Our Purpose: The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture 2007 by Al Gore

Our Purpose: The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture 2007 Reviews

• 
  Langdon

  Feel like I am reading the greatest hits of 1990's/2000's neolib politician speeches in this one. It has all the hallmarks: immediately reiterating western exceptionalism following mild critique of western action, complete optimism about our ability to "work together," advocating for moderate policies that aren't going to solve the problem. Not really that remarkable or impactful, like the neolib politics of his era.
• 
  Danielle

  I had picked this book up at a dollar store because I have always been fascinated with global warming and Al Gore. This book contained his Nobel Peace Prize speech and a few excpets from his novel An Inconvient Truth.
  
  I view Al Gore as a very intelligent man, and have admired his stance on global warming and climate change. I have often wondered what would have happened if he would have won the 2000 election over George W. Bush; if my state hadn't screwed up the election, would Gore have won? Would we be a more environmentally friendly country? Would we have been better off overall with him in the office instead of a drunken, power-hungry, oil loving President? Who knows; the past is the past. I was only 6 or 7 at the time of that particular election.
  

  "I'm a strong proponent of the restoration of the wetlands, for a lot of reasons. There's a practical reason, though, when it comes to hurricanes: The stronger the wetlands, the more likely the damage of the hurricane."- George Bush inNew Orleans, March 1, 2007 (discussing wetlands work after Katrina)
  
  this explains his environmental policies.

  
  
  But onto this book (you don't want to get me started on Bush lol. Though I disliked him, I am still loyal to my country and its Presidents. I just don't have to agree with everything they do or say), it was a beautiful speech. If I had not already been concerned with the state of our environment, this would have made me see the light.
  
  The only thing I didn't agree with in this speech, was how Gore kept refering to people as the cause of global wraming; there I don't agree. I actually wrote a paper on this topic in my junior year. Global warming is a form of climate change. And climate change is a natural process. What people don't often realize is that climate change is "a long-term change in the earth's climate", this does not limit it to only a rise in temperature; it would also be a decline. To put it in simple terms, everyone knows about the Ice Age, correct? Okay, so that was a form of climate change. Now what does this have to do with my disagreement with Gore? Well, we certainly were not the cause of the Ice Age. The Ice Age happened because of natural elemants and processes. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense to assume that Global Warming, which is another form of climate change, would happen eventually on its own as well? I believe that even without humans, this process would run its course. However, I do believe we, as humans, are increasing the speed at which this process is occuring because of our own careless actions. We are adding more than the natural allowment of CO2 into the air, therefore trapping infrared radiation in our atmosphere which in turn, prevents heat from being released out of the atmosphere, resulting in the rise in temperature of Earth.
  
  I honestly cannot understand how people can listen to this man, and not believe that we are indeed facing a global crisis, but they readily accept the lies that other politicans let roll of their tongues. Critics of Gore love to repute his theories, but never have to scientific data to back their case, yet people still side with them. Why? Because people are in denial; they don't want to accept that our actions have consequences and that even if those consequences don't reveal themselves until way after their own lifetime, they are still important. Some people don't care to do anything because they feel they'll outlive the consequences. Well that's probably true, and great for you, but what about your children? Grandchildren? Future generations of people who had nothing to do with this, who are going to face the blunt of our actions. Are we, as humans, willingly to let the future of our species suffer because we didn't feel the need to fix it because it's not our problem? Well here's some news for you: it is our problem. And unless we do what is necessary to turn things back around, the problem will only get worse. You can't reverse global warming; once it starts, that's it. But you can slow it down, you can lessen the harsh effects. We can make this a better place for us and those after us. But we have to be willing to work together, to make sacrifices, we have to care.
  
  This book was inspiration, and sorry if I got a little rambling, or intense. I just feel very passionate about this particualr topic :)
• 
  Doris

  This does give air to more concerns about global warming, and exhorts the world to take note that action is needed, and pleads with all nations to begin working on reducing our carbon footprint.
  
  However. However. And again I say However.
  
