Al Gore Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Two members of Norway's Parliament and a Canadian Inuit activist have announced that they have put forth former United States Vice President, Al Gore's name into the running for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Boerge Brende, a conservative MP in Norway, cites Gore's extensive work to draw attention to the issue of global warming and his efforts to bring about positive change to combat the dangers of climate change.

In addition to Berge, a socialist MP Heidi Soerensen, and Canadian Sheila Watt-Cloutier were also in the group of three that nominated Gore. Watt-Cloutier is known for her work to garner attention to the plight of those Inuit affected by the increasing temperatures in the Arctic. Watt-Cloutier was the International Chair for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, and some are calling for Gore to share the prize with Watt-Cloutier if he does win.

Gore has spent the last twenty years working for national and international efforts to combat the troubling issue of global warming. He has written books and has even donated an advance for a new book to go toward the climate change effort. Gore is seen as a very effective fundraiser for the cause, getting billions out of Richard Branson. In addition, he was the US representative to the conference that developed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which the US has still refused to ratify. Gore is currently working on getting the US Government to come into the fold before the current treaty on carbon emissions ends in 2012, but the Bush Administration is only now even acknowledging the actuality that global warming exists.

2007 may prove to be a very good year for Mr. Gore. His critically and publicly acclaimed documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," is up for two Oscars later this month. His work this past year promoting the film has had Gore on most major news outlets and talk shows, where he showed grim statistics and graphs that demonstrate the human-induced deterioration of the atmosphere and increased carbon levels that are the main source of global warming.

The Nobel Organization does not officially name the nominees for any of the Nobel prizes, and the nominees will not be announced nor disclosed for fifty years. Usually, nominees are announced by those that have nominated individuals and organizations for the one million dollar prize. Other nominees that have been leaked include the Vietnamese Monk Thich Quang Do, who is currently under house arrest in Vietnam for his comments decrying human rights abuses. Another named nominee is Britain-based charity, Sail Training International, which helps youth through teaching them to sail.