posted October 10, 2007
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is calling on the Nobel Committee to not give Al Gore the Nobel Peace Prize this week. The prestigious award should go to someone who has championed world peace – not a hypocritical climate change alarmist.
The Nobel Prize announcement is scheduled for Oct. 12 in Oslo, Norway. Gore has been nominated for his work on global warming, and speculation is rampant that he will win.
Handing a Nobel Prize to Al Gore, a proven hypocrite on the issue of climate change, would be an injustice to the many people bravely fighting for peace and freedom throughout the world. We discovered that while Gore told us to curtail our energy use, he guzzled more electricity at his posh Nashville mansion in a month than the average American family used in a year.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006 Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh – more than 20 times the national average, according to the Nashville Electric Service. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered this fact through a public records search in the wake of Gore’s Oscar-winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research hopes the Nobel Peace Prize goes to a deserving candidate, such as Lida Yusupova, who has devoted her life to human rights, even as she faces death threats. Her work in Chechnya has shed light on human rights abuses committed by both Russian armed forces and Chechen rebels.
Another deserving candidate is Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do, who has spent a lifetime fighting for peace and freedom in Vietnam. He is currently under house arrest for decrying human rights abuses and has been jailed previously for helping his country’s poor.
If the Nobel Committee wants to award an individual working on the issue of climate change, it can select Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who – unlike Al Gore – practices what she preaches. Watt-Cloutier has dedicated herself to working with the indigenous peoples of the Arctic regions, speaking out against polluters and sounding the alarm about climate change.
We hope the Nobel Peace Prize goes to someone who truly deserves it. Making Al Gore a Nobel Laureate would forever tarnish the Nobel Prize.
Drew Johnson
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research
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I agree that Al Gore should not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Whether you agree or disagree with Gore's climate position, when has he created peace? He has caused nothing but controversy.
Michaele Hughes
Chattanooga mailto:mmh1990@comcast.net
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A few points that Mr. Jason "Drew" Johnson forgot to include. The Gore household he speaks of consist of four structures with 20 rooms total. One of those structures houses the Vice-Presidents Secret Service detail. Another his own think tank. Most homes do not have to deal with such things. Yet the local utility has stated that smaller residences in Nashville use as much power as the Gore household. In other words the Gore residence uses less power per capita than other large Nashville residences.
Then there is the question of just how much they are actually using. The AP quotes a spoke women, Laurie Parker, for the Nashville Utility as saying that The Tennessee Center for Policy Research made no contact with them. AP also claimed to have reviewed the bills and came up with an energy use figure some 15% lower. Perhaps the factored in the surcharge charged for using over 1,000Kw per month. MSNBC countdown pointed out that the GORE family voluntarily pays $5,893 extra for green power. And as this attack first was first being aired, the Gore family was adding solar arrays on site.
We greens may quibble with the size of his compound. But the former Vice President has taken huge steps to reduce his carbon footprint. It is no surprise that Mr. Johnson having worked in the past for The American Enterprise Institute, which receives money from big oil, would try to criticize advocate of reducing the use of fossil fuels. Perhaps Mr. Johnson could tell us how he is reducing his carbon footprint.
R.W. Young
Hamilton County Green Party
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I agree that Al Gore is undeserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, but coming
from a different angle.
Sooner or later, there would come a night in front of his computer when
the Al-Jazeera website or CNN would not bring him enough spiritual
bolstering. In that moment, I think he'd pick up his prize and eat it.
John R. Smickle
Chattanooga
jsbottomfeeder@juno.com
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Mr. Drew Johnson is on the wrong end of a weak argument. First, his sources, The Tennessee Center for Policy Research made no contact with the Nashville Power Board concerning Al Gore's residence power usage, so where did you get the numbers to condemn Al Gore? Secondly, the other source is The American Enterprise Institute, which you once worked for, they are funded by big oil interests. We know how unbiased they are.
Drew Johnson, why not open your eyes to the obvious, we are in a real crisis and global warming is one of them.
An example is in the Arctic Circle and Greenland where the once frozen tundra is now mud marshes. The Japanese are all upset, no baby seals to hunt and kill. You see Mr. Johnson the baby seals must have ice flows to rest on or they drown. Well, no ice flows so the baby seals drowned, thousands of them. Sorry Japan.
Polar bears are in danger of extinction due to the melting of ice, they have yet to find a way to swim constantly Mr. Johnson, they're bears not fish so they drown, nice going, but remember there is no global warming. This information comes from The National Geographic's recent issues.
Did you ever hear of carbon in our atmosphere and the damage it has done? Al Gore is working with international and national governments and companies to reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere. I have yet to see any man of international stature step up to the plate and take on a problem as large as this and be successful at it. Al Gore does deserve the recognition and honors that he has worked so hard for, give him his due. His home is an example for all to follow, he volunteered to do this with his own money and it will be a tribute to his passion for man's attempt to justify our existence. Nobel Peace Prize, you bet.
Chuck Mehan
cbm2006@comcast.net
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The Nobel Committee has determined that Global Warming is an act of violence to the environment because it is largely man-made. Al Gore received the award, alongside the IPCC, for his work bringing the issue into the public spotlight.
Al Gore's home electricity use has been well documented as have the reasons for that use. When the Tennessee Center for Policy Research first outed Gore's electric bills to the media earlier this year, Gore didn't try to hide from the truth and readily admitted the mistake. As a result, he pledged to spend more on carbon offsets and install solar panels on his home. These facts are conveniently ignored by the Right because they do not want him to correct his errors; they simply want to demonize him in fear that he runs for President.
I'm shocked that many on the right ridicule Gore's achievements out of pure partisan malice. The Nobel Peace Prize is not small potatoes by any stretch of the imagination. The award and recipients deserve respect regardless of what side of the aisle you fall on. The idea that a Nashville lobbyist would attempt to discredit Gore's achievements until the 11th hour is shameful. Mr. Johnson, we don't take kindly to your ilk in this city (see Stacey Briggs). Besides, your entire argument is moot. We have no control over the Nobel award process in Chattanooga.
Let me be the first to say on this forum that I am proud that a Tennessean received the Nobel Peace Prize today. Congratulations, Al Gore.
David Morton
Chattanooga
david@safeguy.net
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