Gore, Profs Share Nobel Peace Prize for Climate Change Work

Former Vice President and visiting Columbia professor Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Gore, who taught for a semester at the Journalism School in 2001, has been a leading figure in promoting climate change awareness. Last year, he released the global warming book and documentary film An Inconvenient Truth which won him an Academy Award.

The Nobel committee described Gore as “probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted,” according to a report from the New York Times. In 2006, he founded the nonprofit organization Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore announced that he would donate a portion of the $1.5 million prize money to the organization.

The IPCC, a United Nations panel, is made up of more than 2,000 scientists, at least 40 of whom are Columbia researchers or faculty members who have contributed to the panel’s working group reports. Considered the pre-eminent authority on climate change research, the IPCC has been producing reports on changes in the earth’s climate since 1988. Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the IPCC, is a member of the Columbia Earth Institute’s Commission on Education.

The Nobel Peace Prize, traditionally awarded to individuals who have made strides toward reducing armed conflicts, has been extended to recipients who champion humanitarian and environmental causes in recent years. Some have argued that the change is political, with recent laureates including former President Jimmy Carter, who won in 2002, and Gore—both of whom are vocal critics of the Bush administration.

“It’s a really important statement to the world that climate change is such a huge issue, and we really need to be taking action on it,” Acadia Roher, BC ’10 and president of Barnard EcoReps and Green Umbrella, said. Roher added that she was proud that Columbia was taking a leading role in addressing global warming. “With all the climate change research going on here, it’s a really incredible thing to be a part of that,” she said.