Friday, October 12, 2007

Nobel Peace Prize not so warming for Mr. Bush

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize for work on Climate Change and Global warming also has the resounding sound of a swipe at George Bush and his administration. Bush's government has been criticized for trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of Global warming and refusing to be a signatory to the Kyoto Agreement. Bush also failed to attend a world summit on the issue at the UN and instead held his own smaller gathering in Washington to advocate voluntary reductions in emissions.

US Ex-Vice President and Ex-Presidential Candidate Al Gore won the Noble Peace Price for his work on Global warming. The award was shared by the UN panel on Climate Change. The United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate is headed by India scientist Rajendra Pachauri.

Run Al Gore! Run!

Al Gore's Nobel win has re-energized the calls for a second run for the US Presidency. If he were to enter the fray the present Democratic contenders would find themselves woefully inexperienced and lacking credibility in comparison. Al Gore also won an Oscar for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and an Emmy for his Cable Channel "Current TV". His presence in the race could also give the Democrats a wide support base and run the Republicans out of office.

US-backed Dr. Pachauri turns his back on the US!

The 67 year old Indian scientist has been the Chairman of the UN Panel since 2002 and was awarded the "Padma Bhushan" Award by India in 2001. He was born in Nainital, India and studied at La Martiniere Boy's College in Lucknow. He obtained a Master's degree and Ph.D.in Industrial Engineering followed by a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University, USA.

Dr. Pachauri became the new Chairman under widely acknowledged controversial circumstances. Environmental group "Friends of the Earth" alleged the expulsion of the incumbent Chairman, Dr. Robert Watson, was due to lobbying by the U.S. government and American energy businesses. Exxon was the environmental group's main target for anger, following a revelation that in 2001 it urged the U.S. government to replace Dr. Watson. Dr Pachauri, the then director of the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi and Vice Chairman of this UN Panel, was the US administration's favored candidate. .

Dr Pachauri defended his independence and in fact created waves in 2005 when he told an international conference attended by 114 governments in Mauritius that he personally believes that the world has "already reached the level of dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere" and called for immediate and "very deep" cuts in the pollution if humanity is to "survive". The Bush administration reacted sharply and negatively to his comments.

He is also in favor of the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change assigning mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the signatory nations. United States has not ratified the agreement and Bush is not in favor of doing so citing its possible negative effect on the US economy.


Congratulations to Dr. Pachauri and Mr. Gore!

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