Christopher Columbus and Al Gore: One found a new

world, while the other is helping to build one.

O Povo, Brazil

Al Gore's Nobel Prize and the

Discovery of the New World …

"For those who still idealize both the discovery of America and subsequent episodes that determined the foundation and emancipation of the 13 British colonies, the message preached by people like Gore in favor of the Earth may mean a renewal of faith in the New World, so that a really new world may someday be achieved."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Brandi Miller

October 13, 2007

O Povo - Brazil - Originial Article (Portuguese)

Announced yesterday [Oct. 12] in Norway, the Nobel Peace Prize this year will be granted to the former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, Jr., and a U.N. agency called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[IPCC], for their shared work in alerting people about the warming of the planet.

Interestingly, the disclosure of this year's winners, a North American and a program based in the United States [the IPCC], occurred on the 515th anniversary of the October 12th 1492 discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, an event that has been stigmatized in recent decades. For those who have discordant voices, this was a colonist act that resulted in the genocide of native peoples in what was later called America.

But for those who still idealize both the discovery of America and subsequent episodes that determined the foundation and later emancipation of the 13 British colonies that formed the United States, the message preached by people like Gore and the members of the IPCC in favor of the Earth may mean a renewal of faith in the New World, so that a really new world may someday be achieved.

Gore was Vice President of the country most responsible for global warming, due principally to industrial pollution. But it's also a nation in which since the 1970s, there has been an outcry demanding that Planet Earth be treated better. This is a doctrine that Gore embraced as a champion of the environment by presenting his feature film, An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim, winner of this year's Oscar for Best Documentary by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Among the Nobel Prizes, the most high profile and also the most controversial are in the categories of Literature and Peace. Public opinion doesn’t always agree with the names of the people or entities honored. Among pacifists for example, while the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, was awarded in 1989, an omission during previous years was Mahatma Gandhi, the principle spokesman for the independence of India.

Another who failed to receive recognition in Norway was the legacy of a Brazilian, Marshal Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon , a benefactor of the region's indigenous people. The Vilas Boas brothers  were also nominated for the honor, but didn't receive it. But the tribute to Gore and the IPCC goes beyond any dissatisfaction or even positions one might take against behavior committed by the United States government.

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