jimmy Carter in the Denver Post about Carter publicly urging Gore to run for president.