I'm away, but read this

Blogging will be light or absent until Tuesday. Unless something crazy happens. Thursday I am in a meeting at UAB all day...and Friday it's off to Arizona!!!

For your amusement until then, here is my Western Tribune column from Wednesday's paper:

Let’s see the U. S. Supreme Court try to take away Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize. You know, like they did his presidential win in 2000.

And still there are those who deny that climate change is occurring. However, a record drought and 14 days with temperatures over 100 degrees during the month of August might convince some.

In the state of Alabama during August there were 600 heat related illnesses reported, with 136 of those admitted to a hospital. Fourteen people in our state died as a result of the heat, according to the National Weather Service.

Gore shares the prize with the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for spreading awareness of climate change and its causes and laying a foundation for counteracting it.

Gore also won an Academy Award this year for the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which documents his arguments about global warming.

Supporters are calling for him to enter the presidential race, and a web site, www.draftgore.com, has appeared. But should he run?

Not in my opinion. Since Al Gore already won the presidency once he has nothing to prove. He is in a unique situation, especially after winning this award, to make a huge difference in the world. I just hope people will listen.

Some may question what climate change has to do with peace, but Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs recognized that “It is a question of war and peace. We’re already seeing the first climate wars.” He was referring to the Sahel belt of Africa where nomads are fighting with farmers because climate change has brought about a shortage of fertile lands.

In our country we should not have to resort to conflict, because we still have the will to share and have the infrastructure to move resources and produce around. But when people get hungry and their livelihoods are threatened, watch out.

Of interest is that former president Jimmy Carter, the last American to win the Nobel Prize, did so in 2002, also during George W. Bush’s presidency. Two highly respected democrats being awarded for peace when a war happy president is in office. The world is indeed an unusual place.