Gore's Nobel speech: harsh but optimistic

Al Gore collected his Nobel Peace Prizre today in Norway. He won for his efforts to publicize the dangers he sees from global warming. Sharing the Prize was the I.P.C.C., the United Nations' international organization to study climate change and make recommendations to the world's governments.

Gore's speech sounded like a prophet warning of doom, "We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency _ a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here." But he was also optimistic, saying the next American President, of either party, would change the nation's role on global warming.

I didn't see any mainstream media mention of the delicious irony. Gore gets his prize in Oslo, Norway, a city in a country made wealthy by selling crude oil. It's oil that has taken Norway from one of the poorest countries in western Europe to one of the richest.