Former Vice President Al Gore, a former Vanderbilt student and moderator for a decade of annual Family Re-Union conferences held at the university, was named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his work to combat global warming.
The 2007 Nobel was awarded to Gore jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It was announced by the Norwegian Nobel committee in Oslo.
“Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians, the Nobel committee said in a statement. “He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change.
“He is probably the single individual who has done the most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.”
Since narrowly losing his bid for the presidency in 2000, Gore has devoted himself to calling attention to the dangers of global warming. A film on the topic based on his presentations on the subject, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Academy Award this year.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Prize,” Gore said in a statement. “This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the IPCC – the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis – a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years.”
Gore said he would donate the about $750,000 in Nobel prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit environmental group.
“We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to life global consciousness to a higher level.
Gore has been a friend and frequent visitor to Vanderbilt since his days in the 1970s taking classes at the Graduate School and Vanderbilt Law School. From 1992 to 2002 he and wife Tipper Gore were the moderators of the annual Family Re-Union conference. The conferences bring together families and those who work with them to discuss and design better ways to strengthen family life in America.
Gore’s mother, the late Pauline Gore, was among the first female graduates of Vanderbilt Law School.
Last year Muhammad Yunus, a Vanderbilt alumnus, won the Nobel for his work helping the poor through small loans.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu