The big ticket for today is that President Barack Hussein Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What’s that got to do with climate change? The press release from the Norwegian Nobel Committee says that, among his other accomplishments: “Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting.” Clearly the Committee has climate change high on its agenda as it awarded the 2007 prize, as you know, to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and to Al Gore “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”
President Obama’s reaction to the announcement included remarks relative to climate change. “We cannot accept the growing threat posed by climate change, which could forever damage the world that we pass on to our children — sowing conflict and famine; destroying coastlines and emptying cities. And that’s why all nations must now accept their share of responsibility for transforming the way that we use energy.” I’ve chronicled many of the groundbreaking initiatives of the Obama Administration at the blog.
Congratulations, Mr. President!