Nobel to Go Green?

by Janet Ritz

The Nobel Prize announcements next week may go green this year with Al Gore and other climate change campaigners on the short list for the 1.5 million dollar prize:

Will Gore get Nobel next week? Some think so

Award watcher thinks he'll share it with Canadian climate activist

OSLO, Norway - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and/or another climate campaigner are likely to be awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize next week, according to a seasoned award watcher.

If a campaigner against global warming carries off the accolade, it will accentuate a shift to reward work outside traditional peacekeeping and reinforce the link between peace and the environment. Link.

The Canadian climate campaigner is Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who recently won the Sophie Environment Prize at Oslo. Another possible winner is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which could be awarded through its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, as are the more traditional nominees for the Peace Prize through their humanitarian work, which include entrants from Finland, China, VietNam and Russia. Therefore, while the prize is anticipated to go to one or more climate change campaigners this year, it is possible it will follow the more traditional model.

The head of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, a potential nominee, however, does think it will go to a climate campaigner: "I have a feeling it will go to Al Gore, and I think he deserves it. He certainly has done a remarkable job of creating awareness on the subject and has become a crusader."

The Peace Prize will be announced on October 12th.