It’s been announced that former Vice-President (US) Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been honored with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. I’m sure you can find all manner of articles regarding this all over the web. Even Apple’s homepage is honoring Mr. Gore (Gore sits on the board of Apple Inc.).

Now, when you visit some of the articles at CNN or the BBC where readers can leave comments you’ll find a few comments disparaging Gore and the Nobel Prize committee’s decision. I’ll try not to call those people ninnies. Their chief argument against awarding Gore the Prize is “what does the environment have to do with peace?” There is a reason why the Nobel Committee is staffed by bright folk.

War! What’s green got to do with it?

Perhaps the ninnies (sorry, I slipped) have not taken into account the possible likelihood that those whose homes are washed away or desertified by climate change may be induced to move. Perhaps they’ll move north. Perhaps they’ll move north with little regard for the folk that live there already.

War has been fought for far less than basic human survival before. The notion that those civilizations whose very existence is threatened by a loss of arable land and potable water will just sit tight and wait to die without taking action against those nations that are better off is flatly stupid. Tending to the environment is not only a smart thing to do for your health and basic species survival, It’s a smart security move.

OK, the ninnies

I give up. They’re ninnies. I can’t hold back anymore. Al Gore is a lightning rod for the ignorant twits of the world. Some folk, it is well known, allow themselves to be indoctrinated with beliefs that are counter to good sense. That’s sad and I feel bad for them.

Congrats

And so, congratulations to the IPCC, Al Gore and all the other recipients of the 2007 Nobel Prizes.