  Although this does have quite a bit of good material, at this level it needed to be better researched. There were several places within the writing where I questioned the facts, and here are 2:
  1) he states that we can use coal without warming the planet
  2) he states that smallpox and polio were cured
  
  For the first, I didn't find any evidence to contradict it, but I do know that digging that coal out costs lives and destroys - irreparably - the environment, so that is not a good option.
  
  For the second, neither of those diseases have been cured. There has not been an outbreak of smallpox since 1977, but it is not cured. The virus that causes it has been eradicated from everywhere but a few laboratories. This is not a cure.
  
  The last outbreak of polio before the lecture was in 2005, and the last one I found was in 2010. Therefore although polio has been mostly under control for decades, at least in the United States, it is not cured either.
  
  Per the CDC there is no cure for either disease.
  
  Knowing the erroneous information on just these 2 statements makes me eye the entire writing / presentation with a skeptical view. In other words, a good place to start but the "facts" presented would need to be double and triple checked.
• 
  Nikki

  A well written speech which pushes the global community to make changes and tackle global warming. Although it was given in December of 2007, all of the things held within the speech are still unfortunately very true. Little true progress has been made in reducing the impacts of global warming, especially on a global scale. Governments still cannot even agree on a new deal a la the Kyoto Protocol. Society still sees money as more important than environment even in the face of drastic destruction. Unfortunately I do not see that changing anytime soon considering the big companies with all the cash are influential to many major world leaders. I would love to have more optimism but human nature seems terribly unworthy of it. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore is also worthy of a read for all those that want to know the basics regarding global warming. As far as Al Gore goes, I appreciate his push for altering the course of global warming but cannot help feel his own behaviors do not vibe with his message. Meat production is one of the top greenhouse gas emitters (some studies have shown it to be the top one) and anyone who eats meat contributes significantly more than one that does not. Not only does Al Gore consume meat but he does not include a focus on meat-free diets as a major change that can be made in An Inconvenient Truth.
• 
  Wayne

  This is,perhaps, the fourth time I have read this speech.
  It informs me not only of our apparent inability to concentrate and solve problems, but of the hope that we have conquered many other issues at least if not more difficult.
  Should be required reading for all of us until our global climate crisis is solved.
  A couple of nuggets;
  pg 14: "In the kanji characters used in both Chinese and Japanese, "crisis" is written with two symbols- the first meaning "danger" and the second,"opportunity."
  By facing and removing the danger of the climate crisis, we have the opportunity to gain the moral authority and vision to vastly increase our own capacity to solve other crises that have too long been ignored.
  We must understand the connections between the climate crisis and the afflictions of poverty, hunger, and HIV/AIDS and other pandemics.As these problems are linked, so too are their solutions."
  
  While the scale of these issues are intimidating, if not seemingly insurmountable, the Author continues by showing history where we as a specie have solved many great problems by mobilizing and working together. Many, in fact , in the past century.
  Optimism restored.
  Extremely good read.
• 
  Court

  This is book is composed of two parts: a copy of Al Gore's Nobel Lecture and an excerpt of his "Inconvenient Truth." The lecture portion, which was only about 20 pages, was a plea for cooperation for the explicit purpose of preserving the planet. It was inspiring but it was also highly referential and I frequently found myself stopping to check his references. Also, I thought I'd be reading more on the topic of peace, non-violence, anti-war, etc. and less on global preservation. I'm sad to say that I can only give it 3 stars because I can name ten crappy professors that can give a better lecture on both peace and global warming. Yes, Al Gore has given the need for environmentalism more of a platform, but I expected much more for a Nobel lecture.
• 
  Sarah

  A clear and concise call to action that is just as relevant now as it was in 2007. Also contains excerpts from his book, An Inconvenient Truth. It highlights an important issue that should be at the forefront of global action and needs resolution before it is too late: the future of our planet. An excellent must-read for people who want to take their first steps into becoming activists for the environment and halting the horrific effects of climate change.
• 
  Carmen

  A short but moving call to action. Inspiration for the 'Hero Generation'.