http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=6050
Friday, October 12, 2007
Gore gives Nobel Prize proceeds to Palo Alto nonprofit
by Arden Pennell
Palo Alto Online Staff
Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize Tuesday, announced in Palo Alto
this morning he will donate the proceeds to a Palo Alto-based
nonprofit group he founded and chairs, Alliance for Climate
Protection.
Gore won the $1.5 million Nobel Prize jointly with the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
He made the announcement at the nonprofit's Hawthorne Ave. office this
morning in front of a room packed shoulder-to-shoulder with
photographers, videographers and reporters.
The donation will not only help the group fight global warming but
also to continue to raise the profile of a growing world-wide
emergency, Gore said.
"Scientists at IPCC have been trying to get the attention of the world
community. I want to use the honor and recognition of this award as a
way of speeding up the change in awareness of the emergency," he said.
Gore appeared with his wife, Tipper, and spoke for about six minutes.
He exited the press conference without taking questions.
His announcement was part of a pre-arranged visit to discuss climate
change at Alliance's office, he said. The organization is dedicated to
persuading Americans and others about the importance of fighting
global warming, according to their Web site. Gore is the
organization's founder and chairman of the board.
Climate change has put the world in great peril, Gore said.
"Unless we act with great urgency, the entire polar ice cap could be
gone in 23 years," he said.
Gore also credited the scientific community for its previous efforts
to educate the public about climate change.
"I will accept this award on behalf of those who have been working so
long and so hard to get the word out about this planetary emergency,"
he said.
He cautioned against optimism in light of his donation.
"That amount of money is very small compared to the challenge ahead,"
he said.
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Harry
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