Of Prizes, Nobel and Ig Nobel

Last Friday, Time Magazine called Al Gore's Nobel Prize a "Green Tipping Point." I've heard that some critics are pointing out that he shouldn't get to share the Peace Prize for his work, as what does climate change have to do with peace? I'm too lazy to track down the aforementioned critics (besides, it would be pointless--I already know they would have a stunted worldview from the ignorance of that comment), but Time's article concisely pointed out the link between climate and war. But what I liked best was the article's close:

""We face a true planetary emergency," [Gore] said. "The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a more and spiritual challenge to all of humanity." But Gore is wrong. Climate change absolutely is a political issue, the greatest political issue of our time, and it will only be solved in the political arena, with all the mess and compromise that entails. Environmentalists hate to hear this; they think that global warming is so important it should transcend politics, as the IPCC does, and as Gore himself has in many ways these past seven years. But the final war on global warming will be fought not with PowerPoint but with politics, and it will be fought in the halls of power around the world."

Too many times, we scientists think that research and facts will provide change; time and time again, they merely provide the opening salvos. Scientists who care about this world and the people and places that make it wonderful should spend more time communicating to public audiences--as Gore and the IPCC have--about the issues we study.

We humans have a long, long way to go on the issue of climate change, but I am happy to see it finally on the world's stage--if not center, at least out of the wings...

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If all this talk of climate change leaves you feeling, ummm, indifferent, well, check out this site, on a guy who actually built a periodic table. Plus, I think getting the Ig Nobel Prize is probably more fun, overall. :-) Be sure to read why he did all this, too--it's a great story.